MICROSOFT/MCSE

104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam
(Installing, Configuring, and Administering
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server)

1. A printer name can contain up to 32 characters; it doesn't have to reflect the name of
the driver, device, or any other item in use.
2. A service pack is a self-running program that modifies the operating system. It isn't
uncommon within the lifetime of an operating system to have two or three service
packs.
3. An incremental backup includes up all files that have the archive bit on, and then
turns that bit off. A normal/full backup gets all files, regardless of the status of the
archive bit, and then turns the bit off (if it was on). A differential backup gets all files
with the archive bit on, and then leaves it on. A daily backup is valid only for the day
(as the name implies).
4. As with earlier versions of the operating system, the Windows 2000 default
permission for newly created entities is Everyone - Full Control.
5. As you can with other resources and shares, you can place a dollar sign ($) at the end
of the printer name to prevent it from being visible to all other users (even though
you may still choose to share it).
6. Barring any "deny's" along the way, permissions accumulate.
7. Basic disks within RAID arrays should be updated to dynamic disks. This reduces
recovery time in the event of a failure.
8. Because an EFS file can be opened only by the encrypting user, EFS is perfect for
personal data but unusable for any data that you want to share.
9. Besides TCP/IP, there is also support for (but not default installation of) four other
protocols: NetBEUI (for older Microsoft clients), NWLink (for communication with
NetWare servers), AppleTalk (for Macintosh clients), and DLC (for communicating
with mainframes and older network printers; newer network printers use TCP/IP).
10. Bi-directional support allows the printer to send unsolicited messages (such as "Out
of Paper" or "Low on Toner") to the terminal.
11. Boot and System volumes should be mirrored onto another disk to provide fault
tolerance in the event of a system failure.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

12. By default, only the Administrators and Backup Operators can restore System State
data. These are also, by default, the only ones who can back up the System State
data.
13. By default, a system always looks for a driver signature. This is known as System
File Protection. The driver signature is ignored only when the user is using one of
the following programs: HOTFIX.EXE, UPDATE.EXE, Windows Update, or
WINNT32.EXE.
14. By default, every disk starts as the basic type but can be upgraded to dynamic (unless
it is removable).
15. CNAME records are used in DNS to create alias records to zones. Windows 2000
uses SRV records for identifying services.
16. Dfs replication is journal-based and disabled by default. The File Replication Service
performs the replication.
17. Disk Management is found beneath Storage, which is found beneath Computer
Management (which is found beneath Administrative Tools).
18. During installation, Windows 2000 creates six log files at various stages along the
way. All six logs are created within the %SystemRoot% or %SystemRoot%\Debug
folders (C:\WINNT and C:\WINNT\DEBUG, by default).
19. Emergency Repair Disks (ERD) are now made from the Backup utility in Windows
2000. Always make a backup before making any major changes to a system.
20. File Signature Verification options are set via the System applet in Control Panel.
Choose the Hardware tab, followed by Driver Signing to reach the three allowed
options (Ignore, Warn, or Block).
21. Files that are pasted into an encrypted folder become encrypted as well. Files that are
placed in the folder with drag-and-drop do not become encrypted automatically.
22. Folder redirection and client-side caching are extremely valuable with laptops that
may spend the majority of their time out of the office or not connected to the
network.
23. For every Windows 2000-based computer, three hidden shares are created
automatically:
· C$ The root of the computer's drive. A similar share (D$, E$, and so on) is
created for each hard drive partition on a system.
· ADMIN$ The root of the partition on which Windows 2000 is installed.
· IPC$ The remote IPC (InterProcess Connect) share used for networking.
24. From the time a file is encrypted, a digital code associated with the user (encryption
certificate) is assigned to it. This allows the encrypting user to open and work with
the file exactly as though it were unencrypted, but prevents anyone else from doing
so.
25. Front Page Extensions are required for IIS to allow remote authoring and
management features.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

