70-331 Exam Guide: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013
Exam 70-331, Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013, was designed to validate practical knowledge of planning, deploying, configuring, and supporting SharePoint 2013 environments. Microsoft described it for people experienced with SharePoint 2013 and identified it as part of the MCSE: SharePoint path at the time of the Microsoft Ignite preparation session. This guide helps you make the important first decision: whether to pursue this historical exam information, verify that a booking is still possible, or redirect your preparation toward a current Microsoft path.
What did 70-331 validate?
70-331 focused on core SharePoint Server 2013 solutions rather than a narrow administration task. The available Microsoft material connects it with experienced SharePoint 2013 professionals and with the foundational work required to design, install, configure, and support a SharePoint farm.
Microsoft identified the exam as “Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.” The companion 70-332 exam covered advanced solutions, and Microsoft’s 2015 preparation session presented the two exams together for people interested in the MCSE: SharePoint certification. That historical relationship matters: 70-331 was intended to test the core platform before the more advanced design and operational concerns associated with 70-332.
The supplied official research does not provide a current skills-measured document, objective-by-objective blueprint, percentage weighting, question count, passing score, exam duration, language list, or prerequisite list for 70-331. Do not rely on third-party pages that supply those details unless Microsoft’s current exam documentation independently confirms them.
The practical capability behind the title
The official SharePoint 2013 installation overview describes a platform with several connected structural layers: a server farm, Web applications, content databases, site collections, and sites. A candidate preparing for 70-331 should therefore study how those layers relate, not memorize isolated Central Administration labels.
The same documentation separates logical architecture from physical architecture. Logical architecture describes how SharePoint objects and services are organized; physical architecture describes the servers and network infrastructure used to implement that design. Exam preparation is stronger when you can explain why a design choice affects deployment, capacity, security, or later support.
Who should use this guide?
This guide is most useful for a SharePoint 2013 administrator, consultant, infrastructure engineer, or technical lead who already understands the product and needs to organize revision around farm architecture and deployment decisions. It is not a substitute for current Microsoft certification guidance, and it is a poor starting point for someone who has never worked with SharePoint.
Microsoft’s exam-preparation session explicitly described 70-331 and 70-332 as intended for people experienced with Microsoft SharePoint 2013. That wording should influence your readiness decision. If your experience is limited to creating sites or editing documents, begin with platform fundamentals and a controlled lab before attempting exam-level scenario analysis.
The guide can also help a candidate who inherited older SharePoint environments. Microsoft Learn continues to provide SharePoint Server documentation for the 2013 release alongside later releases, so the material remains useful for understanding legacy farms even when the certification decision itself requires careful verification.
When this is the wrong exam target
Choose a different preparation route if your actual objective is current cloud administration, Microsoft 365 teamwork, or SharePoint Online. The supplied mapping article associated 70-331 with the historical Teamwork Administrator path consisting of MS-300 and MS-301, but that mapping is from 2019 and should not be treated as a current certification recommendation.
Similarly, do not assume that passing a historical SharePoint Server exam demonstrates current SharePoint Online skills. Use the current Microsoft Learn certification catalogue to identify the role, product version, and assessment that match your employment goal before investing in old lab material.
Which technical areas deserve priority?
Start with the areas Microsoft’s SharePoint 2013 deployment documentation makes concrete: logical farm structure, physical topology, server preparation, farm creation, configuration, staged deployment, testing, and operational risk. These areas provide a defensible study core even though the supplied sources do not include an official percentage blueprint for 70-331.
Treat the following as preparation themes grounded in the official product documentation, not as a reconstructed Microsoft exam outline: architecture and topology; installation prerequisites; farm and Web application configuration; databases and services; deployment stages; security and unsupported configurations; and validation through testing and evaluation.
Architecture and topology
Know the role of each major object. A server farm is the top-level element of the logical architecture. A Web application is an IIS Web site used by SharePoint Server 2013. A content database stores Web application content and can be separated at the site-collection level. A site collection groups Web sites that share an owner and administration settings, while a site contains related pages and items such as lists, libraries, and documents.
