70-232

(70-232) Maintaining Highly Available Web Solns

SYNOPSIS • MCSE 2000 ^vs • MCSE 2003 ^vs

Microsoft’s exam 70-232, “Implementing and Maintaining Highly Available Web Solutions with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Technologies and Microsoft Application Center 2000� is an elective requirement for this certification: MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) on Microsoft Windows 2000.

It is designed for candidates who “work in Microsoft Windows 2000 Web server environments that use Application Center 2000.� There is no specific prerequisite for this exam, but Microsoft recommends that candidates have “a minimum of one year experience administering and monitoring highly available Web environments� that have the characteristics described here.

This exam is moderate to hard in difficulty and costs $125 USD. It may be taken from Pearson Vue or Thomson Prometric.

At one time this exam had a passing score of around 500, but this is subject to change. “Beginning with the release of the Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003–related exams, Microsoft will provide numerical scores on exams. By the end of September 2003, most exams will have the new score report format, which includes this numerical score... The new scale requires a minimum passing score of 700 on all exams. The maximum score on the exams will vary depending on the complexity of the skills being measured.� - Microsoft Exam and Testing Procedures FAQ

Note that Microsoft does not document the format of a particular exam: “Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented.� In the past, though, this exam was form-based multiple choice with around 51 questions.

The topics covered by this exam include:

• Installing and Deploying Application Center 2000
• Creating, Configuring, Managing, and Troubleshooting Clusters
• Configuring and Troubleshooting IP Load Balancing
• Deploying and Synchronizing N-Tier Applications
• Monitoring and Managing Operations

For more information:
http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-232.asp