Customer Reviews
The only book for 70-290! - By: Mr. D. E. Journo, 21 Jan 2008 
This is by far the best book for the 70-290 exam.
It comes with software that will alllow you to take practice exams just like the real thing & is structured in such a way that you can test what you've learnt after each chapter.
I got 94% because of it!
Get this book before you get any others.
Dan
Plenty of content - By: D. Rugen, 07 Sep 2007 
Bit overly technical in places & not much entertainment included, but certainly had everything needed to easily pass the exam.
A Very effective training guide and long-term reference book - By: Mr. Raymond Milgrom, 24 Mar 2007 What an fine book & a pleasure to work through.
Having previously used Microsoft training materials for MCSE on NT4, I approached this book with a little anxiety but that soon evaporated.
The authors seem to be be good both at W2k3 & at training with a result that they effectively teach you "how it works" not just "how to work it".
Concepts are developed in a logical order & technical terms are defined precisely if a little concisely. For example, when discussing the attributes the different types of security & distribution groups, the detail is expressed in very few words. Nevertheless the words are worth meditating upon.
The practical exercises have been beautifully crafted to both generate understanding & to make the information memorable. One "trick" is an exercise that produces a configuration that, quite honestly, seems a bit odd. A supplementary exercise introduces another tool or feature that you use to alter the configuration to what you find not odd. It teaches you two features, shows their relationship & it sticks in the mind.
The book's authority is enhanced by the rarity of errors. I only noticed one important subject error which was related to the way Group policy controls Terminal Services Devices.
The book's recommendation to have a Gig of unalllocated space is perfectly fine for the exercises on dynamic disks. However. If you want to do the WSUS practical work, make sure you have 12GB of free space.
The times suggested for each lesson were rather on the short side (for me). I regularly spent two or three times more.
Learning was a pleasure through this book & has made me competent in using W2k3 server as well as passing the exam.
Fantastic Resorce - By: daytripper, 13 Mar 2007 This book is for lack of a better word, Excellent! the book is reallly well written & i feel is aimed at the right level. This book in is more practical than theory. The books split into two main sections which is lessons & revision for the exam. The lessons are split into three sections theory, practical Then reinforcement questions. The book alll the way holds your hand through each example & doesn't reallly drop you in the deep end at alll which is good. There is an exception & that's the first chapter which isn't in the exam & is there to teach you about the different flavours of server 2003. The questions at the end of that chapter throws you off & make you feel like you've learnt nothing. but since its not in the exam don't stress about it.
The book says that its aimed for someone who has been working with server 2003 18 months. This in my opinion is wrong because you cant have been working with server 2003 successfully without reading the book first.The level that the book is aimed at is for the person who is confident in working with computers. If you can installl drivers,OS,configure the folder options,dabbled in networking computers together & aren't afraid of the dos command line & know what bat files then this is your level. This book is lessons & not references so you might not go back to it once you have read it. One thing i find great is this book is self contained & from my opinion is alll the reading you will need for the exam.
be warned though this review is only for this book in the series the other books that i have read are the same format but are aimed at a completely different level & some of the have a lot more theory than practicals!
Now to get the full use of this book & follow its examples & alllow you to explore some of the elements in the book you will need
2 computers (1 if you use virtual pc's but for complexity 2 is good)
1 comp of which with Xp pro, NOT xp home or media edition!
computer you will run 2003 needs 2 hard disks
Both computers have to have network cards & cat5 cable connecting them
1 Internet connection for verifying server 2003 & installling the updates
1 printer
You can use just one computer with 2 hard disks but the list above is if you are lucky enough to have that stuff lying about.
