70-413

Designing and Implementing a Server Infrastructure

Focused on the planning, configuration, and implementation of Windows Server 2012 services.

Motivation? My employer is a Microsoft partner and needs one person who has passed MCP 70-413, 70-414, or 70-659 and another engineer who has passed one of 70-410, 70-411, 70-412, 70-417, 70-640, 70-646, 70-647, 70-648, 70-649, 70-690, or 70-691. I elected to do 70-413. (https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/pages/membership/server-platform-competency-requirements-silver.aspx has the gory details.)

Get some bits to play with

This test is all about the Windows Server 2012 product. It's available for a free 180 day evaluation straight from Microsoft. Follow the links at Microsoft's Download Windows Server 2012 page.

Installing those bits on a server

So, chicken and egg problem here. I'm going to need to do a network install somehow -- I don't have any spare servers with DVD drives I can use. I do have plenty of machines that will PXE boot, though, so I'll try to sketch out that process here.