26. Gateway Service for NetWare is used to allow connections to existing NetWare
servers via the NWLink IPX/SPX-compatible transport protocol. NetWare 3.11 and
earlier versions used 802.3 frame types; NetWare 3.12 and newer versions use 802.2
frame types. Automatic Frame Type Detection will look for 802.3 first.
27. Group Policies and the Group Policy Editor (GPEDIT.EXE) are new and exclusive
to Windows 2000. For Windows NT and 9x clients, you must still use System
Policies, which can be created with the System Policy Editor (POLEDIT.EXE).
28. Group Policy settings should always disable unused parts of an object. This makes
logon quicker and eliminates unneeded processes.
29. Hardware profiles allow for different hardware configurations and are particularly
useful with portable computers--docked or undocked.
30. In order to use EFS, the file system must be NTFS and the files must not be
compressed.
31. In the absence of DHCP or manual addressing, Windows 2000 uses Automatic IP
Addressing to assign hosts addresses in the 169.254.x.x range.
32. Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) requires the server to use the address of
192.168.0.1. ICS uses only one connection to a dial-up provider and allows all other
hosts on the network to communicate across that one connection, using NAT-like
service to differentiate to whom the packets are addressed.
33. L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) is new to Microsoft operating systems. (Other
vendors have used it for years.) L2TP uses IPSec as its encryption method.
34. Local permissions and attributes are used to protect files when users are local.
35. Logical drives are referenced by letter; physical drives are referenced by number.
36. Mandatory user profiles (NTUSER.MAN) prevent changes to the Registry that
survive a reboot. For purposes of uniformity, mandatory user profiles can be
assigned to more than one user.
37. Moving or copying a file to a new directory could change the permissions on an
NTFS file. This depends on whether the file is moved or copied and on whether the
target directory is on the same NTFS volume as the original.
38. Multiple processors can be added to a system to offload the bottleneck on a single
processor and to enable intensive operations to be performed quicker. Device
Manager is used to add the additional processors to the system after their installation.
39. Never defragment a drive without first analyzing it. Because defragmentation takes
considerable time and resources, you should always be certain it is necessary, and
then implement it only during slow times.
40. No longer limited to backing up only to tape, the Backup utility with Windows 2000
can write to any writable media.
41. NTFS permissions protect you at the file level, whereas share permissions can be
applied only to the directory level. NTFS permissions can affect users logged on
locally or across the network to the system where the NTFS permissions are applied.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

42. Only EAP-TLS authentication should be used with smart cards and VPN
connections.
43. Only members of the Administrators group can configure Internet Connection
Sharing. You cannot change the default configuration (disable DHCP or change the
range of addresses issued).
44. A printer pool enables you to use multiple physical devices to deliver the end result.
All the physical devices should be the same make and model; the job is sent to
whichever printer is not busy (or is the least busy) at the moment.
45. PPTP (Point-to-Point-Tunneling Protocol), which was included with Windows NT
4.0, is an expansion of the PPP protocol. It uses MPPE encryption.
46. Predefined security templates allow you choose the security to apply to a system
based on the role of the machine. The lowest level that should be applied to a server
is BASICSV.INF.
47. Printer priority is in no way related to print job priority. The priority for a printer
defaults to 1, but it can be any number between 1 and 99. When more than one
printer is printing to the same printing device, it is useful to change priorities (to
allow the one with the highest priority to print first).
48. Private IP address ranges are 10.x.x.x, 172.16.x.x­172.31.x.x, and 192.168.x.x.
49. QoS (Quality of Service) admission control should be assigned at the highest level.
50. Replacing the Disk Administrator utility from Windows NT, Disk Management
surpasses that tool in that it allows for remote disk management, supports dynamic
volumes (except on portable computers), offers wizards for many choices, and
allows you to make a great many changes on-the-fly (without requiring a reboot).
51. Reservations should exist on all DCHP servers for any IP addresses that could exist
in hard-coded form on the network. This includes printers, Unix/Linux machines,
etc.
52. SFC.EXE is used to automatically verify system files after a reboot to see if they
were changed to unprotected copies.
53. Share permissions apply only when a user is accessing a file or folder through the
network.
54. Slipstreaming is the process of including updates with the installation.
55. Successive service packs include all the files that were in previous service packs.
Therefore, if you perform a new installation and the latest service pack is Service
Pack Four, you do not need to install Service Packs One, Two, and Three. You need
only install Service Pack Four after the installation to bring the operating system up
to the current feature set.
56. Superscopes are used to combine multiple IP address ranges into a single entity. The
IP address ranges must be consecutive to be included in the superscope.
57. System State data includes the Registry, system files, the Active Directory database,
Certificate Services database, file replication service, and Component Services.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

