- Exam Details
- Trouble Spots / Preparation Hints / Recommended Study Resources
- Exam Objectives / Where to Go from Here
Exam Objectives
The exam objectives are broken up into four different categories. The 74-404 exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.
The objectives for Exam 74-404 as stated by Microsoft are as follows:
Architecting and Designing Microsoft Unified Communications (UC) Voice Solutions
- Given a set of customer requirements, design an appropriate voice architecture solution.
- Given a set of customer requirements, design a conferencing solution.
- Design a dial plan architecture, including dialing, routing, and normalization requirements.
- Design for availability of public switched telephone network (PSTN) connections.
- Identify bandwidth, network, DNS, and certificate requirements for all Office Communication Server 2007 R2 server roles.
- Given a set of remote access requirements, identify the appropriate Microsoft-supported deployment topology.
This objective may include but is not limited to: standard vs. enterprise; design for high availability; design for scalability; placement of Mediation servers and gateways in a global deployment; multi-site vs. single site deployment; plan for front-end load balancing (HNLBs)
This objective may include but is not limited to: language support; scalability; provide usage scenarios; external vs. internal; geographic placement of server roles; geographic placement of dial-in conferencing numbers
This objective may include but is not limited to: single site vs. multi-site and least cost routing; determine class of users; design phone usages and policies
This objective may include but is not limited to: plan for multiple gateways, multiple Mediation servers, and redundant routes; design for high availability; media path resiliency
This objective may include but is not limited to: service bandwidth requirements such as voice and video; media streams (PRIs and/or SIP); codecs; Live Meeting protocols; peer-to-peer bandwidth requirements; MCU traffic flow requirements; required DNS records to support Voice endpoints; existence/use of certified gateways capable of securing voice traffic
This objective may include but is not limited to: Edge topology and differences between OCS 2007 and OCS 2007 R2; consolidated Edge with NAT; A/V Edge scaling
Administer User, Client, and Usage Scenarios
- Configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 client voice capabilities.
- Configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 client conferencing capabilities.
- Deploy and configure Office Communicator 2007 R2 Phone Edition devices.
- Configure and manage user settings for enterprise voice, unified messaging, and dial-in conferencing.
- Configure the Response Group Service.
This objective may include but is not limited to: Team Call, Sim Ring, Delegation, Attendant Console
This objective may include but is not limited to: Outlook Conference Plug-In, Dial-In Conferencing
This objective may include but is not limited to: Office Communicator Phone Edition devices; DNS entries; update process for devices; DHCP scope options
This objective may include but is not limited to: user property settings; required entry format; meeting policy settings; dial plan; enable users for dial-in conferencing
This objective may include but is not limited to: create and manage contact objects, agents, groups, queues, and work flows
Configure servers and components
- Configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 server roles and policies.
- Configure location profiles to support normalization requirements.
- Configure phone usages, policies, and routing to support a voice solution.
- Configure Mediation servers and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)/Media gateways.
- Configure Office Communications Server server roles to support audio/video conferencing, Edge servers, and firewalls.
- Configure Office Communications Server 2007 R2 and Exchange Server Unified Messaging for voice integration.
- Configure Conference Attendant properties.
This objective may include but is not limited to: bandwidth limitations; QoS marking; certificates
This objective may include but is not limited to: build regular expression and address normalization statements; optimize device dialing; external access prefix; internal enterprise extension
This objective may include but is not limited to: restrict long distance; voice routes for least cost routing; route redundancy
This objective may include but is not limited to: SIP trunking and security; NIC configurations; transport protocols; inbound normalization through Mediation server and not needing “+” in source or destination phone numbers; removeplusfromrequestURI
This objective may include but is not limited to: determine media path for remote users; configure Mediation server for A/V Edge; determine media path for PSTN calls
This objective may include but is not limited to: exchucutil.ps1; ocsumutil.exe; SIP secure; dial plan configuration
This objective may include but is not limited to: establish dial in numbers; map dial in numbers to location profiles
Troubleshoot Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Deployments
- Troubleshoot common issues in an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 environment.
- Detect and analyze issues in an Office Communications Server 2007 R2 environment.
- Interpret QoE reports generated by a Monitoring Server.
- Troubleshoot normalization issues.
This objective may include but is not limited to: voice quality issues; dialing issues; audio flow issues; conferencing issues; external access issues
This objective may include but is not limited to: Snooper; DVT; BPA; Validation Wizard; Enterprise Voice Route Helper; Network Monitoring Tool 3.3
This objective may include but is not limited to: identify Voice endpoints that are in use; call detail reports; how to resolve a report that contains a poor MOS score; identify issues between locations
This objective may include but is not limited to: enterprise-level deployment issues; Call Manager; address book normalization; use sample_company_phone numbers file
Where to Go from Here
One of the odd things about Exam 74-404 is that the Microsoft Learning Web site (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?id=74-404#tab1) does not indicate that you actually earn a certification for passing this exam. Even so, the name of the exam (Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2-UC Voice Specialization) implies that passing the exam results in receiving a certification.
Although this exam does not count as credit toward any additional certifications, those who pass Office Communications Server 2007 related exams often go on to take Exchange Server and Active Directory related exams.