Analyzing Technical Requirements
This objective should be pretty straightforward if you've already passed your core exams. You'll be evaluating and making recommendations about a company's network. Factors that will affect your recommendations will include the following:
Company size
Connectivity between the company networks
Bandwidth between company locations
Performance requirements
Resource access
Roles and responsibilities: Administrative, user, service, resource ownership, and applications.
As you can see, there are many variables under this objective. If you're weak on any of these, brush up on them prior to the exam. In particular, know how to determine bandwidth and optimize communication between sites. You should also spend some time controlling security on folders, files, and printers. Know the rules of Share permissions versus NTFS permissions.
In the case studies, you'll be tasked with implementing security. Your decision-making ability will be needed here. A too-tight security model may restrict users from completing their work assignments; too loose, and mayhem ensues. A happy medium is needed. A gradual implementation as the network grows may be more effective than a sudden, drastic security model.
NOTE
Study Hint: Know how to determine network bandwidth and how it can be optimized—especially between sites. Think also of the placement of global catalog servers, domain controllers, and DNS servers in a WAN environment.