MCSE Studying - Week Ending November 5, 2017

Overview
This past week was not as successful as I had hoped for. I had to pour a lot of time and energy into a project at work that I am trying to complete prior to the end of the year. It left me quite tired at the end of most days, so I didn't study as much as I had wanted. Still, I did get some work in, and any amount of studying, no matter how small, is still far better than none.

I continued on my studies for 70-412 this past week. I managed to finish off my primary notes for objective 4.1 - Implement an advanced Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) solution, and started into objective 4.3 - Deploy and manage IP Address Management (IPAM). My plan is to finish off my primary notes for objective 4.3 in the next week or so, and then move into the hands-on labs for all of objective 4 - Configure Network Services.

Cool Stuff
In the little bit of reading I did on IPAM (IP Address Management), I thought that this technology is pretty cool. Why? Simply put, IPAM allows you to centralize management of multiple DHCP and DNS servers, and all but eliminates the need to track static IP address assignments in a spreadsheet. I feel that I am going to learn a lot in the next week or so on this topic, so my opinion may change, but for now, this wins the title of "Cool Stuff"!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
Nothing this week

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 3 hrs. 25 mins.

• 70-412: 3 hrs. 25 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 4.1.2 - Implement DHCPv6
• 4.1.3 - Configure high availability for DHCP, including DHCP failover and split scopes
• 4.3.1 - Provision IPAM manually or by using Group Policy
• 4.3.8 - Configure IPAM database storage

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• PowerScripting Podcast
• Episode 174 - Matt Graeber using PowerShell in Infosec
• Episode 175 - Mike Wells on SQL 2012 and SQLSpade
• Episode 176 - James Brundage on PowerShell Pipeworks

In Closing
As I mentioned earlier, I plan to continue working on my primary notes for objective 4.3, working towards the hands-on labs for objective 4. I might also try to sprinkle a bit of PowerShell into my studies, as I haven't had a chance to use a lot of PowerShell at work lately, and I definitely do not want that skill to get rusty!

Have a great week everyone, and keep learning!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending October 29, 2017

Overview
Again,wow! It's now been over 7 months since I last did a blog post on any subject, in either of my blogs. Well, here's committing to writing more than twice a year!

Yes, life has been busy. Between work and family commitments, I have still found it challenging to carve out enough time to study. That being said, I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. I did manage to find time to put together a presentation on Managing DNS Servers with PowerShell, and was quite excited to present it to the Mississippi PowerShell User Group. On that occasion, I stepped way, way outside of my comfort zone, and discovered awesome on the other side!

Now that we are into October, I have finally got back to studying for the 70-412 exam, and I am really enjoying it. Of course, breaking the inertia, actually sitting down to study, still remains the hardest part, but once I get going, time seems to fly by. I am looking forward to writing this exam in the new year and moving on to another exciting exam.

Cool Stuff
I don't have anything specific that I would like to talk about, but I have been enjoying the learning process. Taking a close look at the details of what I'm studying, and researching it completely, has been a lot of fun. It is especially rewarding to research and sort out the details of a topic that is either, not well documented, or is presented with contradictory information from two different sources. Once I get those figured out, I feel a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Next week should yield something interesting or cool. I'm sure of it! Stay tuned!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
Nothing this week

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 3 hrs. 20 mins.

• 70-412: 3 hrs. 20 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 4.1.3 - Configure high availability for DHCP, including DHCP failover and split scopes
• 4.1.4 - Configure DHCP Name Protection
• 4.1.5 - Configure DNS registration

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts
Nothing this week

In Closing
The goal for the coming week is simple. Keep studying! Wish me luck.

Have a great week everyone, and keep learning!

MCSE Studying - Week Ending March 12, 2017

Overview
Wow! It's been just about 4 months since I last did a blog post on any subject, in either of my blogs. Life has been busy, and as always seems to get in the way. At least that is what I have been telling myself. The truth is, I just haven't prioritized my time effectively. Well, it's about time to change that.

Over the past few months I have started studying for the 70-412 exam, but it has been going slowly. I have completed objectives 5.1 and 5.2, but that is the sum total of my success so far. To put that into perspective, I have completed a mere 10% of the objectives for this exam. It's not good enough, and I realize this, so I have finally forced myself to organize and prioritize my time, and have been happy to have studied more this week, than I have in all of 2017 so far.

I'm back on track, and I have a plan for managing time, and for the study order for the remaining 90% of the objectives. This past week has been a review of the subject matter that I had already completed so that it is fresh in my mind. For those of you who are interested, you can find the list of objectives for the 70-412 exam here. I feel it is going to go quite well, and I am optimistic that I will be able to write the exam in the next two or three months.

Cool Stuff
Cool stuff? Hmm...not really. There was some interesting topics covered, such as trust relationships and multi domain environments, but nothing that was especially cool. I think that most of the reason for this, is that I am already fairly familiar with the structure of Active Directory, and I still remember a lot of the core concepts around trusts and multi domain environments from my NT 4.0 exam days. Despite this, there is still an article I want to read titled Top Ten Issues with Active Directory Trusts and Corporate Mergers. I feel there will be some interesting information in there.

Hopefully next week, covering sites, subnets, and site links will yield something new and cool that I didn't know before. Stay tuned!

PowerShell cmdlet of the Week
This weeks cmdlet is going to be the only cmdlet available for Active Directory trusts. Unfortunately, if you want to manage trusts, you have to use either the Active Directory Domains and Trusts console, or the netdom trust command line utility. However, if you simply want a cmdlet to show you current trust relationships, you can use:

Get-ADTrust

If you want to view all trusted domains by the current domain:

Get-ADTrust -Filter *

If you want the information about a specific trusted domain:

Get-ADTrust -Identity "canada.contoso.com"

It is disappointing that there is only the one cmdlet available for managing trust relationships, but there is quite a bit of useful information reported by Get-ADTrust,

Studying Stats
Total time studying: 7 hrs. 40 mins.

• 70-412: 7 hrs. 40 mins.

Objectives Covered

• 70-412
• 5.1 - Configure a forest or a domain - Complete
• 5.2 - Configure trusts - Complete
• 5.3.1 - Configure sites and subnets

IT News, Blogs, and Podcasts

• Nothing this week

In Closing
The goal for the coming week is to start, and hopefully finish objectives 5.3 and 5.4. I am fairly certain I will get through 5.3 "Configure sites", but I'm not sure about anything else. I am still working on prioritizing time, and while my studying is going better than it did in January and February, there is still some more effort required. Wish me luck!

Have a great week everyone!