MCSA/MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide (70-290) [Hardcover]

Lisa Donald (Author), Suzan Sage London (Author), James Chellis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782142605 | ISBN-13: 978-0782142600 | Publication Date: August 8, 2003

Here's the book you need to prepare for Exam 70-290, Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. This Study Guide provides:

• In-depth coverage of every exam objective
• Practical information on managing and maintaining a Windows Server 2003 environment
• Hundreds of challenging practice questions, in the book and on the CD
• Leading-edge exam preparation software, including a testing engine, electronic flashcards, and simulation software

Authoritative coverage of all exam objectives, including:

• Managing and maintaining physical and logical devices
• Managing users, computers, and groups
• Managing and maintaining access to resources
• Managing and maintaining a server environment
• Managing and implementing disaster recovery

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Here's the book you need to prepare for Exam 70-290, Managing and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Environment. This Study Guide provides:

• In-depth coverage of every exam objective
• Practical information on managing and maintaining a Windows Server 2003 environment
• Hundreds of challenging practice questions, in the book and on the CD
• Leading-edge exam preparation software, including a testing engine, electronic flashcards, and simulation software

Authoritative coverage of all exam objectives, including:

• Managing and maintaining physical and logical devices
• Managing users, computers, and groups
• Managing and maintaining access to resources
• Managing and maintaining a server environment
• Managing and implementing disaster recovery

About the Author

James Chellis, MCT, MCSE, is CEO of EdgeTek Education, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider specializing in training and courseware development.

Lisa Donald, MCT, MCSE, has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies, including DEC and Apple.

Suzan Sage London, MCSE, is an author and technology consultant who works in Silicon Valley and for Fortune 500 clients nationwide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 864 pages
• Publisher: Sybex (August 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782142605
• ISBN-13: 978-0782142600
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book, but you will need more references to pass the exam, July 5, 2005

By 

Daniel Calbimonte - See all my reviews

This review is from: MCSA/MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide (70-290) (Hardcover)

Sybex books are usually my favourite books for the exam.
The book is easy to understand and to read. It contains useful tips and tries to cover most of the topics required.

For this exam, my favourite book is the Syngress book, but after that it is the Sybex book. This book is the best book for the SUS chapter. It has great information for IIS, terminal services and printers.

Unfortunately the questions included are different than the exam.
I recommend to use practice tests like transcender or boson.

It is a really hard exam, if you want to learn and not to pass the exam, this book is recommended.
I recommend this book for beginners and as a reference book.
Experienced users will find some important tips on the book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok, not great. Don't count on it alone for the test., September 23, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MCSA/MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide (70-290) (Hardcover)

Just got back from taking the test after using this book as my only study source (living dangerously..yes). I failed the exam scoring 690 with 700 necessary to pass.

First about me: I orginally obtained my MCSE on NT4 in 1997 and recently decided to upgrade it to 2003. I've been working as a systems administrator/engineer since the early 90's, administering NT networks since 97, and currently administer a large AD domain with 200+ servers spanning 30 sites nationwide. I'm not the best but I've been around the block. I passed the XP exam after brushing up with the Exam Cram 2nd edition book and chose Sybex to prepare me for the 70-290. I figured with my experience and this book to familiarize me with exam objectives I would be able to do ok. That was certainly the case with the XP exam and it was a challenging test.

Second, the book: It had a handful of editorial glitches, but nothing seriously bad. It spends many pages taking you step-by-step through configuration processes. This is a strength of the Sybex books as they allow you to "see" what it is like to do a task without actually having the machine in front of you. This book got a little annoying though in that it would spend a couple of pages of text giving you a step-by-step, then follow it up with a page or two exercise that repeated the same steps. I would have preferred a little less step-by-step repetitiveness and lot more meat and minutae. In the end the book does a good job familiarizing you with the tasks/topics it is addressing, but it just doesn't cover enough material.

Third, the test: It pulled material from everywhere. It also forces you to read very quickly as many questions are long. It also tended to be tricky as often as it could, probably the trickiest I have seen on a certification test (btw: I've taken close to 30 different IT certification tests over the years, I hold numerous certs from Microsoft, Novell, Cisco, CheckPoint and Citrix). Also, the test was annoyingly slow taking 5-10 seconds to move between questions.. really adding to the stress as the clock ticks down. In fairness to Sybex I did miss two questions that were addressed in the book. But let me also say I would have come nowhere close to passing without my real-world experience. There are several questions/topics that weren't even hinted at in the text (most notably a suprising question requiring you to properly edit a vb script..)

In summary, if you are already well-rounded with Win2k this book will give you a decent overview of many exam topics. You will likely need additional sources to pass the test though. If you are new to Windows don't even think about counting on this book alone to get you past the test.

Would I buy it again? Yes, but not as my only source.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not perfect, but still a great study tool, April 17, 2006

By 

courndog (Hampton Roads, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MCSA/MCSE: Windows Server 2003 Environment Management and Maintenance Study Guide: Exam 70-290 (Paperback)

Before you do anything, make sure you are looking at the 2nd Edition of this book. If the top of the book does not say "Updated For Windows Server 2003 R2", then this review will probably not be helpful.

I should probably tell a little about my background. I earned an A.A.S. in Computer and Information Science early in 2005 and I have spent the last year working as a junior administrator for a small company. We have a mix of Windows XP clients and Windows 2000 servers. In addition to passing this test this morning and the Windows XP in March, I also have a couple of CompTIA certifications.

I found the book to be an excellent study tool. They chapters do a pretty good job of explaining all of the topics. The practice tests were pretty good as well. Some of the questions were a little too simple while others were very similiar to what was on the real exam.

I gave the book 4 stars because while I couldn't have passed the test without it, there were topics on the test that were not covered in the book. There was also a question on one of the included practice exams that was programmed incorrectly; it marked the correct answer as wrong. I would recommend to anyone about to take to test to use this book as a guide, but I would also set up a test server and do the exercises on a real machine. That's really the only way you can practice for the simulation questions.