70-339 Managing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016: Study and Scheduling Guide
Exam 70-339 validated administration of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016, making it relevant to professionals responsible for on-premises SharePoint farms, services, operations, and maintenance. The immediate decision for a candidate is not simply how to study: first confirm whether the exam or its associated credential can still be earned. Microsoft’s transition and retirement information places 70-339 within an older certification pathway, so this guide helps you separate a historical exam objective from a currently available Microsoft certification route, then use the documented SharePoint administration topics to plan focused preparation.
Is 70-339 still available to schedule?
Treat availability as the first preparation checkpoint. Microsoft Q&A records a candidate reporting that 70-339 was not available for scheduling, while another Microsoft response discussed its retirement. Microsoft’s current retirement policy says that, after an exam retires, candidates cannot take it or earn its associated certification. Check the official certification and retirement pages before buying training or booking study time.
The evidence around this exam is historical rather than a live scheduling listing. Microsoft identifies 70-339 as “Managing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2016.” A Microsoft Q&A response dated August 26, 2020 stated that the exam was getting retired in January 2021. Separately, Microsoft’s transition-exam article listed the related MS-302 transition exam with a September 30, 2019 retirement date. Because those references describe different points in the older transition program, do not infer present availability from an archived page or a third-party listing.
If the official Microsoft pages do not offer a scheduling path, stop treating 70-339 as a normal upcoming exam. Instead, identify a current certification or learning route that matches your work. Microsoft says that retired certifications already earned remain on a candidate’s Microsoft Learn transcript, but a retired exam cannot be used to earn the associated credential after retirement.
Practical next action: open the Microsoft retired-exams page and the current certification catalogue, search for the exact exam number and your target job role, and save the result. If an employer specifically requires 70-339, ask whether it means historical evidence of SharePoint Server 2016 administration or a current Microsoft credential.
What did the exam validate?
The exam’s stated subject was managing SharePoint Server 2016. Its useful preparation scope is therefore the administration of an on-premises SharePoint Server farm: platform planning, deployment, service management, databases, search, user profiles, backup and recovery, monitoring, upgrades, and operational maintenance. These are study areas supported by Microsoft’s SharePoint Server documentation, not a reconstructed claim about an unpublished question distribution.
Microsoft’s SharePoint Server landing page organizes the product lifecycle around planning, hardware and software requirements, installation, deployment, management, backup and recovery, monitoring, upgrading, updating, hybrid capabilities, and security. That structure is a sensible way to interpret the practical knowledge expected from an administrator of the 2016 platform.
The administration documentation names concrete operational subjects, including database management, web application management, server-to-server authentication between publishing and consuming farms, log shipping for disaster recovery, MinRole, search administration, and User Profile service administration. Build your notes around decisions and dependencies in these areas rather than memorizing isolated product terminology.
Do not describe this guide as a current official skills-measurement outline. The supplied research does not provide verified domain percentages, objective statements, question counts, passing scores, exam duration, languages, or delivery details for 70-339. Any website claiming those specifics should be checked against an official Microsoft exam page before you rely on it.
Who should use this study material?
This material best serves SharePoint Server administrators, infrastructure engineers, consultants, and support professionals who work with or need to understand SharePoint Server 2016 farms. It is less suitable as a standalone introduction for someone whose only experience is SharePoint in Microsoft 365, because the documented focus includes server farms, SQL Server dependencies, service applications, MinRole, and on-premises operations.
An experienced SharePoint professional can use the guide as a gap analysis. Start with the tasks you perform rarely: farm topology changes, service application troubleshooting, search administration, profile synchronization, disaster recovery, and version-specific deployment decisions. A candidate with mostly SharePoint Online experience should give extra time to farm architecture, Windows and SQL dependencies, patching, backup, and operational recovery.
The official quick-start guide states that SharePoint Server 2016 is supported on Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2016. Use that information as a version boundary for historical 2016 study, not as a recommendation to build a new production environment on an outdated stack.
Before studying, write down the role you want the knowledge to support: farm administrator, platform engineer, migration specialist, or support analyst. Then rank topics by the consequences of getting them wrong. Recovery planning and service health deserve hands-on attention even if your daily role is primarily application support.
Which SharePoint administration areas deserve priority?
Prioritize subjects that connect architecture to an operational result. You should be able to explain how a SharePoint farm is organized, how service applications and web applications fit into it, how databases support the platform, how MinRole affects server placement, and how search, profiles, authentication, backup, and monitoring are administered. Study each topic through a change, failure, or recovery scenario.
Farm planning and deployment come first because later administration decisions depend on the topology. Review the official SharePoint Server material for installation overviews, farm sizing context, hardware and software requirements, security, and deployment patterns. Your notes should answer: what is being configured, where is it stored, which service owns it, and what must be validated after a change?
