70-342 Exam Guide: Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013
Exam 70-342 validated advanced administration and solution design skills for Microsoft Exchange Server 2013. It served experienced Exchange professionals rather than beginners, and Microsoft presented it alongside 70-341 in preparation for the MCSE: Messaging certification. The key decision now is whether you are pursuing a historical Exchange credential, documenting legacy-platform knowledge, or choosing a current Microsoft role-based path. This guide helps you assess that choice, organize Exchange 2013 study, and avoid treating unofficial question collections as a substitute for product knowledge.
What did 70-342 validate?
70-342 was titled “Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013.” Microsoft described it as intended for people experienced with Exchange Server 2013, with coverage presented alongside 70-341, “Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013.” The exam therefore belonged to an advanced Exchange administration and design track, not an entry-level introduction to messaging. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/ignite-2015/brk3909]
The available Microsoft material does not provide a current skills-measured page, percentage blueprint, question count, passing score, exam duration, language list, or delivery format for 70-342. Those details should not be inferred from third-party listings. Before scheduling anything, verify the exam’s status and availability through Microsoft Learn rather than relying on a page that presents old catalogue information as current.
The exam’s historical certification context matters. Microsoft stated that 70-341 and 70-342 were required for the MCSE: Messaging certification at the time of the 2015 preparation session. A later Microsoft mapping table associated 70-342 with the Messaging Administrator role-based certification path requiring MS-200 and MS-201. That mapping is useful for career context, but it is not a claim that 70-342 remains an available route today. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/ignite-2015/brk3909] [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/posts/mapping-microsoft-70-xxx-exams-to-new-role-based-certifications]
Who should consider studying this exam?
The best fit is an administrator, consultant, or engineer who already understands Exchange Server 2013 and wants to organize advanced operational knowledge. Microsoft’s own exam-preparation session explicitly targeted candidates experienced with Exchange Server 2013. A person who has only read introductory messaging material should first build fundamentals before attempting advanced troubleshooting, resilience, security, and deployment scenarios. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/ignite-2015/brk3909]
Use a simple relevance test before investing time. Can you explain how an Exchange 2013 organization is prepared, how mail flows between components, how permissions affect administration, and how high availability changes recovery decisions? Can you work through PowerShell-based administration rather than only clicking through the Exchange admin center? If several answers are no, study the platform first and postpone exam-specific revision.
The exam is more defensible as a learning target when your work includes legacy Exchange 2013 estates, migration planning, incident response, or documentation of historical Microsoft skills. It is a weaker choice when your actual objective is a current cloud messaging credential. In that case, use Microsoft’s role-based mapping as a starting point, then confirm the current certification requirements directly with Microsoft because the mapping page is historical. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/posts/mapping-microsoft-70-xxx-exams-to-new-role-based-certifications]
Which Exchange 2013 subjects deserve priority?
Start with the official Exchange 2013 documentation categories and turn each into an applied study question. The documentation covers planning and deployment, permissions, messaging policy and compliance, anti-spam and anti-malware protection, mail flow, recipients, collaboration, email addresses and address books, sharing, clients and mobile, Unified Messaging, mailbox and Client Access servers, Edge Transport, high availability and site resilience, PowerShell, the Exchange admin center, and server health and performance. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Do not give every topic equal study time. Prioritize subjects that require architectural judgment: deployment prerequisites and Active Directory preparation; mail-flow design and diagnosis; permissions and administrative boundaries; protection and compliance controls; client connectivity; server roles and dependencies; health and performance; and high availability or site resilience. These areas force you to connect configuration choices with operational outcomes.
