Field note / 28 March 2011
Exam 70 667 notes, part two: configuration practice
Reading about a configuration screen is not the same as using it. The second stage is a lab with a purpose.
Once the study map exists, the next step is to make the material physical. A lab does not need to be elaborate. It needs to reproduce the decisions the exam is likely to test and give you a safe place to make mistakes.
For SharePoint 2010 configuration, that means building a small farm, creating a web application, provisioning a site collection and working through a service application from beginning to end. The goal is not speed. It is a clear picture of what each step changes.
Make the lab explain itself
Before each exercise, write the expected result. After the exercise, record the actual result and the point where your expectation was wrong. That difference is the study material. Repeating a successful click path without reflection produces familiarity, not understanding.
Include one failure in each session. Remove a permission, point a service at the wrong database or create a duplicate object. The recovery path is often where the real learning sits, and it is usually the part that a book cannot give you.
The short list
Checks worth running
- Write the expected result before every lab exercise.
- Record the exact point where the result differed from the expectation.
- Practise one failure and recovery in each session.
A lab is valuable when it produces questions. The second part of the plan is working through those questions until the configuration stops feeling like a sequence of screens.
Outside reading
Reference shelf
Official documentation and independent community reading for the subjects in this note.
- Microsoft Learn: SharePoint administration (opens in a new tab)Operational guidance for service settings, site management and the modern admin experience.
- Microsoft Learn: SharePoint documentation (opens in a new tab)The starting point for current SharePoint administration, development and hybrid guidance.
- Microsoft Support (opens in a new tab)Support articles, troubleshooting steps and product help from Microsoft.
- Microsoft Learn: PowerShell documentation (opens in a new tab)Language reference, cmdlet documentation and guidance for repeatable automation.
- Microsoft Learn Q&A (opens in a new tab)A community question and answer space hosted by Microsoft.
- SharePoint Stack Exchange (opens in a new tab)An independent question and answer community for SharePoint practitioners.
- Microsoft Tech Community (opens in a new tab)Community discussion, product announcements and practical posts from Microsoft teams.
- Microsoft Download Center (opens in a new tab)Official downloads for Microsoft tools, updates and supporting packages.
- Microsoft Learn: Windows Server documentation (opens in a new tab)Current guidance for Windows Server roles, networking, storage and management.
- Microsoft Learn: SQL Server documentation (opens in a new tab)Official reference material for database engine configuration, performance and recovery.
- Microsoft Learn: SharePoint search (opens in a new tab)Documentation for search architecture, crawling and result management.
- Microsoft Learn: Microsoft 365 documentation (opens in a new tab)Product documentation for Microsoft 365 services, administration and adoption.
- PowerShell Gallery (opens in a new tab)A public repository for PowerShell modules and scripts. Review package provenance before use.
- Microsoft Learn: Server memory configuration (opens in a new tab)How SQL Server allocates memory and how the maximum server memory setting is applied.
- Microsoft Learn: Soft NUMA in SQL Server (opens in a new tab)Background on SQL Server NUMA configuration for large processor layouts.