MinRole requires more than remembering role names. Microsoft’s administration documentation covers the description of MinRole and associated services, management of a MinRole farm, and role conversion. Compare the purpose of selecting a role during provisioning with the operational implications of converting a role later. Record the services associated with each relevant role from the Microsoft documentation rather than relying on an unofficial table.
Search and User Profile administration should be studied as separate service areas with shared troubleshooting discipline. For search, trace the relationship between the search schema, topology, components, content sources, and crawl-related symptoms. For profiles, trace the service application, synchronization, permissions, and user-facing outcome. The official administration page specifically identifies search schema, search topology, and User Profile service administration as SharePoint Server topics.
Databases, backup, recovery, and monitoring form the operational core. Review database administration, log shipping in a disaster-recovery scenario, backup and recovery guidance, and monitoring resources. For every procedure, record prerequisites, the affected component, the validation step, and the rollback or recovery consideration. This produces usable operational knowledge instead of a list of commands.
How should you build a practical lab?
A lab is valuable when it tests relationships between components, not when it merely confirms that SharePoint can be installed. Create a small repeatable environment only if you have lawful access to the software and compatible infrastructure. Use it to document configuration, observe service behavior, practice recovery decisions, and compare expected results with Microsoft’s documentation.
Begin with a written topology. Identify the SharePoint servers, intended MinRole assignments, SQL Server instance, service applications, web applications, and databases. Keep the design deliberately small, but do not omit the dependencies that make administration meaningful. The Microsoft quick-start guide provides the historical Windows Server and SQL Server support context for SharePoint Server 2016.
Next, implement one change at a time and keep a change log. Examples include configuring a web application, reviewing a service application, examining a MinRole assignment, changing search settings, and checking User Profile administration. For every exercise, capture the initial state, the administrative action, expected effect, validation evidence, and recovery method.
Add controlled failure exercises where your environment permits them. Test what you would inspect if a search result did not appear, a profile update did not synchronize, a database became unavailable, or a farm component reported an unhealthy state. Do not use leaked questions or exam dumps as lab substitutes; they cannot demonstrate that you understand diagnosis and safe administration.
If a full lab is impractical, use a documentation lab. Draw the topology, annotate service and database relationships, write change procedures, and create verification checklists from the official articles. This is weaker than hands-on work, but it is more useful than passive video watching because it forces you to make explicit administration decisions.
What study sequence reduces wasted effort?
Use a dependency-first sequence: platform foundations, farm and web application administration, service applications, MinRole, search and profiles, then recovery and operations. This order prevents you from memorizing service-specific procedures without understanding the farm, server, database, and authentication context in which those procedures operate.
In the first stage, map SharePoint Server 2016 to its infrastructure. Study the official overview and quick-start material, then create a one-page reference covering supported platform context, deployment components, databases, service applications, web applications, and administrative boundaries. Mark every statement as either documented fact, an assumption to verify, or a lab observation.
In the second stage, work through administration tasks. Start with databases and web applications, then MinRole and service management. For each topic, write a short decision table: the administrative goal, the relevant component, required permissions or dependencies, likely impact, and validation method. Avoid copying long procedures without understanding why each step exists.
In the third stage, connect service behavior to symptoms. Use search and User Profile documentation to create troubleshooting flows. A good flow begins with the observed user or service symptom, checks the most likely configuration and health evidence, narrows the failing component, and ends with a safe corrective action. Include what you would not change until evidence supports it.
In the final stage, rehearse integrated scenarios. For example, plan a farm change that affects a service application, explain how you would protect recoverability, identify what you would monitor afterward, and state how you would confirm that users received the intended result. This kind of rehearsal is a practical recommendation, not a claim about the exact exam format.
A four-pass review method
Pass one is orientation: read the Microsoft topic headings and identify unfamiliar terms. Pass two is explanation: describe each component without looking at your notes. Pass three is execution: perform or document the administrative task. Pass four is diagnosis: start from a failure symptom and work backward to evidence and remediation. Move on only when you can explain both the normal path and the failure path.
How can you test readiness without relying on dumps?
Readiness is demonstrated by explaining and applying administration decisions, not by recognizing copied answers. Use scenario prompts that require a reasoned choice, a dependency check, an implementation sequence, and a validation step. If you cannot explain why an option is appropriate or what it might affect, mark that topic for another review cycle.
Create your own question set from the official documentation. Ask: What is this component responsible for? Which farm or service boundary contains it? What prerequisite would block the change? How would I verify success? What evidence would distinguish configuration failure from dependency failure? These questions expose shallow memorization while remaining grounded in legitimate study material.
Use an error log rather than a score-only log. For each missed or uncertain answer, classify the problem as terminology, architecture, procedure, dependency, troubleshooting, or version context. Then return to the relevant Microsoft article and rewrite the explanation in your own words. A repeated architecture error usually requires a diagram; a repeated procedure error usually requires a lab or runbook.