58. TCP/IP can have host names resolved to IP addresses with the use of DNS servers
(which now interact with WINS servers), and can have IP addresses automatically
issued through the use of DHCP servers.
59. TCP/IP is the required protocol. It is required for all the features new to Windows
2000 that rely on Active Directory and other services.
60. Terminal Services should not be running on a domain controller, but rather on a
stand-alone server (for security reasons).
61. The %username% variable simplifies the process of setting up user accounts and
user profiles. It can also be used with UNC paths.
62. The Backup utility--accessible under Start, Accessories, System Tools--performs
backups and restores, as well as allows you to interact with the Task Scheduler to
schedule jobs.
63. The bare minimum requirements for Windows 2000 Server are:
· Pentium 133 (Intel-based hardware only)
· 128MB of RAM (256MB recommended)
· 1GB of free hard drive space
64. The counters for logical drives and storage volumes are not on by default; you must
use the diskperf -yv command to turn them on.
65. The Deny permission overrides all other permissions.
66. In order for a user to work with disk quotas, he must be logged on as Administrator
and the drive must be formatted as NTFS. Once those two conditions are met, there
is no reason why he cannot create or change disk quotas.
67. The Encrypting File System (EFS) allows you to toggle an attribute for a file or
folder just as you would any other, and it protects the contents. If the object you
select is a folder, all the contents of the folder (files, subfolders and so on) also
become encrypted.
68. The entire disk must first be converted to dynamic storage, then you can create and
alter volumes without ever needing to shutdown and restart the system for the
changes to take effect.
69. To start Windows 2000 in Safe mode, press F8 when the Please Select The Operating
System To Start message appears. Safe mode enables you to start the system with a
minimal set of device drivers and services.
70. The Folder Options applet in Control Panel can let you configure options regarding
differentiating compressed file listings from those that are non-compressed. First
choose the View tab and then check the box: Display compressed files and folders
with alternate color.
71. The home directory must be NTFS in order for quotas to work.
72. Windows 2000 uses the MAKEDISK.EXE utility to make the boot disks. Windows
NT versions used WINNT /OX instead.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

