I wrote the TCPIP Internetworking with NT Server exam today. Passed with a 982.

I overstudied for this exam, but at least I understand the concepts really, really well. Here are some tips:

1). Get the Transcenders. The questions on the actual test are exactly the same. Same distribution of question types, same format, even what appeared to be identical questions with different administrator names!

2). Download the Microsoft PEP Tests from the MS site. They are free, and although not that thorough, will give you lots of good practice.

3). Read the Braindumps. Don't take everything at face value, because alot of people post the questions they most remember. Which questions do they most remember? The ones that gave them trouble, so the answer may not be correct! But the site if VERY useful to find out the topics that will be covered. Have a look at MCSE, dated 18.5.98 and Studyguide, dated 2.8.98. Both give you some pretty good info.

4). If you can, find someone who has taken the course so you can borrow the official MS book. Very useful.

 Here is what I remember from the test:

There was not a single parameter question, such as ARP -c or NBTSTAT -R. There were about 6 utilities questions, and all were fairly obvious. Look for the key words. If there is any mention of "spreadsheet" or "chart" or "graph" in a network statistics question, you know right away the answer is Performance Monitor. No other utility can export into different formats. On Troubleshooting questions, eliminate the obvious first. If the problem is "Jojo can't connect to an NT server on a remote subnet using the UNC name" but can ping the IP address, this should tell you what the answer is without any other criteria. If Jojo can ping across a router, Jojo has a good default gateway, IP address, and subnet mask on the local machine.

There go 3 options right away. You should be down to only 2 more possibilities. The UNC name requires NAME RESOLUTION, pinging the IP does not, so what does that tell you? There is a RESOLUTION problem. Either there is no WINS or no LMHOSTS file. There can be no other answer. Watch out for any question that mentions FTP. Automatically, you have one additional possibility as a reason for failure to connect. You may not have the rights to connect to that FTP server. If you can RESOLVE the hostname, then once again, your configuration is correct. The problem more than likely lies with the fact that you have no rights on the FTP box. There was one Subnetting trap on my test. Don't fall into it! Remember to always start off every subnetting question by determining what class of network you are dealing with. This is very important because it determines the subnet mask. If you have a Class B address and a Subnet Mask of 255.255.0.0, and one NT Workstation cannot access an NT server on a different subnet, what is the problem? Simple! The user has the default subnet mask which doesn't allow for a single subnet. If there are other subnets, the user's Subnet Mask must be incorrect. Here is a great tip that I picked up on another Brain Dump. I had 3 scenario questions with 3 subsequent questions in each one. That makes for 9 out of 58 total questions, so these are important. Do not read the Optional Requirements at first. Read only the setup and the Requirements. Then determine if the solution meets the Requirements. If it doesn't, then you already have your answer - "Does not meet requirements". These types of questions are very easy but seem difficult. The answer is always to be found in the last of the series. All 3 of my scenario questions ended up with "The solutions meets the requirements and all optional requirements". So just go back to match up the solution to the requirements. Simple! All MultiHomed Routers (that means an NT server with 2 or more network cards in it) require IP Forwarding if they are going to be able to route TCPIP. It is a requirement. You cannot send TCPIP packets from one NIC to another in the same machine without this option. Period. In every practice test, and in my actual test, this was left out of the first SOLUTION and given in the second.

Know how to integrate NT servers with UNIX machines. I don't know why there is so much emphasis on this, but there is. LPR is line printer and is installed on UNIX machines to send info to TCPIP printers. You do not install it on the NT server. It is installed automatically with the TCPIP Printer Service. LPQ is nothing more than a query tool to ask for info about a print job. LPD is a service on the NT server that allows LPR clients to send TCPIP print jobs to the NT server. None of these tools are installed seperately. If you remember that, you can eliminate about 50% of the answers on the test concerning UNIX and NT interoperability. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It does what it stands for and transfers files, so when you get to the question about how you copy files from a UNIX server to NT, you know what to choose. Do not waste any time studying SNMP. Here is everything you need to know. Performance Monitor requires it to be installed. In order to send out SNMP info to another machine, you need to install the SNMP service on the NT server and have an SNMP Management station installed on the other machine. Naturally, you also require TCPIP! SNMP management software is NOT INCLUDED in an NT server install. You have to purchase it elsewhere, so you don't need to know it. SNMP uses community names to group SNMP enabled machines together. There is no password! The community name IS the password. If you want security, you have ONLY ONE option, you enable "Only accept SNMP packets from these HOSTS". That's it. That covers every SNMP question I have seen on any practice test and on the actual test.

There were two questions on WINS replication. Both were related, just like the scenario questions. The required result is always the same. Miami has to be replicated to Chicago. Look at the question logically. Miami pulls from Chicago and Chicago pushes to Miami. How does the info get to Chicago FROM Miami? It doesn't! You need to have action in both directions. Even a PULL-PULL is legal, although none of the study guides tell you that. Just create a little picture with an arrow poiting to where the info is going. You will find that the info only goes one way. The subsequent question usually fixes that.

There is one question on ARP so don't waste to much time on it. What utility do you use to see hostname to MAC address resolution? ARP! That's why it stands for Address Resolution Protocol.

That's it! Good luck, hopefully this explanation will help you out!