Preparing for MB2-867 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Installation and Deployment

It’s been five years since I sat the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 exams about time that I updated my certifications for CRM 2011. So today I sat the MB2-867 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation and Deployment exam and thought I’d share my experience with you in the hope that it will help you pass first time (and get a higher score than me).

Preparing for the Exam

Firstly, if you’re preparing for the exam there are several options available to help you learn the material.

1. Classroom training – lots of Microsoft training partners offer classroom-training that uses the official syllabus, virtual machine labs and courseware to provide you with a comprehensive training package. The best bit about classroom training is that you’re likely to work with a very experienced instructor who has lots of hands-on, real-life experience and the opportunity to meet other students. You’ll get to focus on the content and most courses have a very high exam pass rate. Search for 80296A: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Installation and Deployment to find a training provider near you.
2. E-learning – Microsoft offers lots of e-learning content. This is similar to the classroom-training but without the instructor. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find out how to access the e-learning course for 80296AE.
3. Official courseware – the official courseware is only available to Microsoft partners and customers who have purchased a Microsoft Dynamics service plan through either PartnerSource or CustomerSource. I wish Microsoft would provide it free of charge to anyone who needed it, but I understand Microsoft needs to recoup the investment they make in the training material.
4. Other material – some of the published CRM 2011 books are useful and the CRM 2011 Implementation Guide is very relevant to this exam but none of these resources is enough on their own if you want to pass first time.

The Exam Experience

Microsoft exams were previously available through two exam providers, but now only Prometric provides Microsoft exams. Coincidentally, the price went up from £88 to £99 after Prometric was awarded a monopoly.

I booked my exam through the Prometric website for the nearest exam centre with an available slot. Unfortunately, the Prometric website is very basic and doesn’t offer any useful features such as ‘Where is my nearest center?’ or a map so you just have to search through the list of exam centres by city then check availability. It took me just over an hour to book my three exams. You’ll have to go through the entire procedure again and pay a rescheduling fee (£20) if you change your mind later.

My exam was in the exam centre at QA Ltd in King William Street in London at 10am and scheduled to last three hours. The exam room was a cupboard with three computers screened-off from each other. My possessions were safely locked away outside; you’re not allowed to bring any notes or take any notes away.

After accepting lots of disclaimers and policies that I didn’t read reads, I started the exam. I had 170 minutes to answer 74 multiple choice questions. Most questions required one correct answer from four options (radio buttons) but about 10 questions asked me to select all the correct options (check boxes). The questions asked are selected at random from a question pool so your questions might be different from my questions.

Exam Topics

The questions seemed not quite random but grouped together from the following topics:

Planning the Installation

• Some questions on privileges for the installation user.
• Some questions on where each component is installed. Know the difference between the Reporting Extensions and Report Authoring Extension. Learn a little about AD FS for claims-based authentication (e.g. its installation location).
• Lots of questions on software versions – operating system, database server, browser, Office, SharePoint, 32/64-bit compatibility – for CRM server, e-mail router, CRM for Outlook.
• Some questions on SSL and IFD which required more Windows networking knowledge than I had expected (DNS, host headers, ports, etc.) but only one on claims-based authentication.
• A few of questions on licensing – Server/Workgroup and User/Device CALs.
• I don’t recall any questions on hardware requirements, Active Directory modes, or Deployment Manager.

Installing CRM 2011 Server

• Some questions on the web components and Windows services and the accounts used to run them.
• Some questions on the AD security groups. Know how to specify custom security groups.
• One or two questions on Windows role services and features installed by CRM setup but no other components such as Windows components or .NET framework components.
• There were one or two questions on the sequence of steps required when planning and installing CRM software. You don’t need to memorise all the steps in detail, but you’ll need to know the correct sequence and be able to identify procedures that are not required.
• There were no questions about troubleshooting, except for one question about which deployment pattern to consider if there was a performance problem with asynchronous jobs on a single, full-server deployment.

Installing CRM 2011 E-mail Router

• Some questions on which operating systems support the CRM 2011 E-mail Router and about configuring incoming and outgoing profiles but not much else.

Installing and Deploying CRM 2011 for Outlook

• There seemed to be quite a few questions on the supported operating systems and Office versions for CRM for Outlook and Offline Access. Get to know the Offline Access constraints.
• There were one or two questions about alternative deployment methods such as using a configuration file, Group Policy and systems management software.

Configuring CRM 2011

• As I mentioned, there were quite a few questions about IFD one or two about claims-based authentication so at least get to know the theory even if you’ve never deployed CRM 2011 with claims-based authentication.
• There were also one or two questions about high-availability deployments (e.g. using load balanced web servers and clustered database servers).

Upgrading To and Redeploying CRM 2011

• There were quite a few questions about upgrading from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011 so get to know the sequence of steps and the constraints. And you’ll need to be familiar with the procedures for importing an organisation using the Deployment Manager both for redeploying CRM 2011 orgs as well as the upgrade options (in-place, migrate and connect to existing deployment).

This article was inspired by Richard Knudson’s similar article on preparing for exam MB2-866 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Customization and Configuration. Thanks Richard.