73. The No Access permission, which was available in all previous versions of NTFS
(that is, Windows NT), does not exist in NTFS 5 and Windows 2000.
74. The NTBOOTDD.SYS file is used only when SCSI disks without on-board BIOS
are installed.
75. The OSLOADER.EXE utility is used to load OS/2.
76. The BOOTSECT.DOS file is used to load other operating systems.
77. NTDETECT.COM checks hardware on boot.
78. The only items that Windows 2000 cannot compress are those that are encrypted and
the swap file.
79. The only way to change the priority of a running process is via Task Manager (which
has also been enhanced with an End Process Tree option.
80. The only way to start a process at a priority other than its default is to use the
START.EXE command-line utility.
81. The Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is used for VPNs. It is built on PPP,
and offers the tunneling technology. The Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) is an
older line protocol and is generally avoided because of its limited feature set. The
Layer Two Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) can be used in place of PPTP for similar
functionality.
82. The Security Configuration and Analysis Tool (SECEDIT.EXE) can be used to
analyze and configure a system's security (the same thing the Security Configuration
and Analysis snap-in tool does). Additionally, SECEDIT.EXE can be used to export
a stored template from a security database, refresh system security by reapplying
security settings to the Group Policy object, and validate the security template
syntax.
83. The SIGVERIF.EXE utility looks for files that are not digitally signed.
84. The simplest installation is an attended installation, whether from the CD or over the
network.
85. The volumes on a dynamic disk can be simple, spanned, or striped.
86. The WINNT32.EXE utility should be used when upgrading from operating systems
that can be upgraded. For operating systems that cannot be upgraded (such as 16-bit
operating systems), you should use WINNT.EXE.
87. There are five counters Microsoft recommends that you monitor for determining load
on a physical volume. They are: PhysicalDisk (Disk Reads/sec; Disk Writes/sec ;
Current Disk Queue Length, %Disk Time) and LogicalDisk (%Free Space).
Additional suggestions (versus recommendations) include Physical Disk (Avg. Disk
sec/Transfer, Avg. Disk Bytes/Transfer, and Disk Bytes/sec.).
88. To configure a user account to use a roaming profile, set the profile path in the
Properties dialog box for that account. Roaming profiles allow users to have the
same desktop regardless of the machine they are using. You can copy or delete
profiles and change their type from the System applet.
104 Tips for Passing the 70-215 Exam

89. Two new runlevels/priorities have been added to processes, making the possibilities,
from lowest to highest: Low, Below Normal, Normal, Above Normal, High, and
Real Time.
90. Upgrades can be done only from Windows NT Server 3.51, Windows NT Server 4.0,
or Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server.
91. Upgrades to Windows 2000 come in the form of service packs. Each service pack
contains patches and fixes to operating system components, as well as additional
features.
92. When adding a printer from the network, if you don't know the path, you can leave
the field blank and click Next to invoke the Browse feature. No such Browse feature
is available for the Internet printer option, so you must specify an URL.
93. Windows 2000 fully supports Plug and Play devices.
94. Windows 2000 Professional will support up to 2 processors; Windows 2000 Server
will support up to 4 processors; Windows 2000 Advanced Server will support up to 8
processors; and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server will support up to 32 processors.
95. Windows 2000 Server and Windows 2000 Professional differ in the sharing defaults
when printers are installed. On Windows 2000 Professional, they are not shared by
default; on Server, they are.
96. Windows 2000 uses the term System State data to refer to all the components the
operating system needs to function.
97. Windows 2000 works with NTFS, FAT, and FAT32 file systems. FAT is needed for
MS-DOS, OS/2, the Windows 3.x operating systems, and the first release of
Windows 95. FAT32 can be used with the second release of Windows 95 (95b) and
Windows 98.
98. With Dfs (Distributed file system), automatic replication is only available with the
NTFS file system.
99. With FAT and FAT32, you do not have the ability to assign "extended" or
"extensible" permissions, and the user sitting at the console effectively is the owner
of all resources on the system. As such, he or she can add, change, and delete any
data or file.
100. With NTFS as the file system, you are allowed to assign more comprehensive
security to your computer system than with FAT or FAT32.
101. With virtual private networks (VPNs), you should always choose the strongest level
of encryption that your circumstances will allow.
102. With Windows 2000, a vendor of a third-party product is encouraged to submit the
drivers and operating system files (.dll, .exe, .fon, .ocx, .ttf, .sys) to Microsoft. If
Microsoft can verify that the files do not behave erratically or cause system problems
or identifiable failures, Microsoft signs the file digitally.
103. There are two frame types within Disk Management: the top frame shows each
volume, its file system, status, and capacity, whereas the bottom frame shows each
disk, including the CD-ROM and the volumes on it.
104. You can use the Export command in the Certificates snap-in to copy file encryption
certificates to another location (such as a floppy drive).