Practice concise technical communication. Explain a MinRole decision to an infrastructure colleague, describe a search symptom to a service owner, or outline a recovery concern to a change manager. Administrators often fail through ambiguous assumptions, so the ability to state scope, impact, and validation is a useful preparation target regardless of the eventual assessment route.
Do not use exam dumps, leaked questions, or memorization claims as evidence of readiness. They may be inaccurate, violate exam rules, and encourage answer matching instead of transferable SharePoint administration knowledge. Use Microsoft documentation, authorized training, permitted software, and controlled practice instead.
Which mistakes commonly derail preparation?
The largest mistake is studying before confirming the exam’s status. Because Microsoft’s supplied material documents retirement and an old transition path, spending weeks preparing for a scheduling target that is unavailable can produce no credential outcome. Verify the official route first, then decide whether historical 70-339 knowledge still serves your work or a current certification goal.
A second mistake is mixing SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online concepts without labeling the difference. The official SharePoint Server documentation covers on-premises editions and server administration. Keep separate notes for farm infrastructure, SQL Server, MinRole, service applications, and cloud administration. When a concept exists in both environments, record the implementation difference instead of treating the names as interchangeable.
Another mistake is memorizing role names, service names, or menu paths without understanding dependencies. A candidate may remember where a setting appears but still be unable to explain what it changes, which service uses it, or how to validate the result. Correct this by attaching every note to a topology diagram and an observable outcome.
Avoid treating installation as the whole subject. Administration includes ongoing database management, web application management, authentication, search, profiles, disaster recovery, backup, monitoring, upgrades, and updates. A lab that ends after the first successful deployment leaves the most operationally important decisions untested.
Finally, do not trust undated vendor claims about retirement, availability, scores, question counts, or delivery. The supplied official Q&A and retirement pages show why stale information can remain visible. Use a dated personal checklist, but confirm time-sensitive facts on Microsoft’s current pages immediately before acting.
What should you do before choosing an alternative path?
Match the alternative to the capability you need, not merely to the word SharePoint. If your work is on-premises SharePoint Server, prioritize current documentation and role requirements that cover server operations, migration, security, and hybrid administration as applicable. If your work is Microsoft 365 teamwork administration, examine the current Microsoft certification catalogue for the role-based route rather than assuming 70-339 transfers automatically.
Microsoft’s transition article stated that candidates who had passed 70-339 could take MS-302, the Microsoft 365 Teamwork Administrator Certification Transition exam, to earn Microsoft 365 Certified: Teamwork Administrator Associate. The same article stated that MS-302 was scheduled to retire on September 30, 2019. Treat that information as historical context, not as a current booking recommendation.
Do not assume that passing an old exam produces a current certification. Microsoft’s retirement policy says candidates cannot earn an associated certification after an exam retires, while certifications already earned remain on the Microsoft Learn transcript. Ask Microsoft or your employer to clarify whether an existing transcript record, a current certification, or demonstrated technical experience satisfies the requirement.
Make the decision with three checks: the credential is currently listed by Microsoft, the exam can actually be scheduled through the official route, and its skills match your intended role. If any check fails, redirect preparation toward the current official path while retaining the SharePoint Server 2016 material as product knowledge.
A final checklist for a responsible study plan
A sound plan ends with verification, not a promise of success. Confirm the exam or replacement route, map the documented SharePoint administration areas, practice decisions in a permitted environment, and identify gaps through scenario-based review. Keep time-sensitive claims—availability, retirement, pricing, delivery, and certification rules—linked to current Microsoft pages.
Before committing to an exam-related purchase or schedule, confirm:
1. The exact exam number and name match Microsoft’s listing.
2. The exam is currently available in your region or the official page directs you to a valid replacement.
3. The credential relationship is current rather than preserved only as historical transcript information.
4. Your study notes distinguish SharePoint Server 2016 from SharePoint Online and newer SharePoint Server editions.
5. You can explain farm topology, databases, web applications, MinRole, search, User Profile service administration, backup and recovery, monitoring, and update or upgrade considerations.
6. You can troubleshoot from evidence and state how you would validate a change.
7. Your materials come from Microsoft documentation or authorized training, not dumps or leaked content.
If 70-339 is unavailable, the productive next action is to document your SharePoint Server capability and select a current Microsoft route that reflects your target role. If you are studying for historical knowledge, use the official administration and SharePoint Server pages as the technical anchor and label any unsupported exam-format detail as unknown.
Conclusion
70-339 is best approached as a historical SharePoint Server 2016 administration exam whose availability and certification value must be verified before preparation begins. The strongest study approach is to work from documented farm operations—topology, databases, web applications, MinRole, search, profiles, recovery, monitoring, and updates—then practise explaining dependencies and validating changes. Check Microsoft’s current retirement and certification information before scheduling, and redirect your plan to a current role-aligned credential if the old exam is no longer available.
