Some vendors suggest you can become an MCSE simply by working through their massive bundles of books, CDs, and practice exams. But can you? We'll tell you which products really pull their weight.
Tons of Fun: Pass That Exam! MCSE in a Box
Some vendors suggest you can become an MCSE simply by working through their massive bundles of books, CDs, and practice exams. But can you? We'll tell you which products really pull their weight.
Product
Information |
Microsoft Press
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
Core Requirements Training Kit
$299.99
ISBN 1572319054
http://mspress.
microsoft. com
800-MS-Press
800-677-7377
4 books: NT suite, NE
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I’ve always assumed that if you want the best technical
information about a product, you should get it from the
maker. When your Ford truck breaks, you want the manual
from Ford. And if you want training geared to help you
pass a test, why not go to the people who wrote not only
the object of the test, but the test itself—Microsoft?
Physically, this is another one of those products that
makes you long for CD-based training. At 12 pounds of
material comprising four books (2,880 pages) and six CDs
of supplemental information, this might be the geek equivalent
of a coffee-table book—impressive to look at but
too imposing to utilize.
And then there’s the look. Crack open a book to
any page and what do you see? The same typeface, the same
layout, the same illustrations that we’ve seen in
Microsoft documentation for easily the last 17 years.
Is this the Word for DOS book, the Multiplan book, or
the QuickBasic book? No, it’s Networking Essentials!
For a company that keeps trying to perfect the screen-based
user interface, it’s remarkably unimaginative with
its paper UI.
But actually, this is a good set of books. As a repository
of information for the three NT exams and Networking Essentials,
this kit is the real spaghetti sauce—it’s in
there.
The four books are Windows NT Network Administration,
Windows NT Technical Support, Microsoft Windows
NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Technologies Training, and
Networking Essentials, Second Edition. Although
the production team is credited for each book, picking
out individual authors is impossible.
The Networking Essentials book is organized around
chapters, which contain lessons. Each lesson has Q&A
exercises scattered throughout, while each chapter ends
with a summary and three activities: the Case Study, the
Troubleshooter, and the LAN Planner. In each, background
information is given, a situation is presented, and you’re
expected to recommend, resolve, or design the appropriate
solution. Some chapters have lab exercises, which use
a combination of printed step-by-step instructions in
the book along with a simulated environment from the CD.
The Networking Essentials CD also contains animated demo
programs for certain chapters. Incidentally, the demos
wouldn’t work on my Windows 98 machine with Norton
Antivirus enabled.
The Windows NT Technical Support volume covers
most of the basics of NT, including installing, configuring,
and maintaining the myriad services that make up Windows
NT. This book uses labs that follow the standard procedures.
In order to do the labs, you need two networked computers
capable of running Windows NT. The accompanying CD contains
the labs, an AVI presentation on NT Directory Services,
exercises that use on-screen simulations, and the Microsoft
Self-Assessment Exam for Windows NT Administration.
Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Technologies
Training covers enterprise-related issues, such as
planning, domains and trusts, server and network monitoring,
and connectivity. Chapter 7, "Troubleshooting Tools
and Methods," is a fairly comprehensive guide to
getting into the guts of NT. Again organized in chapters
and lessons, this book has fewer interactive sections
or assessments. The CD contains some multimedia presentations
that explain some of the concepts, as well as a folder
full of screen captures for use with the exercises in
the chapter on Network Monitoring.
The final volume, Windows NT Network Administration,
examines the network-related features of NT, including
many aspects of security (such as users and groups, permissions,
and auditing), shared resources such as files and printers,
and backup. You need just one computer running Windows
NT Server to complete the hands-on exercises in the book,
a bit strange for a book on networking. Again, chapters
contain lessons, but each chapter concludes with a "Best
Practices" section, which highlights some important
considerations about the chapter’s information. The
CD contains simulations and video presentations, and the
assessment exam for Administering Windows NT 4.0.
Probably the best parts of the kit are the two CDs that
contain 120-day evaluation copies of Windows NT Server
4.0 and Windows NT Workstation 4.0. At least you get the
software with which to experiment and work through the
labs and exercises.
I started out this review talking about the amazing consistency
of all Microsoft documentation. From that perspective,
the books in this set are typical. From another viewpoint,
however, this kit is remarkably heterogeneous—each
book presents its material and interacts with the reader
in a different way. There’s a lot of redundancy,
with certain topics (installation, for example) covered
in multiple books.
I also commented about the seeming advantage of getting
the information from the manufacturer. There’s another
side to that, however—other sets in these reviews
don’t hesitate to point out inconsistencies, anomalies,
and idiosyncrasies of the Microsoft products under discussion.
Writers at Microsoft Press don’t seem to have that
leeway. The kind of "real world" information
that helps these sets go beyond mere test prep tools is
missing from this kit. You’ll have to go elsewhere
for that education. This set, then, is best for people
who want the gospel according to Microsoft.
About the Author
Steve Crandall, MCSE, is a principal of ChangeOverTime, a technology consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio, that specializes in small business and non-profit organizations. He's also assistant professor of Information Technology
at Myers College and a contributing writer for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine.