The Microsoft MS-200: Planning & Configuring a Messaging Platform exam is aimed at those individualswho work as Messaging Administrators. These professionals deploy, manage, configure, monitor, and troubleshoot recipients, mail protection, permissions, mail flow, and public folders in Cloud and on-premises enterprise environments. These administrators have the responsibility of managing hygiene, hybrid configuration, disaster recovery, messaging infrastructure, high availability, client access, and migration. They also team up with the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrators and Security Administrators to implement secure hybrid topology that fulfills the business requirements of modern organizations.
To take the Microsoft MS-200 exam, it is recommended that the students have the working knowledge of authentication types, licensing, as well as integration with M365 applications. This test is the first step for earning the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate certification. The candidates for this credential are also required to pass Microsoft MS-201, which is the second exam that fulfills the requirements for this certificate. Microsoft MS-200 is available in English and the test takers have to pay the fee of $165 when registering for the certification exam click here .
Overview of Microsoft MS-200 Certification Exam Topics
The MS-200 exam has about 40-60 questions that you need to finish within 150 minutes. It is designed to evaluate tone’s ability to accomplish certain technical tasks, which include managing a modern messaging infrastructure, managing recipients & devices, and managing mail flow topology. The exam objectivesareenumerated in detail below.
- Managing Modern Messaging Infrastructure: 45 – 50%
This topic carries the highest percentage of the whole test, which means it will cover a larger part of the questions during the exam. For this topic, the candidates are expected to know how to manage databases. This includes planning mailbox database requirements, creating, configuring, and troubleshooting mailbox database. Moreover, you need to be versed in the management of Database Availability Groups. This entails planning DAGs settings & members; creating DAG; managing DAG members; deploying & managing site resilience; testing database & data center failover scenario; troubleshooting DAG problems; evaluating Exchange services health.
The students taking the Microsoft MS-200 exam will also be evaluated on the ability to implement and manage client access. This includes planning namespaces& high availability for the client access; configuring virtual directories & URLs, global OWA (Outlook Web App) policies, and client access policies. The candidates will also be evaluated on the skills and knowledge pertaining to configuring Autodiscover for Exchange, managing the Exchange certificate lifestyle, and troubleshooting for client access connectivity issues.
In this topic, the skills of examiners will also be measured in other areas, including their ability to manage disaster recovery and messaging infrastructure lifecycle. This covers the skills involved in planning backup & recovery strategy; performing and implementing backups; restoring servers, mailboxes, and databases. The individuals will also be evaluated based on their skills to prepare AD (Active Directory) for Exchange; plan Exchange Server installation; install & update Exchange services.
- Managing Mail Flow Topology: 35 – 40%
This topic covers a range of subtopics that the test takers must also understand before attempting the exam. For instance, the candidates should be able to plan the transport pipeline. Here, their skills will be measured based on planning transport architecture &high availability mail flow solutions and designing for multi-site mail flow. Additionally, they will be tested on their ability to manage connectors. This entails planning& configuringthem and creating Send & Receive connectors.
The skills of students will also be measured with regard to managing mail flow. The candidates should be able to manage domains& transports rules and implement multi-site mail flow. Another knowledge that will be evaluated under this subject is the skills in troubleshooting mail flow issues. You must understand the process involved in validating inbound and outbound mail flow; examining message trace; investigating transport logs; monitoring mail flow; configuring message tracking; handling Non-Deliverable Reports; analyzing message headers with the remote connectivity analyzer.
- Managing Recipients & Devices: 15 – 20%
Although this has the lowest percentage among the subjects, it is nonetheless important. The applicants should also develop competence in the subtopics associated with these exam objectives. The questions that will be administered under this topic will cover a wide range of components. These include managing archive mailboxes, groups, resource mailboxes, mailboxes, mailbox permissions, and shared mailboxes. The students will also be evaluated on their ability to configure mailbox permissions & mailbox policies and evaluate license alternatives. Additionally, they will be tested on the skills associated with managing mobile devices such as configuring mobile devices mailbox policies and managing mobile device access.
Preparation Tools for Microsoft MS-200 Exam
There are many prep tools that you can use for your Microsoft MS-200. The first step in your preparation process is to understand the exam topics. There are different ways to do this. Microsoft recommends some training courses that you can go through to help you master the content of the subjects. There are also different options for training, which are flexible enough to fit your schedule. There is the self-paced training that allows you to take the courses at your own pace. There are also instructor-led training courses, which can be in-person or on-demand. As mentioned, your choice depends largely on your work and personal schedule. You can choose the option that fits your learning style.
Another prep tool that is very crucial to your exam prep is practice tests. You have to take some full-length practice questions to get familiar with the exam pattern. To get the best of practice questions, you should check the Exam-Labs website. The platform also has other materials that will help you to prepare with great deliberation for Microsoft MS-200.
Conclusion
As you see, there are only three main topics in the exam but there are a lot more of the subtopics that you will need to cover in order to pass this certification test with flying colors. The reliable and up-to-date materials will help you with this, use them for Microsoft MS-200 and Microsoft MS-201 to attain the Microsoft 365 Certified: Messaging Administrator Associate credential.