Then connect the logical objects to the physical layout. Microsoft describes topology using tiers or server groups and describes farm size using factors such as users and content items. The key study question is not simply “What is a two-tier farm?” It is “Which components belong together, which should be separated, and what requirement caused that arrangement?”
The official overview gives examples of single-tier and two-tier deployments. In a single-tier deployment, SharePoint Server 2013 and the database server are installed on one computer. In a two-tier deployment, SharePoint components and the database are installed on separate servers. Use these descriptions to practise translating requirements into a topology, while avoiding the mistake of treating one topology as universally correct.
Installation and farm creation
Study the installation sequence as a dependency chain. Microsoft’s overview identifies server preparation, farm creation, and configuration of settings, services, solutions, and sites as the main phases. The first practical step is to install SharePoint Server 2013 and create the farm required by the solution.
The server roles have different preparation concerns. Database servers require the appropriate SQL Server version, service packs, and cumulative updates. Servers hosting SharePoint components must meet hardware requirements, use a hardened operating system, have the required networking and security protocols configured, include the software prerequisites, and have authentication configured.
For a front-end Web server, Microsoft describes installing SharePoint Server 2013, installing language packs, and running the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard to add the Web server to the farm. For the server hosting Central Administration, the documented sequence includes installation followed by the configuration wizard to create and configure the farm.
The database requirement is broader than simply having SQL Server present. Unless databases are prepared by a database administrator, the configuration database, content database, and other required databases are created when the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard runs. The installation must also include additional features such as SQL Analysis Services where required, and the appropriate SharePoint Server 2013 logins must be added and configured.
Deployment stages and validation
A sound study plan should follow the deployment lifecycle rather than jump directly to production settings. Microsoft recommends careful planning, phased deployment, ongoing testing, and evaluation because farm complexity can create unexpected outcomes. Learn what each stage is intended to prove and which evidence should be collected before moving forward.
During development, SharePoint Server 2013 is deployed on one or more servers to develop, test, evaluate, and refine the intended solution. During proof of concept, the objective is to understand the product and evaluate it against business needs. A proof of concept requires additional resources and extends the time needed to put the solution into production, so it should answer a defined question rather than become an unstructured build.
During user acceptance testing, the solution is tested against a subset or a complete copy of production data. Microsoft also describes staged deployment as a way to collect performance and usage data for evaluating the solution. In your notes, record the decision gate for each stage: what was tested, what result was expected, and what would cause the design to change.
Virtualization is specifically described as a useful platform for evaluating SharePoint Server 2013 because it supports flexibility, rapid deployment, and rollback to earlier virtual-machine states. This is a practical lab recommendation supported by Microsoft’s documentation, not evidence that a particular exam delivery environment or test question uses virtualization.
How should you build a SharePoint 2013 lab?
Build a lab that lets you explain cause and effect, not one that merely displays a successful installation. Begin with a written requirement, create the smallest topology that can test it, capture the configuration, and then change one architectural or deployment variable at a time. The objective is to practise decisions and diagnosis.
A useful lab sequence is to prepare the servers, create the farm, configure the core settings and services, create a Web application and site structure, and then validate access and data placement. Keep a change log. For every change, record the SharePoint object affected, the supporting server or database dependency, the expected result, and the evidence that confirms it.
Use separate exercises for logical and physical architecture. First draw the farm, Web applications, content databases, site collections, and sites without naming servers. Then map those objects to servers, tiers, SQL dependencies, authentication, and network paths. This prevents a common error: confusing the SharePoint object model with the hardware topology.
Do not build unsupported scenarios simply because they are easy to reproduce. Microsoft states that SharePoint Server 2013 does not support installation on a domain controller in a production environment. The documentation also warns about domain-controller and sandbox-service restrictions in developer, test, or demo environments, and says single-label domain names or forests are not supported. Treat these constraints as design boundaries and annotate them in your lab notes.