Use the Exchange 2013 technical articles as supporting reading rather than as a replacement for hands-on work. Microsoft describes those articles as resources for managing an Exchange Server 2013 environment, while the main help content provides the broader product structure. Read an article only after identifying a concrete question, such as why a configuration is required, what dependency it has, or how you would validate the result. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/technical-articles/exchange-server-2013-technical-articles]
Deployment and directory preparation
Microsoft’s recommended Exchange 2013 preparation sequence includes system requirements, prerequisites, Active Directory and domain preparation, installation through the Setup wizard or unattended mode, and post-installation tasks. Study this as a dependency chain. For each stage, record prerequisites, expected changes, validation steps, and the failure symptoms that would tell you the previous stage was incomplete. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
A common mistake is memorizing installation commands without understanding why the order matters. Build a deployment checklist from the official documentation and annotate it with questions: what must be prepared before setup, which permissions are needed, what should be checked before proceeding, and which post-installation tasks establish a usable service? Microsoft also advises reading Exchange 2013 release notes before deployment, so include release-note review in your process. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Mail flow, protection, and policy
Treat mail flow as a path to trace, not a list of isolated features. Map senders, recipients, connectors, transport components, filtering controls, accepted domains, and policy decisions. Then practice explaining where a message should go, where it could be rejected or delayed, and which evidence would distinguish a configuration problem from a service-health problem.
The documentation separates messaging policy and compliance, anti-spam and anti-malware protection, and mail flow into distinct categories. Keep those boundaries visible in your notes, but connect them in scenarios. For example, ask whether a requirement is about routing, content control, sender reputation, recipient management, or audit and compliance. This prevents the common error of applying a transport setting to a policy problem. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Availability, resilience, and recovery decisions
High availability and site resilience are named top-level Exchange 2013 subject areas, so study the difference between keeping service available and recovering from a site-level failure. Draw the components involved, identify the failure domain, and state what continues automatically, what requires administration, and what evidence confirms that recovery is complete. Do not reduce resilience to a product-feature vocabulary exercise. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
For each scenario, write a decision record with four parts: business impact, affected Exchange components, immediate containment, and longer-term corrective action. This approach is more useful than copying definitions because advanced questions typically require selecting a sequence of actions under constraints. Keep separate notes for data protection, service continuity, and site recovery; they overlap, but they are not interchangeable goals.
PowerShell and administrative tools
Exchange 2013 includes guidance for using PowerShell through the Exchange Management Shell, as well as guidance for the Exchange admin center. Study both interfaces, but make PowerShell the more deliberate part of your practice: read commands, identify the object being changed, predict the effect, and describe how you would verify the result. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Avoid passive command memorization. Create small repeatable exercises around recipients, permissions, mail flow, health checks, and configuration inspection. For every command, record its purpose, important parameters, scope, expected output, and rollback or correction method. If you cannot explain what a command changes and how you would validate it, you have recognized syntax rather than learned administration.
How should you prepare without relying on dumps?
Use official documentation to learn the platform, a lab or controlled practice environment to test decisions, and self-written scenarios to check whether you can reason under constraints. Dumps may expose answer patterns without teaching why an option is correct, and leaked or memorized material cannot establish durable Exchange competence. No question collection guarantees a passing result; preparation should remain tied to documented product behavior.
A productive study loop has five steps: choose one domain, read the relevant Microsoft material, perform or simulate a configuration, troubleshoot a deliberately altered state, and explain the result in your own words. Finish by writing a short runbook. The runbook should contain prerequisites, implementation actions, validation evidence, likely faults, and a safe recovery path.
The Microsoft exam-preparation session promised topic review, test-taking techniques, and resources for candidates experienced with Exchange 2013. Use that as a cue to combine technical study with decision practice, but do not treat a presentation from 2015 as a current exam blueprint. The supplied sources do not publish 70-342 domain weights, so no percentage-based study allocation can be stated responsibly. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/ignite-2015/brk3909]
Build a lab that answers questions
A useful lab is not merely an installation that works once. Give it a purpose: directory preparation, mail-flow validation, permissions testing, client access, protection behavior, or resilience analysis. Keep a change log and capture the expected result before each change. When a test fails, preserve the failure long enough to identify the dependency rather than immediately rebuilding everything.
