Introduction to Microsoft 98-365:Windows Server Administration Fundamentals Exam

98-365 Exam is a certification exam that is conducted by Microsoft to validates candidate knowledge and skills of working as a Windows Server Administrator in the IT industry.

As a Windows Server administrator, you are in charge of important Windows Servers that span multiple platforms and environments. You are a strong team player who thrives in a fast-paced environment. You build complex, highly scalable Windows Servers that meet business needs and security requirements. You are an expert in optimizing, maintaining, and troubleshooting Windows Servers, but also in designing archival, data distribution, and high availability solutions This exam checks competency level on topics Core Windows Server Concepts, Creating Windows Server Objects, Manipulating Data,Data Storage, and Administering a Windows Server.

After passing this exam, candidates get a certificate from Microsoft that helps them to demonstrate their proficiency in Windows Server Fundamentals to their clients and employers.

Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-98-365.aspx

For more info read reference:

Planning for disks and storage Performance monitoring getting started guide Computer hardware and Windows Server 2008 Active Directory backup and restore in Windows Server 2008 Windows Server - Certiport

Microsoft 98-365: Skills Measured

There are several topics included in the exam syllabus and each of them is based on a particular skill set. These sections and their subtopics are listed below.

• Understanding Server Roles (25-30%)

  To answer the questions related to this topic, the applicants should be able to demonstrate their competence in identifying application servers, including mail servers, monitoring servers, database servers, threat management, as well as collaboration servers. They should also have a professional understanding of Web services. These include IIS Modes of Operation, installing from the Server Manager, FTP & WWW, separating worker processes, and adding SSL, certificates, sites, components, and ports. In addition, the test takers also need to demonstrate their understanding of remote access, which requires knowledge about remote assistance, licensing, remote administration tools & desktop services, VPN, multiple services, RD Gateway, multiple ports, as well as application virtualization. They should also have a solid comprehension of print & file services and server virtualization.

• Managing Server Performance (10-15%)

  This subject area encompasses one’s understanding of major server hardware components, performance monitoring, knowledge of alerts & logs, familiarity with Event Viewer. The test takers should be conversant with CPU and Disk Action, removable drives, 64-bit and 32-bit architecture, and graphic cards. They should also have expertise in processors, memory, disk, and network.

• Understanding Active Directory (20-25%)

  The skills measured under this domain include the candidates’ understanding of accounts and groups, organizational units and containers, Active Directory infrastructure, and group policy. The learners should also have a deep understanding of GUDLP and AGDLP processes and how to use them to help implement nesting. The examinees must demonstrate that they are conversant with user profiles, domain accounts, computer accounts, local accounts, group nesting, group scopes, default groups, etc. Other competencies assessed within this topic are default visible & hidden infrastructure, default containers, purpose of OUs, uses for various container objects, and so on.

• Understanding Server Installation (10-15%)

  Within this knowledge area, the learners are supposed to demonstrate that they have a thorough understanding of device drivers. This includes their knowledge of installation, disabling, removal, driver signing, interrupts, IRQ, managing through Group Policy, troubleshooting, rollback, and update & upgrade. The candidates also need to demonstrate their understanding of services. They should be able to identify which statuses a given service can be in, be familiar with the startup types, delayed startup, pausing/stopping a service, service accounts, dependencies, recovery options, and Run As settings for the service. The topic also measures the individuals’ understanding of server installation options. These include Desktop vs Server core, choosing the appropriate operating system version options; using Windows Deployment Services to accomplish automated installation; performing upgrades, migrations, and clean installation; VHDX/VHD installation source; executing unattended installs, etc.

• Maintaining Server (15-20%)

  This domain focuses on assessing the students’ proficiency in server maintenance. This means that they are required to have the ability to identify the steps in a startup process, understand business continuity, understand updates, and troubleshooting technologies.

• Understanding Storage (10-15%)

  This section revolves around identifying storage technologies along with their usual usage scenarios; understanding of RAID redundancy; understanding of disk types. The specific skills covered in this area include your understanding of Solid State Drive (SSD) & Hard Disk Drive (HDD) types, dynamic disk, ATA basic disk, file systems, mount points, mounting a virtual hard disk, as well as distributed file systems. You need to be knowledgeable about iSCSI hardware and Fibre Channel, local & network storage, advantages and disadvantages of various storage topologies. Other skills measured include RAID 0/1/5/10, hardware and software RAID, etc.

Exam Domains Overview

Although Microsoft 98-365 is an entry-level exam, it covers a wide range of topics and throws light on some of the most high-end Windows Server skills. The recent exam outline version was updated on January 31, It includes six sections, that are as follows:

• The third exam domain is all about understanding the active directory and requires one to possess enough information about accounts & groups, Active Directory (AD) infrastructure & group policy, and organizational units & containers. To succeed in these areas, one has to learn more about group nesting, default groups, local accounts, the purpose of containers, various container objects, domain controllers, replication, functional levels, group policy processing, etc.
• The next domain emphasizes some of the most crucial and latest skills related to server performance management. Applicants should be able to identify key hardware components of server, understand performance monitoring tactics, and have knowledge about Event Viewer, logs and alerts. One should pay attention to the concepts such as power usage, removable drivers, processors, memory, performance counters, and others.
• Understanding server installation. This domain covers about 10-15% of the exam content. It has been designed to assess one's understanding of installation options, device drivers, and associated services. Thoroughly and extensively, this topic covers upgrading, installing, updating, removing, installing, and troubleshooting drivers, requires the knowledge of which Windows services are suitable in certain situations, what are service statuses, recovery options, service accounts, how to select the right operating system, perform migrations, clean installs, and others.
• The fourth section is again a short one and checks one's understanding of Storage. Test-takers should be aware of key storage technologies (with their related usage scenarios), different storage topologies, Fibre Channel, RAID redundancy, and disk types (SSD and HDD). Speaking in detail, candidates also need to learn more about software and hardware RAID, dynamic disks, and distributed files systems, among the rest.
• Understanding server roles is the second exam domain and it is comparatively larger as it carries 25-30% weight. Learning the topics under this section is an ideal way to gain a basic understanding of web services, server virtualization, application servers, file & print services, and remote access. Topics like identifying Mail, DB & collaboration servers, performing server management & troubleshooting tasks, IIS, WWW & FTP web services, SSL, certificates, component addition, ports, and separate worker processes, are covered in an impressive manner in this part of the content.

  When it comes to remote access sub-domain, it also imparts the concepts related to the multipoint services, licensing, VPN, RD Gateway, and app virtualization. In addition to all the above skills, test-takers should be able to work with network printers, provide auditing, web printing, handle print job management, be knowledgeable in virtual networks, physical to virtual conversions, VHD and VHDX formats, nested virtualization, and various other skills in this section.

• Server maintenance is the focal point of the sixth exam domain. To succeed in its corresponding tasks, candidatess have to learn about start-up process and its related steps, updates, troubleshooting methodology, and business continuity. One needs to master the topics such as planning disaster recovery, data redundancy, know how to work with Windows Update, Resource Monitor, and other tools, as well as understand default logs and event filtering, to name a few.