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Microsoft Exam 70-059 tested how to implement and administer TCP/IP on Windows NT Server 4.0. A 1998 study guide by Emmett Dulaney reports a 90-minute exam with 58 questions, a 750-out-of-1,000 passing score, and five subject areas: planning, installation and configuration, connectivity, monitoring and optimization, and troubleshooting. This is historical certification material—not current Microsoft exam preparation. The original article was published February 28, 1998.
Exam 70-059 at a glance
| Item | Historical detail reported in 1998 |
|---|---|
| Full title | Internetworking with Microsoft TCP/IP on Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 |
| Exam number | 70-059 |
| Platform | Windows NT Server 4.0 |
| Time and questions | 90 minutes; 58 questions |
| Passing score | 750 on a 1,000-point scale |
| Subject areas | Planning; Installation and Configuration; Connectivity; Monitoring and Optimization; Troubleshooting |
These are figures and certification descriptions from the period source, not current Microsoft testing policies. The article said the exam could contribute to MCP certification with an Internet specialty, counted as an MCSE elective, and was required for the MCSE Internet specialty it described. Certification requirements have changed since then.
The article characterized the test as mostly multiple choice, often with four options and sometimes five. It described scenario questions, exhibits, and distinctions between required and optional outcomes. Its reported estimate of about 44 correct answers to pass depends on an assumed scoring distribution; the stated score was 750, not a guaranteed fixed number of questions correct. The practical skill was reading the scenario carefully and choosing a configuration that met the requirement without causing a new problem.
1. Planning: understand the network before configuring it
Planning questions drew on the same fundamentals that underlie any IPv4 network: an address identifies a host within a network, a subnet mask divides the network and host portions, and a default gateway provides a path to destinations outside the local subnet. Microsoft’s addressing and subnetting guidance explains these concepts, though it is not NT 4.0 exam documentation.
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IPv4 addresses contain 32 bits and are conventionally written as four decimal octets. The 1998 article uses 192.14.200.2, represented in binary as 11000000.00001110.11001000.00000010. Each octet’s bit positions have values 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, and 1. Candidates needed to recognize how masks marked the network and host portions, and to calculate network, host, and broadcast addresses. A wrong mask can make a host treat a remote destination as local, or otherwise disrupt its use of the gateway. Modern CIDR notation is a useful way to explain masks today, but it should not be mistaken for the exact vocabulary of every 1990s exam question.
Planning also meant matching a technology to the problem. DHCP distributes TCP/IP configuration dynamically; static configuration may be more appropriate where a server or infrastructure role needs a predictable address. DNS resolves TCP/IP host names, while WINS supported NetBIOS name resolution in Windows networks. These services solve different naming problems, not interchangeable versions of one service.
The guide also included Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), then associated with transmitting PPP traffic across TCP/IP networks and emerging VPN use. It mentioned possible use with technologies such as X.25, ISDN, and public switched telephone networks. This is historical context only: PPTP should not be selected for a modern secure VPN deployment.
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Dulaney wrote that more than half the questions concerned TCP/IP installation and configuration. That proportion is the article’s account, not an independently verified exam statistic. The listed topics were subnetting, DHCP, HOSTS and LMHOSTS, DNS, WINS, TCP/IP printing, and SNMP. The test therefore joined protocol knowledge to NT’s particular networking environment.
- DHCP: dynamically supplies address-related TCP/IP settings. Whether it fits depends on the computer’s role and the scenario’s management requirements.
- DNS: resolves host names in TCP/IP networks, including fully qualified names. If access by IP succeeds but a name does not, investigate name resolution rather than assuming the network path itself is broken.
- WINS: supports NetBIOS name resolution in Windows-centric legacy networks. A DNS change does not necessarily resolve a NetBIOS-name problem.
HOSTS: a local static mapping of host names to IP addresses, independent of a DNS lookup but requiring manual upkeep.LMHOSTS: a local file associated with NetBIOS name resolution. It is not the same asHOSTS.- SNMP: network monitoring and management data—not a routing protocol.
- TCP/IP printing: a configuration topic for network printing over TCP/IP. The historical article identifies the subject but does not establish a universal NT 4.0 menu path or printer procedure.
