70-299: Security Troubleshooter

By Author: qianxun5
Total Articles: 40
Comment this article

You'll need experience with PKI, permissions, patch management, and troubleshooting under Windows 2003 before tackling this security exam.

The latest exam to come from Microsoft is aimed at administrators who deal daily with maintaining security, and it requires specific knowledge and hands-on experience with Windows Server 2003 PKI, permissions, patch management, and troubleshooting. If you're familiar with Exam 70-214, Implementing and Administering Security in a Windows 2000 Network, consider 299 an update of free exam papers.

In this review, I help you prepare by covering some of the objectives as listed in the MCSE Exam preparation guide.

Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting Security Policies
Topics under this objective range from configuring, deploying, and troubleshooting security templates to configuring permissions and security settings on desktop and server computers.

The rule of thumb: Disable unnecessary services. This closes the listening network port and reduces the attack surface of a computer. ...
... Windows Server 2003 has many new security templates and security settings beyond those found in Windows 2000 Server--somewhere close to 600 additional settings. And with the release of SP1 due out this year, security configuration choices of servers will not only become more powerful but also more complex.

Group Policy Objects are where it's at. For almost any size of Windows network, if you have deployed Active Directory, the killer feature is GPO. Security templates are a quick and easy way of securing computers in the domain with common configuration settings. When studying the Products and Technologies link; Windows Server 2003 at the Security Guidance Center, pay particular attention to the different requirements for securing domain controllers, IAS servers, Exchange servers, SQL servers, and IIS servers.

Using GPOs, you can configure desktop and client computers for permissions. One common method among Windows administrators is to assign a user local administrator access to their desktop computer. This allows users to install software and change system settings, but this method can sometimes bite you in the butt!

Windows Server 2003 security templates now include software restriction policies which are a smarter method of allowing users to install and run tested and approved software on their desktop. SRPs are a collection of policies that define what software can run based on group policy security levels. Exceptions can be created based on the hash rule types; certificates, paths, registries, free certification practice questions, and even Internet Explorer zones.