A few simple tricks for passing Microsoft's TCP/IP exam

I went into Microsoft's 70-059 exam, Internetworking with Microsoft TCP/IP on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, very well studied because I was told that it was one of the most difficult tests Microsoft will throw at you. I was surprised to find that I scored better on this exam than any of the other Microsoft exams I had taken. The key is to understand key concepts, and focus on those as you prepare for the exam.

Let's take a quick look at some helpful study tricks I used while preparing for two sections of exam 70-059. These tips are so helpful that I suggest writing them down on the paper given to you by the exam administrator before you actually begin the test.

Exam basics

The 70-059 exam contains 25-35 questions in Microsoft's new adaptive format. A passing score is 570.

Exam questions fall into these categories:

In the Installation and Configuration section...

The exam will probably include a couple questions about subnetting. If you understand the chart below and can recreate it, these questions will be easy. To determine how many host IDs you will need before deciding what subnet mask to apply, you must calculate one host ID for each network adapter and router interface. Class A addresses range from 1-126. Class B addresses range from 128-191, and Class C addresses range from 192-223. The 127 range is reserved, as well as 224-256.

Here are a few subnetting examples:

Question: You have 50 subnets on your network and expect it to expand to 56 subnets within a year. Each subnet on your network will require up to 800 hosts. Which subnet mask should you use? 

Answer: 255.255.252.0

Question: Your company has been assigned a network ID of 215.168.86.0. Each subnet will have a maximum of 45 host IDs. Which subnet mask should you use? 

Answer: 255.255.255.192

Question: Your company has a network ID of 208.172.20.0 and 4 subnets. Which subnet mask should you use? 

Answer: 255.255.255.224

Question: You company has been assigned a network ID 212.167.52.0. Each subnet will have between 20 and 25 IP hosts. Which subnet mask should you use? 

Answer: 255.255.255.224

Question: Which subnet mask should you apply if the network ID is 134.114.0.0 with eight subnets of up to 2,500 hosts per subnet? 

Answer: 255.255.240.0

Question: Your company has been assigned a class A network address with 58 subnets. You expect to have 96 subnets within the year. Which subnet mask should you use? 

Answer: 255.254.0.0 (When choosing a subnet mask, you should plan for future expansion. A subnet mask of 255.252.0.0 would work for the 58 subnets, but not for 96 subnets.)

In the troubleshooting section...

Your computer will perform NETBIOS name resolution in the following order: NETBIOS cache, WINS server, broadcasting, LMHOSTS file, HOSTS file, and finally DNS. A helpful way to remember this is the reciting the phrase, "No Where But LA Has Diversity."

Your computer will perform host name resolution in the following order: LocalHostName, HOSTS, DNS, NetBIOS name cache, WINS, Broadcast, and LMHOSTS. A helpful way to remember this is the saying, "Large Hard Drives Never Wear Black Lace."

Here's a quick acid test to help you determine the nature of your problem: If you can't ping a remote computer using its IP address, but you can ping the default gateway address and the addresses of other computers on the remote subnet, the IP configuration on the remote computer is incorrect. If you can't connect to other computers on your subnet, but you can successfully ping 127.0.0.1, your computer is set up with an incorrect subnet mask.

Consider the following: You have the IP Address of 182.48.31.09, a Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.252, and a Default Gateway of 195.49.29.13. Notice that the IP address and default gateway are on different subnets. If a host is not on the same subnet as its default gateway, it may not be able to route packets to a remote network. A subnet mask of 255.255.255.252 creates 62 subnets with 2 hosts per subnet. Therefore, valid Host IDs are: 5-6, 9-10, 13-14, 17-18, 21-22 ...253-254.

LMHOSTS file keywords cannot be used in a HOSTS file. The pound key (#) is used to start a comment in a HOSTS file.

Conclusion

Of course, there are about a thousand other topics that may pop up in Microsoft's adaptive format. Just remember to focus on the main concepts, and you can figure out the rest.