Microsoft also notes that use of single-label domain names is not a recommended practice and that SharePoint Server 2013 is not tested in that scenario. Your preparation should distinguish “not supported,” “not recommended,” and “not tested”; those phrases describe different levels of risk and should not be collapsed into one generic warning.
Lab questions to answer
After each exercise, answer questions such as: Which component owns this setting? Which database stores this content? Which server role must be prepared first? What does the configuration wizard create? Which part of the design changes when user or content volume grows? What evidence would you collect during acceptance testing?
If you cannot answer without repeating a procedure, pause and rebuild the explanation from the architecture. Scenario-based certification questions often reward understanding of dependencies and constraints rather than recall of the order in which buttons appear.
What study sequence is most efficient?
Use a dependency-first sequence: establish the object model, map it to physical architecture, learn server preparation, practise farm creation, then work through deployment and validation. This order reduces re-reading because each later topic depends on concepts introduced earlier. Finish with scenario drills that require you to select a design or troubleshooting action and justify it.
Do not begin by collecting large sets of practice questions. The official material supplied here does not provide live questions, and memorizing recalled items cannot replace product understanding. Use documentation and your own lab evidence to create questions that test relationships, constraints, and outcomes.
Phase one: establish the vocabulary
Create a one-page model of the farm hierarchy: server farm, Web application, content database, site collection, and site. For each term, write its purpose, its relationship to the surrounding objects, and one administrative consequence. Then explain the model aloud without looking at the page.
Next, add physical architecture: database server, Web servers, application servers, Central Administration, network infrastructure, authentication, and prerequisites. Keep logical and physical diagrams separate before combining them. This makes it easier to identify whether a scenario describes a configuration issue, a server-preparation issue, or a topology issue.
Phase two: trace the installation dependencies
Work through the documented preparation sequence and turn it into a checklist. Include operating-system hardening, networking and security protocols, authentication, prerequisites, SQL Server requirements, service packs and cumulative updates, SharePoint logins, and additional SQL features where applicable.
Practise explaining why each prerequisite exists. A checklist that says “install SQL” is weaker than a checklist that identifies the database role, the required version and updates, the databases involved, and the account or login configuration needed by SharePoint. The explanation is what helps you handle a changed scenario.
Phase three: compare deployment designs
Draw single-tier, two-tier, and multi-server arrangements from the official descriptions, then write the requirement that would justify each one. Consider users, content items, services, performance, manageability, and separation of database components without inventing a fixed sizing formula.
Microsoft describes a small farm as typically including at least two Web servers and a database server, with the possibility of scaling out to three tiers using a dedicated application server. It describes a medium farm as typically including two or more Web servers, two application servers, and more than one database server. These are documented examples, not a universal sizing prescription; actual design depends on the solution’s requirements.
Phase four: practise staged delivery
Run a small proof-of-concept exercise, document what business or technical question it answers, and then plan how the result would be carried into development, testing, user acceptance, and production. Include a rollback or redesign decision for a failed test.
Use a subset or copy of production data only where your lab and data-handling rules permit it. The learning objective is to understand why realistic data matters for validation, not to reproduce an organization’s confidential environment. Record performance and usage observations rather than relying on an installation that merely completes successfully.
Phase five: close knowledge gaps with scenarios
Write scenario cards from the official constraints. Examples include a farm being proposed on a domain controller, a database server missing a required update, a front-end Web server added without language packs, a content design that ignores site-collection boundaries, or a proof of concept with no evaluation criteria.
For each card, choose the best next action, identify the dependency involved, and explain why the alternatives are weaker. This is more valuable than copying a command because it trains you to recognize the type of problem before selecting a remedy.
Which mistakes reduce preparation quality?
The most damaging mistake is treating 70-331 as a current, fully documented exam without checking Microsoft’s live catalogue. The supplied official sources establish the historical title, audience, and technology, but they do not provide a current 70-331 booking page or a current blueprint. Confirm availability before setting a test date or buying preparation material.
