Certifiable Q&A for September 8, 2000

Welcome to Certifiable, your exam prep headquarters. Here you'll find questions about some of the tricky areas that are fair game for the certification exams. Following the questions, you'll find the correct answers and explanatory text. We change the questions biweekly.

Test Questions (September 8, 2000)
Test Answers (September 8, 2000)

Questions (September 8, 2000)

Let's look at some questions similar to the ones you will see on the elective Exam 70-216, Implementing and Administering a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure (for more questions for Exam 70-216, see the August 25 Certifiable column. Although Exam 70-216 is an elective for both the Windows NT 4.0 and Win2K MCSE programs, it focuses strictly on Win2K. If you take Exam 70-059 as an elective, remember that its objectives relate to how TCP/IP services work on NT 4.0.

A significant change in Win2K is its integration of DNS and DHCP. DNS is now the primary means of resolving a human-readable computer name into a "dotted" IP address; DHCP now allocates those IP addresses automatically. Because of the increased use of these two services, two main objectives for Exam 70-216 are "Install, configure, and troubleshoot DNS" and "Install, configure, and troubleshoot DHCP."

Let's start with two questions about a new feature in Win2K, dynamic DNS (DDNS). (Note: You can find the answers to all three questions in the Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC)—Course 2153, Implementing a Microsoft Windows 2000 Network Infrastructure.)

Question 1

Which two events occur in dynamic DNS (DDNS)? (Choose 2)

For the correct answer and an explanation, see the Answers section.

Question 2

How do you configure a Windows 98 computer to use dynamic DNS (DDNS)?

For the correct answer and an explanation, see the Answers section.

Question 3
This question seems simple, but the key is to know why the correct answers are correct answers and why they are important. In many cases, if you don't know the correct answer but you do understand how things work, you can eliminate obviously wrong choices and have better odds of determining the correct answer. For this one, after you read the answer, see whether you can explain to someone why the seemingly plausible wrong answers are incorrect.

What are three types of scopes available in Windows 2000 DHCP? (Choose 3)

For the correct answer and an explanation, see the Answers section.

Answers (September 8, 2000)

Answer to Question 1
The correct answers are B—the DHCP client automatically updates an A resource record on the DNS server; and D—the DHCP server updates the PTR record in DNS.

Win2K DNS services support three types of zones: standard primary, standard secondary, and Active Directory (AD) integrated. A standard primary zone is the master copy of the zone database and is stored as a standard text file in the System32DNS folder. A standard secondary zone is a read-only copy (or replica) of the master database. AD integrated zones are stored in AD and are replicated during AD replication.

Two events trigger zone transfers in DNS: a master server sends a change notification to the secondary servers, or a secondary server queries the master for changes in the master database. Win2K DNS includes the ability to accept dynamic updates rather than just manual updates to the zone database. When a DHCP server leases an address to a client, the client automatically updates the A record on the DNS server and the DHCP server automatically updates the PTR record in DNS.

Answer to Question 2
The correct answer is C—upgrade the machine to Win2K Pro.

With the introduction of dynamic DNS (DDNS), you can configure DHCP servers to automatically update a specified DNS zone upon leasing an IP address. When DDNS is enabled on the DHCP console, the DHCP server is set to "Update according to client request," which updates the PTR record while the DHCP client updates the A record. If you want, you can configure the DHCP server to "Always update forward and reverse lookups," which updates both the A and the PTR record.

However, the only way for a Win98 computer to update the DNS server automatically is through the DHCP server, never directly. Only Win2K machines can update DNS directly and only if dynamic updates are allowed on that server. Therefore, there is no way to use DDNS with Win98.

Answer to Question 3
The correct answers are B—scopes; C—superscopes; and D—multicast scopes.

After you create and authorize a DHCP server, you're ready to create scopes, which you do from the DHCP console using the Create Scope Wizard. A scope will have a number of parameters, including name, the address range it services, subnet mask, address exclusions, and lease duration. Using scope options, you can also specify that configuration information be delivered with the IP address. The most common options include gateway address, domain name, and DNS and WINS server IP addresses. Other scope options that you can set include the type of NetBIOS over TCP/IP name resolution and the local NetBIOS scope ID.

You create superscopes by grouping two or more scopes so that you can manage them as one entity.

Multicast scopes issue multicast addresses to selected computers on the network to facilitate collaborative applications, such as audio and conferencing technologies.