Microsoft’s Exchange 2013 help points candidates toward planning and deployment material and a Deployment Assistant that asks questions and produces a customized deployment checklist. Use that checklist structure for your own lab notes. It encourages you to account for requirements, prerequisites, installation method, post-installation work, and release-note review instead of treating setup as a single step. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Turn documentation into scenario drills
Write scenarios with a stated objective and a restriction. Examples include restoring mail flow without changing unrelated policy, granting administration without excessive privilege, preparing a new organization safely, or maintaining service during a component failure. For each scenario, list the first check, the likely cause, the least disruptive action, and the validation command or observation you would use next.
Review your answer by asking whether it respects dependencies. A technically plausible action can still be wrong if it is premature, too broad, or aimed at the wrong layer. This is where official documentation is most valuable: it supplies the supported sequence and product boundaries against which you can test your reasoning.
Use practice questions as a diagnostic tool
Practice questions are useful only when they reveal a knowledge gap and lead you back to evidence. After each missed item, write why your choice failed, which Exchange concept controls the decision, and where the official documentation supports the correction. Do not record only the correct letter or sentence; that creates recognition without transferable understanding.
Reject material that claims to reproduce live questions, promises guaranteed success, or offers unexplained answers. Such material can encourage memorization and may be inaccurate or unauthorized. A better final review is a set of original scenarios that you can solve from principles, followed by documentation checks for any uncertain point.
What is a practical study roadmap?
A staged plan works better than reading the entire documentation set repeatedly. First establish the platform model, then practice deployment and administration, next connect mail flow with security and policy, and finally concentrate on resilience, troubleshooting, and timed decision drills. Adjust the length of each stage to your experience; the sequence is the recommendation, not an official Microsoft schedule.
Begin by recording your baseline. Mark each Exchange 2013 documentation category as confident, familiar, or unknown, and add evidence for the rating. “I have seen this feature” is not the same as “I can design, implement, troubleshoot, and validate it.” This inventory prevents experienced administrators from overlooking foundational dependencies while chasing advanced topics.
Use an exit test at the end of every stage. You should be able to explain the architecture, complete the relevant lab task, troubleshoot one altered condition, and produce a concise runbook without copying the source. If you cannot do that, extend the stage rather than moving on because a later scenario will depend on the missing concept.
Stage one: establish the Exchange 2013 model
Start with the official help structure and learn how Exchange 2013 organizes administration. Cover server and client roles as presented in the documentation, directory relationships, recipients, addresses, permissions, mail flow, administration tools, and health. Produce one architecture diagram and one glossary in your own wording. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Your goal is not to memorize every setting. It is to identify which component owns a behavior and which administrative surface exposes it. Test yourself with questions such as where a problem originates, which dependency must be checked first, and what evidence would confirm that your proposed fix worked.
Stage two: rehearse deployment and operations
Follow the documented preparation sequence: system requirements, prerequisites, Active Directory and domains, installation, and post-installation tasks. Compare the Setup wizard and unattended installation concepts, then write a validation checklist for a completed deployment. Include release-note review before the deployment exercise, as Microsoft specifically flags release notes as important before beginning. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
After installation, move immediately into operational tasks. Practice inspecting configuration, managing recipients, applying permissions carefully, checking health, and using both the Exchange admin center and Exchange Management Shell. Keep evidence for each task so that your notes describe observable outcomes rather than intentions.
Stage three: connect security, policy, and mail flow
Build end-to-end message scenarios and layer in protection, compliance, accepted domains, connectors, and recipient behavior. Change one variable at a time, predict the result, and document where the message should be visible or blocked. Then repeat the exercise as a troubleshooting case with incomplete information.
This stage exposes a frequent weakness: knowing feature names but not precedence or scope. For every control, document who or what it affects, where it is configured, how it interacts with neighboring controls, and how you would prove its effect. Use the relevant Microsoft categories as the index for those notes. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
Stage four: finish with resilience and decision drills
Use high availability and site resilience scenarios to practice prioritization. Identify the failure domain, protect service and data appropriately, select the least disruptive action, and define recovery validation. Add health and performance checks so that you can distinguish an availability design issue from a degraded operating condition.
