Customer Reviews

MCSE SQL 2000 Administration Exam Cram (Exam: 70-228)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

No, no, no.. This book is a waste of time. It gives an IN DEPTH step by step, excrutiatingly detailed how-to examples on using the installation wizard, and then glosses over the more important details that actually appear on the exam (like the C2 auditing and analyzing the SQL 2000 performance counters). If you're familiar at all with the software, this book has little or nothing to offer you in terms of actually test preparation. Microsoft assumes everybody taking the certification exams already knows when to click the next button.. Don't waste your time or money on this. The Dummies book is much better.

I passed 70-228 on my first attempt, using this book in conjunction with Transcender and Books Online as my primary study resources.

You won't get all the information you need to pass the real test from this book, but that is not its intent. It works well when used for what it is marketed as, which is a "cram" resource to supplement a sound knowledge of SQL Server 2000 administration. Especially useful for me were the practice questions, the practice test at the end, and the screenshots of Enterprise Manager dialogs. Good to have in the hours immediately before the test!

The contents have a few errors, including referring to the model database as "modal" throughout the book, but that doesn't detract too much from the overall utility of the book.

All in all, a good investment, considering the cost of each attempt on the real test.

RD

Much of the content of this book involved repeating, over and over and over again, how to open SQL Enterprise Manager and work your way to right clicking a database name. Many pages are consumed detailing inane steps that even a beginner could quickly deduce. The book consumes 5 pages repeating nearly identical steps for performing Full, Differential, Transaction Log, and File/Filegroup, all of which are performed in the same dialog and all of which are fairly self explanatory. The explanations of CREATE DATABASE and ALTER DATABASE almost look like they were cut and pasted out of Books Online. The installation chapters teach you how to point and click your way through an installation...WOW, what a big help that is! DBCC command description are so brief that you must look them up in Books Online anyway. Overall, there is a total lack of depth and breadth on its subject. The content of Transcender exams, for example, (I haven't yet taken the test) goes into FAR more depth and detail than this book even hints at.

This is without question the laziest effort I've ever seen put into a book. I'm embarressed for the author and for Coriolis.
There is absolutely no reason to spend money on this book.

This book gives you alot of facts to remember and no examples to use. The test was all configuration and security scenario questions and alot of stuff in the book was hardly covered like backup and recovery, DTS, BCP, DBCC statements, replication, maybe one question each on these. No questions at all on steps to take during installation and configuration. I will be looking for something to supplement this with..

This is my 12th exam cram book. What a disapointment this book is. Way too much space wasted telling us how to click our way through the Enterprise Manager. The exam does not test you on clicking your way through the EM. I went back to my old SQL 7 Exam Cram which is much better. And please...for god's sake, what's the deal with Modal? Does the author work with SQL Server? With their proficiency using the Enterprise Manager, one would think you could clearly see it's called Model! Please...

I read the entire book in 2 days... there is nothing in the book to actually remember... No concepts are described... all you see in this book are the screen shots of Enterprise Manager...

Honestly I don't recommend this book. I didn't try the Microsoft press book.. If I were to choose between this book and the Microsoft press book I would go for the Microsoft press book because I am very sure that any other book will have more information than this book. This book has nothing at all.. believe me.. NOTHING to read for the test.

I have used several Exam Cram books before and all of them turned out to be very useful other than this book. This book is not at all comparable with other books so use other books for your preparation.

GOOD LUCK

I passed my exam the first time using just this book to study. It is boring and repetitive in the middle chapters, but success is what really matters. The end of chapter tests and the self test covered the same type of issues that were in the exam questions. Too bad it wasn't 50 pages shorter.

Throughout the whole book the author consistently refers to the MODAL database. It should obviously be the MODEL database. In Chapter 3, the capabilities of the various versions of SQL Server are wrong. In Chapter 4 they list the installation paths of SQL Server. It is virtually identical for the default instance, named instances, and various other installations. It would have been much more instructive to list the basic path ONCE and list where it deviated for the various install flavors. But, they felt it necessary to list out the same things over and over and over and over. In Chapter 9 they list the sytax of most of the DBCC commands with little to no explaination--what is the point of listing the syntax ONLY and NEVER highlighting the more important options? This is supposed to be Exam Cram...not Exam Filler!

In short, this book gives you a PARTIAL overview of the various elements in SQL Server 2000 administration--but I could have gotten that from the Books on line table of contents MORE easily. So many things that the book did NOT cover were on the exam--SQL Server can do C2 auditing, but it can be very slow. So many things that the book did cover were NOT on the exam--MS is NEVER going to ask you a question like: how many processors can SQL Server 2000 enterprise edition use on NT 4?

My advice: Use the books online and use Wrox's Programming SQL Server 2000. Do not use this book.

I read the other one star review, but thought nothing of it. I should have taken it to heart because this book was such a waste of my time and money. There were too many errors (yes, the model system database was referenced as "modal" throughout the book; what an oversight). The Sample Exam also had errors in it. If you want to understand and learn from a credible source, this book is not the answer.

Although the middle chapters are formulaic and repetitive, I passed the exam on the first try using just this book to study. I have to side with results - the chapter-end tests and especially the self test covered almost all of the same types of questions I encountered.