Hi Ekah,
I'm not sure if you have access to the E-Reference
library that we received earlier ( http://microsofteref.books24x7.com
), but this is a good resource for learning more about a lot of the
technologies that are used in the various rounds. The books are
usually more focused to the basic information that an administrator
needs to know, but if you are in a pinch, Technet is a good resource.
To help keep information overload from occurring with Technet, I'd
cross reference topics with the certifications and exam objectives that
Microsoft offers
(http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/cert-overview.aspx#tab4).
If you have the resources, certification tests are a good way to
validate what you know from studying independently.
I've used
Technet in the past when I haven't found a book on a particular subject
or for really new technologies. In terms of what to study, I'd look at
it from the high level perspective of a business and how they would
probably set up their IT systems if they were keeping a homogeneous
Windows network. Blogs and webcasts are also good. This would probably
involve some or all of the following:
- Desktop systems for employees (Windows XP/Vista/7 and Microsoft Office)
- Servers (Windows Server 200x)
- Web sites/Collaboration (SharePoint, IIS 7, ASP.Net)
- Authentication and Directory Services (Active Directory)
- Messaging (Office Communications Server and Exchange Server)
- Databases (SQL Server 200x)
- Content protection (AD Rights Management Services)
- Security (AD Certificate Services, Microsoft Forefront, Windows Firewall, Group Policies)
- Server consolidation (Hyper-V)
- High availability (Microsoft Cluster Service and Hyper-V)
- General system/network management (AD Group Policy, System Center suite)
- Basic networking and services like DNS, DHCP
-
Look at the learning plan for the IT challenge too, these are the
technologies to know (or know their current versions for next year's
challenge) -
http://learning.microsoft.com/manager/LearningPlanV2.aspx?resourceId={eabf8f48-733c-4842-b306-7834130314d7}&clang=en-US
-
I'm sure there are a lot of topics that I missed above, but hopefully
someone else will brainstorm a little more and reply to this post.
One
of the major things to keep in mind is that there is a lot more to IT
than the technology, so it is important to think about the business
requirements that drive the deployment of a lot of these technologies
and to understand it from an operations management point of view. There
are also a lot of other implications that IT has (Budget/Finance, Human
Resources, Legal, etc) that should be considered (historically more
relevant for round 2 than round 1). I would also explore some of the
strategies that Microsoft and some other organizations have developed
like the Microsoft Operations Framework
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc506049.aspx) and the
Microsoft Infrastructure Optimization
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/infrastructure/default.aspx).
If
you want to have a bit of hands on experience, Microsoft gives a bit of
software for free
(https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/ProductList.aspx). If your
university has MSDNAA, that is a potential source, and then if you
still can't find something, try using a trial version, since even a 30
day trial is sufficient to learn a piece of software. If you have some
hardware, I would set up a few systems, but if you only have 1 or 2
systems (preferably multi-processor with a good amount of RAM), I would
set up virtual machines with either Hyper-V (if your base system is
Windows Server 2008 x64) or something like VMWare or Virtualbox if you
are using a UNIX/Linux based system. I've found that I can get by well
with a dual quad-core Xeon system with 4GB of ram and about 100GB+40GB
per virtual machine of disk space. Finally, if the IT department of
your university takes on student employees or interns, it might be good
to try to apply for a student position or see if they would be willing
to take on a motivated student to help out.
There aren't a
lot of other competitions or quizzes that I know of that stress
Microsoft technologies like the Imagine Cup, but I'd search the
internet and you might find some sites that offer free practice tests.
Anyway, best of luck and I hope this information helps.
Mike Burr