In the final review, stop collecting new resources. Rotate through your runbooks, redo the tasks without notes, and explain why each action is safe and necessary. Where the supplied material does not state an official exam detail, leave it out of your revision assumptions rather than filling the gap with a third-party claim.
What mistakes most often weaken preparation?
The most damaging mistakes are strategic: studying an old exam as though its current availability were guaranteed, using a question dump as the primary source, ignoring the required experience level, and reading topics without testing decisions. Correct these by verifying status first, grounding study in Microsoft documentation, practicing with scenarios, and keeping a clear distinction between official facts and personal preparation recommendations.
Another error is over-focusing on isolated commands. Advanced Exchange work depends on scope, permissions, topology, prerequisites, and validation. A command that is correct in one context may be unsafe or ineffective in another. Always pair syntax with the object affected, the required authority, the expected result, and a way to undo or confirm the change.
Do not invent a blueprint from the size of a documentation category. Microsoft lists many Exchange 2013 subject areas, but the supplied sources do not attach percentages to them. Any article or course claiming exact 70-342 weights should be checked against a current official Microsoft exam page before you use it to plan study time. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/exchange-server-2013-exchange-2013-help]
How should you check exam and credential status?
Check Microsoft’s retirement and credential pages before scheduling or publishing a study plan. Microsoft says that retired exams cannot be taken and the associated certification or credential cannot be earned after the retirement date. The supplied retirement listings do not establish a specific 70-342 retirement date, so this guide does not claim one. Treat availability as a decision to verify, not an assumption. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/retired-certification-exams]
Microsoft’s policy also says that an earned certification remains on a learner’s transcript after the related exam retires. The historical status of an exam and the transcript status of a credential are different questions: one concerns whether a new candidate can take the exam, while the other concerns recognition of something already earned. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/retired-certification-exams]
The older credential context should be handled carefully. Microsoft’s expiration policy states that MTA, MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certifications do not expire, while role-based and specialty certifications are valid for one (1) year from completion and require renewal before expiration. Do not assume the policy for a historical MCSE credential applies to a later role-based certification path. Confirm the exact credential in your Microsoft transcript and current policy pages. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/support/credential-expiration-policy]
If your goal is a current role-based messaging certification, the 2019 mapping associated 70-342 with Messaging Administrator and exams MS-200 and MS-201. That page explains the historical alignment; it does not replace current certification documentation. Verify present requirements before spending money or setting a target date. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/posts/mapping-microsoft-70-xxx-exams-to-new-role-based-certifications]
What should you do next?
First, decide whether your objective is legacy Exchange 2013 capability, historical credential documentation, or a current Microsoft certification. Second, verify whether 70-342 is available through Microsoft’s current exam and retirement information. Third, if the subject remains relevant to your work, build a study inventory from Exchange 2013 documentation and begin with the weakest dependency rather than the most familiar feature.
Next, create one deployment checklist, one mail-flow troubleshooting map, one permissions worksheet, and one resilience scenario set. Practice each with PowerShell and the Exchange administration interface where appropriate. Review technical articles only when they answer a defined question, and return to the main help content whenever a configuration dependency is unclear. [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/technical-articles/exchange-server-2013-technical-articles]
Finally, schedule only after you have confirmed official availability and can solve original scenarios without answer memorization. If Microsoft no longer offers the exam, preserve the study work as Exchange 2013 operational documentation and redirect certification planning toward the current role-based path identified by Microsoft. That produces a useful technical outcome even when an old exam is no longer a practical scheduling option.
Conclusion
70-342 is best approached as a historical advanced Exchange Server 2013 study target whose value depends on your work and on verified Microsoft availability. The supplied official sources support an experience-based focus on deployment, administration, mail flow, protection, PowerShell, health, high availability, and site resilience, but they do not support current blueprint weights or delivery details. Make the status check first, then study through documentation, lab evidence, and original scenario reasoning rather than dumps.