A second mistake is studying SharePoint features without studying deployment context. A candidate may know what a site collection or content database is but still fail to explain how the object fits into a farm, what server or database dependency supports it, or how the design should be evaluated before production.
A third mistake is overfitting to a lab. A successful single-server installation proves that the procedure worked in that environment; it does not prove that the topology meets a production requirement. Compare designs, introduce controlled changes, and document unsupported configurations.
A fourth mistake is using bare percentages from unofficial pages. No verified 70-331 domain weights are supplied here, so this guide does not assign percentages. If you find a blueprint elsewhere, check that it is an official Microsoft document for the exact exam version before using it to allocate study time.
Finally, avoid confusing exam preparation with access to exam dumps or recalled questions. Unauthorised material may be inaccurate, outdated, or prohibited. It also encourages recognition of wording instead of the ability to design and support a SharePoint environment. Use Microsoft documentation, a controlled lab, and original scenario exercises instead.
A simple gap-review method
After each study session, classify every missed question or failed lab step as vocabulary, dependency, procedure, design trade-off, or unsupported configuration. Then assign the next session to the largest category. This keeps revision focused on a demonstrated weakness instead of repeatedly reviewing familiar pages.
Use an evidence column in your notes. Write the Microsoft documentation page that supports the conclusion, the exact platform version involved, and any assumption you made. If you cannot support a claim from the supplied material, mark it as a research item rather than presenting it as an exam fact.
What are the scheduling and delivery considerations?
Scheduling details for 70-331 must be verified in Microsoft Learn because the supplied research does not establish that this historical exam is currently offered. Microsoft’s general registration guidance says candidates begin from a certification or exam detail page, select “Schedule exam,” and use the listed provider option. If 70-331 is absent, do not assume a third-party booking page represents an official route.
For Microsoft certification exams generally, Microsoft says candidates may see Pearson VUE or, in specific circumstances, Certiport. Candidates taking a certification independently or as part of training are directed toward Pearson VUE, while students, academic-institution members, and Microsoft Office Specialist candidates may use Certiport. Apply that guidance only if the current exam page presents the relevant option.
Microsoft’s general policy states that certification exams can be scheduled no more than 90 days in advance and that, through Pearson VUE, a candidate can have a maximum of two Microsoft Certification exams scheduled at a time. These are general scheduling policies, not evidence that 70-331 has an available appointment.
If an online option appears, Microsoft says candidates should complete the system pre-check and ensure the computer and exam area meet security standards. A test center may be preferable if you want a pre-configured environment. Request accommodations before scheduling so the provider has time to review the request. Check the live provider page for the actual options attached to the exam you intend to take.
Use a personal Microsoft account when signing into the Learn Profile where appropriate, and ensure the legal name in the profile matches the legal identification required by the provider. Microsoft also notes that the Learn Profile can be used to reschedule, cancel, or begin a scheduled online exam. Confirm the provider’s current identity and cancellation rules before finalizing an appointment.
A verification checklist before booking
Open the official Microsoft certification catalogue and search for 70-331 by its exact exam number and title. Confirm whether an exam detail page exists, whether a Schedule exam control is present, which provider is offered, and whether the page identifies the applicable technology and status.
If the exam is listed as retired or unavailable, stop the booking process and investigate the current replacement or role-based certification. Microsoft’s retirement guidance says that once an exam retires, candidates cannot take it or earn the associated certification or credential through it. An already-earned certification remains on the transcript under the conditions Microsoft describes, but that is different from being able to sit the exam now.
Do not use a historical transition-exam article as a current price or availability source. The supplied transition article was published in 2019 and describes time-limited options from that period. It is useful historical context, not a present-day booking promise.
How does 70-331 relate to later Microsoft paths?