Exact NT 4.0 steps can vary with the edition, service pack, adapter driver, and hardware. For period procedures, consult the Windows NT Server 4.0 Networking Supplement rather than silently applying instructions for later Windows releases.
3. Connectivity: identify where communication stops
A useful way to reason through a connectivity scenario is to move from the local machine outward, separating addressing, routing, naming, and application behavior:
- Verify local configuration. Check the intended adapter’s IP address, mask, gateway, and protocol configuration. On a multihomed computer, confirm which interface the scenario concerns.
- Decide whether the destination should be local. Use the address and mask to determine whether traffic belongs on the local subnet or needs a router. A mistaken mask can send a host down the wrong path.
- Test the gateway and routes. If the destination is remote, examine the gateway and routing information. A configured gateway that is not reachable on the local network is not a usable path.
- Test by IP address before diagnosing names. If a connection works by IP but fails by host name, focus on name resolution. Then distinguish DNS names from NetBIOS names and consider DNS, WINS,
HOSTS, orLMHOSTSas appropriate. - Check the actual service. A failed ping does not prove every TCP or UDP application service is unavailable. ICMP reachability and application availability are separate tests.
This is a conceptual diagnostic sequence, not a claim that modern Windows tools or interfaces were present in NT 4.0. Microsoft’s current TCP/IP troubleshooting guidance likewise illustrates staged testing, but its procedures target later supported Windows environments.
4. Monitoring and optimization: observe versus route
The guide’s examples help separate functions that can otherwise blur together. SNMP supplies monitoring and management information. RIP for IP exchanges routing information and can update routing tables. DNS and WINS resolve different kinds of names; DHCP supplies configuration. Identifying which function a question asks about is often the first step to eliminating plausible but irrelevant answers.
One sample scenario described an NT server with three network cards. Each interface needed an appropriate IP address for the server to route TCP/IP packets among its networks. The article says that SNMP could be appropriate in the scenario, but automatic routing-table updates required installing RIP for IP. That is a description of the particular exam example, not a rule that every NT network required RIP. Static routes offer more direct administrative control; a routing protocol reduces manual route maintenance but has its own limitations.
The same article cautions that its scenarios focused on core products rather than service packs and add-ons. It specifically mentions Routing and Remote Access Service in Service Pack 3 as outside the assumed scope. For a historical question, do not introduce a later feature unless the scenario explicitly includes it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.5. Troubleshooting: choose the smallest correction that fits
For each scenario, first identify the layer implicated by the evidence. Ask whether the failure is in local configuration, subnet choice, routing, name resolution, or the service itself. Prefer the least-invasive change that satisfies the stated result, and account for required as well as optional outcomes.
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- Local machines communicate, remote ones do not: verify the mask, gateway, and route before changing name services.
- An IP address works but a host name fails: investigate the relevant name-resolution mechanism. Determine whether the failed name is a DNS host name or a NetBIOS name.
- A DNS name works but a NetBIOS name fails: look at WINS or
LMHOSTS, rather than assuming DNS is broken. - One network card works and another does not: check that each interface has appropriate configuration for its connected network and consider multihomed routing behavior.
- A gateway is configured but remote access fails: confirm the gateway is on the local subnet and that a route exists for the destination.
- Ping fails but an application appears reachable: do not treat ICMP as a complete measure of service availability. Conversely, successful ping does not prove a particular application is correctly configured.
Exhibits and small details matter: the apparent symptom may not be the root cause. A good answer should fit the stated NT 4.0 product assumptions, not depend on a later add-on or a modern Windows control panel.
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Period study resources and what remains useful
The original 1998 article is valuable as a contemporaneous account of the exam’s structure and emphasis. Microsoft Press published MCSE Readiness Review Exam 70-059: Internetworking with TCP/IP on Windows NT 4.0; an archived Microsoft knowledge-base correction notice records comments and corrections for the book (ISBN 0-7356-0540-8). Bibliographic records also identify period study guides from Richard Burke and Mohammad Fatmi and an Exam 70-59 guide. Availability of these books may vary.
For comparison rather than exam preparation, Microsoft’s TCP/IP Fundamentals material covers later Windows versions and includes concepts such as IPv6. It is not an NT 4.0 guide. Historical research or maintenance of an isolated legacy system calls for period documentation; modern networking study calls for current documentation and practices, not a 1990s certification guide.
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