Microsoft is slated to release the exam for 70-350 Implementing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004. The beta exam (numbered exam 71-350) will only be available to those who have been invited to participate and it can be taken between March 22nd and April 4th.

If you are looking for some formal training to prepare for this exam, you can take the 4-day course 2824 Implementing Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2004. Study guides for this exam will be difficult to come by at this point since ISA Server 2004 has really only been available since February. However, you can expect to see a few books popping up over the next few months.

In any case, a good starting point for exam preparation is to take a look at the exam objectives. The objectives that will be covered on this exam are as follows:

Planning and Installing ISA Server 2004

• Plan an ISA Server 2004 deployment
• Assess and configure the operating system, hardware, and network services
• Deploy ISA Server 2004

Installing and Configuring Client Computers

• Install Firewall Client software
• Configure client computer for ISA Server 2004. Types of client computers in Web Proxy, Firewall Client, and SecureNAT
• Configure a local domain tables (LDT)
• Configure ISA Server 2003 for automatic client configuration by sing Web Proxy Automatic Discovery 9WPAD)
• Diagnose and resolve client computer connectivity issues

Configuring and Managing ISA Server 2004

• Configure the system policy
• Back up and restore ISA Server 2004
• Define administrative roles
• Configure firewall settings
• Configure ISA Server 2004 for Network Load Balancing
• Configure ISA Server 2004 to support a network topology

Configuring Web Caching

• Configure forward and reverse caching
• Optimize performance of the ISA Server 2003 cache
• Diagnose and resolve caching issues

Configuring Firewall Policy

• Plan a firewall policy
• Create policy elements, access rules, and connection limits. Policy elements include schedule, protocols, user groups, and network objects
• Create policy rules for Web publishing
• Create policy rules for mail server publishing
• Create policy rules fro server publishing

Configuring and Managing Remote Network Connectivity

• Configure ISA Server 2004 for site-to-site VPNs
• Configure ISA Server 2003 as a remote access VPN server
• Diagnose and resolve VPN connectivity issues

Monitoring and Reporting ISA Server 2003 Activity

• Monitor ISA Server 2003 activity
• Configure and run reports
• Configure logging and alerts

You can find out more about this particular exam and course 2824 at this Web site.