Microsoft’s 2019 mapping article associated 70-331 with the Teamwork Administrator certification path consisting of MS-300 and MS-301. That mapping helps explain the exam’s place in Microsoft’s transition from product-focused 70-xxx exams to role-based certifications, but it should not be read as a current certification route without checking the live catalogue.
Microsoft’s broader retirement guidance explains that technology changes and certification programs are periodically reviewed, and that retired credentials are removed from current offerings. A certification earned or renewed before retirement can remain in the transcript’s Active Certifications section until it expires, then move to Historical Certifications. That transcript treatment does not make the old exam a current skills benchmark.
Use the historical mapping for career documentation: if your employer or project specifically requires SharePoint Server 2013 knowledge, 70-331 may still be a useful label for legacy experience. If your goal is current Microsoft recognition, compare the role, product, and required assessments in the present Microsoft Learn catalogue instead.
A practical four-week roadmap
A four-week plan works when each week produces evidence of capability rather than a larger pile of notes. Adjust the pace to your experience and lab access; Microsoft does not supply a verified preparation duration in the research provided here. If the official catalogue shows that 70-331 cannot be scheduled, use this roadmap for legacy skill development while redirecting certification study to the current replacement path.
Week one: model the platform
Map the farm hierarchy and write definitions for the core objects. Build a logical architecture diagram, then a physical architecture diagram. Review the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 overview and installation overview, and mark every term you cannot explain without consulting the page.
End the week with a short self-test: describe the relationship between a Web application, content database, site collection, and site; explain what a farm represents; and distinguish logical architecture from physical architecture. Correct the diagram, not just the answer, when you find a gap.
Week two: prepare and create
Build or review a controlled SharePoint 2013 environment. Follow the server-preparation sequence, including operating-system, network, security, authentication, prerequisites, SQL, and SharePoint login considerations. Create the farm using the documented configuration process and record the result.
Repeat the exercise after deliberately changing one prerequisite or role assumption in the lab. The purpose is to observe the dependency and improve diagnosis. Do not create unsupported domain-controller or single-label-domain scenarios as if they were valid production designs.
Week three: design and evaluate
Compare the documented single-tier and two-tier arrangements with the multi-server examples for small and medium farms. Create a requirement statement for each design and identify the factors that could lead to scale-out, such as users, content items, services, performance, or database separation.
Plan a proof of concept and user acceptance test. Define the data set, success criteria, performance or usage observations, and decision to make after evaluation. Review why staged deployment and rollback-capable virtualization can improve learning and reduce unnecessary rework in a lab.
Week four: scenario review and decision
Use original scenarios to test architecture, installation, configuration, deployment, and support reasoning. For each answer, cite the relevant Microsoft documentation in your notes and identify whether the issue is a requirement, dependency, supported configuration, or operational choice.
At the end of the week, make the scheduling decision. If Microsoft shows a valid exam detail page and booking option, confirm the current provider instructions and prepare your profile and testing arrangement. If no official route exists, stop treating 70-331 as a schedulable target and select the current Microsoft path that matches your role.
What should you do next?
First, verify the exam’s current status and booking path through Microsoft Learn rather than relying on an unofficial catalogue entry. Second, decide whether your objective is legacy SharePoint Server 2013 competence or a current Microsoft certification. Third, build a study backlog from the official architecture and installation documentation, then validate each topic in a controlled lab.
For legacy knowledge, begin with the farm object model and deployment stages, move into server and database preparation, and finish with architecture scenarios and acceptance testing. For current certification, use the historical 70-331 mapping only as background and follow the live role-based certification requirements. Keep your notes explicit about version, source, and date so older SharePoint guidance is not mistaken for current product guidance.
Conclusion
70-331 is best approached as a historical SharePoint Server 2013 core-solutions exam and as a framework for studying legacy farm architecture, installation, configuration, and phased deployment. The available official research supports a practical, lab-led preparation plan, but it does not verify a current blueprint or booking opportunity. Confirm the exam status first, then either pursue the official scheduling route or redirect your effort to the current Microsoft certification that matches your intended role.
