MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Implementation and Maintenance (Pro-Certification) [Hardcover]

Mike Hotek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 18, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0735626057 | ISBN-13: 978-0735626058 | Edition: 1 Har/Cdr

EXAM PREP GUIDE Ace your preparation for the skills measured by MCTS Exam 70-432—and on the job. Work at your own pace through a series of lessons and reviews that fully cover each exam objective. Then, reinforce and apply what you’ve learned through real-world case scenarios and practice exercises. This official Microsoft study guide is designed to help you make the most of your study time.

Maximize your performance on the exam by learning to:

• Configure, manage, back up, and restore databases
• Create a partitioned table, index, or indexed view
• Configure services and components to manage your environment
• Help prevent unauthorized access at each security infrastructure layer
• Design and deploy high-availability solutions
• Manage SQL Server Agent jobs, alerts, and operators
• Identify service, concurrency, and job execution problems

PRACTICE TESTS Assess your skills with the practice tests on CD. You can work through hundreds of questions using multiple testing modes to meet your specific learning needs. You get detailed explanations for right and wrong answers—including a customized learning path that describes how and where to focus your studies.

Your kit includes:

• 15% exam discount from Microsoft. Offer expires 12/31/13. Details inside.
• Official self-paced study guide.
• Practice tests with multiple, customizable testing options and a learning plan based on your results.
• 250+ practice and review questions.
• Case scenarios, exercises, and best practices.
• Sample chapters from related Microsoft Press® books.
• 180-day trial of SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition.
• Fully searchable eBook of this guide.

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The practice test materials are available as a download along with your ebook version of the kit, and will be located in your account. Please direct any questions or concerns to [e-mail]

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mike Hotek is a SQL Server® expert with three decades' experience as a consultant and solution developer. He has written several books, including Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Step by Step.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 900 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 Har/Cdr edition (February 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735626057
• ISBN-13: 978-0735626058
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.6 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Development > SQL Server
  • #3 in Books > Computers & Technology > Certification > Microsoft
  • #7 in Books > Computers & Technology > Databases

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Far Inferior to SQL 2005 70-431 Equivalent Text, March 19, 2009

By 

Clyde LeBonz (PORTLAND, OR United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Implementation and Maintenance (Pro-Certification) (Hardcover)

The Microsoft Training Kit text for SQL Server 2005 exam 70-431 (for which Hotek was a contributor, but not primary author) is one of the best technical books I have ever come across. I have read every page at least twice, some sections several times. It covers a wealth of complex material in an organized, well-written manner. I hoped the SQL 2008 version would be an update of the SQL 2005 text, adding coverage for new or updated SQL 2008 features.

Alas, the SQL 2008 edition has been completely rewritten, with Hotek as the only author. I have read the first 100 pages and intend to read the entire text, but am not happy. The content is poorly organized, poorly edited and flat-out incorrect on some important points. (Errors regarding multiple instances were commented on by earlier reviewers. This error was not just stated once, but was repeated.) In more than one end-of-section mini-quiz, the questions are for material not covered in that section.

Hotek claims, more than once, to have worked on "millions of databases". Huh? If he worked on a different database every hour, and worked a ten-hour day for 300 days per year, that would total out to 30,000 databases a year, or 300,000 over ten years. Mike would have to have worked over thirty years to get close to his first million databases!

That said, Hotek is a really smart guy, with tons of SQL Server experience. His contributions to the SQL 2005 text were interesting and useful. Unfortunately, his expertise does not translate to authorship of books like this, and he has been poorly served by his technical editors (if there were any) at Microsoft Press.

NOTE: I submitted the above two-star review on March 19, 2009. I subsequently completed the entire book, some sections more than once, but found no reason to upgrade the rating, either for content or editing. Most of the questions on the Transcender practice exam cannot be answered using Hotek's book. My advice to those prepping for the 70-432 exam is to use the excellent text for the 70-431 exam, augmented by study of new SQL 2008 features like filestreaming and policies. Good luck!

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book is better than they say!!!, August 9, 2009

By 

Tim Sutton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Implementation and Maintenance (Pro-Certification) (Hardcover)

I must say I was concerned about this book given the other comments - the only value appeared to be in the CD with the practice exams (the other recommended book "The Real MCTS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70-432" does not include practice exams). So I went ahead and purchased both books - "The Real MCTS..." for studying and this book for the Practice Exams.

What I discovered is that "The Real MCTS..." does not go into enough depth in a number of areas. Reading through the book and doing the exercises left me inadequately prepared. Running through the practice exams showed that I still had quite a bit to learn in some of the new/enhanced technologies (certificates/encryption, mirroring, partitioning). I have started going back to Mike Hotek's book - and have found (to my surprise given the negative comments) the information, explanations & exercises a great sight better than in The Real MCTS book.

Do not let the other reviews put you off. Even with the mistakes this book is way more worthwhile than it is made out to be.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Thin on actual content, May 26, 2009

By 

R. Lockhart "sqlfan" (Oz) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Implementation and Maintenance (Pro-Certification) (Hardcover)

Exam candidates using this book will quickly find it suffers from actual lack of technical content. Mike Hotek would have been better of spending less time talking about his experience and conquests over problems and more time giving actual examples of T-SQL that you can use against your own data. Also the sample questions do not cover nearly enough breadth of the chapter content, you get 1 or 2 summary questions per section, when there are lots of examinable facts just glossed over in the text. If you want to be able to wrote learn stuff its a very poor resource. You have to take the book and then get resources of the web, and real exams in order to fill up on the required content. Not recommended.