Exam 70-432: Week 1

The first week of class is finished!

After getting through the reading, I installed SQL Server 2008 R2 in a VM and used it to complete the practice exercises in the Carpenter book.

To recap this week's assignments:

• Self-tests for Chapters 2 and 3 in the Horninger book.
• Practice lessons for Chapters 1 and 5 in the Lab Manual (Hotek).
• Post in one or more online forums.
• Take the practice test for the first concept: Install and Configure SQL Server 2008.
• Make this blog entry.

I did well in the tests: 17/20 and 18/20 in the Self-Tests and 92% in the Practice Test. I really aced the Practice Test, because the one question I 'missed' was actually wrong: sp_filestream_configure is obsolete, the command is actually sp_configure filestream_access_level [0|1|2].

Definitely the hardest assignment was making a meaningful post in an online forum. I don't have enough experience to make a significant contribution yet. I did discuss certification training in general (and this class specifically) in SQLServerCentral.com, so I'm going to have to count that.

Starting tomorrow: Maintaining SQL Server Instances

Reading:

• Chapters 13, 14 and 16 in Carpenter.
• Chapter 7 in the Horninger book.

Assignments (due 5/13/2012):

• Self-Test for chapter 7 (Horninger)
• Hotek: Chapter 8. Lesson 1-2; chapter 9, lesson 1-3; chapter 10, lessons 2-4 Practice tests for chapters 8-10
• Post in an online forum
• Summarize the week’s work in a blog entry