Introduction
This book is primarily intended to help you prepare for Exam 70-332, “Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013,” but it’s also intended to be a reference that you can consult during your experiences with SharePoint Server 2013. In many cases, the steps to perform a task are shown to help you feel comfortable with related questions on the exam as well provide a reference on how to perform the task in a real-life situation.
The level of detail in this book will often exceed what’s required on the exam because of the very nature of it being an advanced solutions exam. This doesn’t mean you won’t come up with specific questions about the steps required to perform a task or requirements needed to install a service application. It does mean, however, that you don’t need to focus on being able to spell out a command correctly or know exactly what parameter to pass it. You should focus on the concepts, the overall steps involved with a task, and the components needed for a solution. If you focus on these concepts and go through the tasks in this book, you will be well on your way to passing the exam.
This book is generally intended for exam candidates that have four or more years working with SharePoint Server and related technologies, such as SQL Server and Windows Server. Candidates should have hands-on experience with a multi-server SharePoint farm in the capacities of planning, implementing, and maintaining. This includes, but isn’t limited to, the areas of high availability, disaster recovery, capacity planning, and exposure to SharePoint Online. Despite having multiple years of experience with a multi-server SharePoint farm, that you will have experience with all the technologies covered by the exam is doubtful; you should focus on the areas to which you have the least exposure. Also, any feature that has been added to SharePoint Server 2013 will likely receive additional coverage on the exam.
This book will help you prepare for the exam, but nothing can take the place of real-life experience. In an effort to make the exams closer to measuring knowledge of the product, they are going more and more to case studies and getting away from simple multiple-choice questions. You’ll still see a number of traditional multiple-choice questions, but you’ll also see questions where you have to place steps in order and questions where you have to choose the right set of items from a large list of possible items. In these cases, practicing the actual implementation of the functionality covered in this book will help you far more than just trying to memorize what is involved.
This book covers every exam objective, but it does not cover every exam question. Only the Microsoft exam team has access to the exam questions themselves and Microsoft regularly adds new questions to the exam, making it impossible to cover specific questions. You should consider this book a supplement to your relevant real-world experience and other study materials. If you encounter a topic in this book that you do not feel completely comfortable with, use the links you’ll find in text to find more information and take the time to research and study the topic. Great information is available on MSDN, TechNet, and in blogs and forums.
Microsoft certifications
Microsoft certifications distinguish you by proving your command of a broad set of skills and experience with current Microsoft products and technologies. The exams and corresponding certifications are developed to validate your mastery of critical competencies as you design and develop, or implement and support, solutions with Microsoft products and technologies both on-premise and in the cloud. Certification brings a variety of benefits to the individual and to employers and organizations.
More Info: All Microsoft certifications
For information about Microsoft certifications, including a full list of available certifications, go to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-default.aspx.
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank the following people. I would like to especially thank Stepha, Maxson, and Carianna Doyle for being so patient with their father through this process. Also, I would like to thank Dr. L.J. Geiken for putting up with me being book-focused for so long and for being a great partner. I would finally like to thank the following people in the SharePoint community for encouraging my efforts (even if they didn’t realize they were doing it): Dan Holme, Randy Williams, Debbie Ireland, Nick Hadlee, Brian Farnhill, and Christian Buckley.
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