Customer Reviews

MCSA Managing a Windows 2000 Network Environment Study Guide (Exam 70-218)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Microsoft's MCSA certification is fastly becoming the certification to obtain for those in the Network Administration positions. While the 70-218 exam seems to cover a great deal of material it's good to know that there is manuals out there that can help you study.

With over 95 exercises, over 15 labs and over 500 practice questions and half of the book dealing with troubleshooting, this is an excellent good user guide for both self study and in the classroom. What the authors have done is completely covered each objective and the overall result is one of the best guides on the market today.

From installing DNS to configuration of DHCP to working with group policies and server administration there is more than enough information and exercises to keep you very busy. I like the fact that this book is setup in a manner that allows you to work at your pace and also repeat lessons as you need to.

The cdrom included is also an added bonus; unlike most cds I have seen this one include videos so you can learn by watching. You also have the ability to take several practice exams before going live and they include and e-book; which has an added chapter for hotfixes and services packs.

Something new added to the Cd is the Master Exam, like no other software I have seen before. This software has very detailed explanations and they stay away from the Microsoft "most correct" answer type questions.

With the Master exam you can also download a 70-218 a simulation from LearnKey, again adding greater value to the overall package. With everything included you have the total package, about the only it doesn't do is take the exam for you.

This book greatly assisted me in preparing for the 70-218 exam.

This book went well beyond the scope of the certification objectives and offered valuable insight into concepts I need to know in my daily administration.

This is just one book written by Rory McCaw, that I have enjoyed reading. His writing style and tone make it easy to read and comprehend and I truly appreciate the technical accuracy. Kudos to the technical editors!

I am enthusiastically awaiting the update version of this book for .NET. I would love to sit in one of Rory's classes if he is ever in my area.

I have had the opportunity to hear Rory present for Microsoft on Microsoft Operations Manager and High Availability and bought his book immediately afterwards

While working on my MCSE certification, I happened to select this book for the "70-218 MCSA Managing a Windows 2000 Network Environment", and I'm sure glad I did. While not an in depth reference guide, this book was more than adequate as a guide to the exam, which is its intended function. I appreciated not rehashing binary conversion, and as it turned out, there was very little binary on my exam, which I passed. I found it to be an easy read, with good examples and thought provoking review questions. I especially liked the "2-Minute Drill" included at the end of each chapter.

The included practice test did a good job of instilling the exam topics, but with a total of just 70 questions, there could have been more. Also, the Examination Score report didn't actually give you a section analysis, which would have been good for review. While there are probably better practice exams available, the one included will certainly do the job. I did like the answer guide which explains the correct answers for questions you missed, and the reference section available during the "open book" test, which explains why each answer is right or wrong, helping you to understand the logic.

If you're looking for a study guide for the 70-218 exam, I would certainly recommend "MCSA Managing a Windows 2000 Network Environment Study Guide (Exam 70-218), by Alan Simpson, Rory McCaw".

The book covers all the exam topics in an organised manner. Reading the book from cover to cover should be sufficient to pass the MS 70-218 exam.
I would not recommend the book for anyone looking for thorough explanation of the items covered. Too often details are missing, incomplete or even incorrect. For me, this makes the book useless as a reference for the topics included.
Sometimes the book is even frustratingly disappointing. As an example I can quote the paragraph on transforming binary to decimal numbers and vice-versa, something that you should master for some of the network related questions in the exam. Basically all the book says about it is this: "use the windows calculator in scientific mode". Sure, it will do the job, even during the exam where the calculator is available for use in all questions, however, it does not provide you with any understanding of these numbering systems.
So again, for passing the exam the book will do, if you are looking for a good reference and thorough explanation of topics covered in a precise manner, this book will not suffice.

Wow!! This book has helped me so much in preparing for my MCSA exam - it has proven to be absolutely invaluable! Impeccably written and very easily understood, I would definitely recommend it to anyone writing this exam! Thank you Alan Simpson and Rory McCaw!!

This book is great and I recommend it to anyone taking the 70-218 or 70-216 tests. Although this book says it's for the 70-218, it's also very good for the 70-216 (certainly better then the last ... book I bought for that test). I only wish I had this book from the start : (
It's a relief to see the topics explained in a clear and thorough manner, without the usual useless clutter... which seems to be pretty rare with these types of books.
Good luck.

Great book, very well positiond to the exams, I will use this book as a resource.

Keep up the good work

Thank you Alan and Rory, this book was right on the mark, a great resource for the exams.
You hit the exams right on the nose with those test questions, this book really helped me to get through the MCSA exam.

Thanks again

This book really helps to prepare you for the exam. Good set of information and exam questions to assist you in passing the 218 exam.

At first, I was a bit disapointed at the minor editorial errors and typos that I encountered and it became apparent that things were not going to improve much as I moved through the book.
I like the author. He has a very 'english' approach and his occasional use of real-life examples make the book more valuable than it should be.
My main issue with this book are the errors that were encountered. These ranged from technical details to misspellings and grammar. Sheesh! The end-of-chapter exams (multiple choice) occasionally had typos in the answers where a character would make the difference between right and wrong.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone new at the material, but for an intermediate who can catch things that don't seem right, it might be worth it as the author is pretty good.