Windows 2000 MCSE Study System is an odd book by MCSE
standards, and the simplest way to put it is this: If you like the
concept, you'll love the book; if you don't, this book might well confuse
you.
Why? Because the Windows 2000 MCSE Study System
isn't really a study guide for the exams; the exams themselves are
segmented, and focus on various aspects of Windows 2000. The guide is
actually a study course that explains the various aspects of
Windows 2000 networks and how they work together, the Microsoft curriculum
be damned. By the time you get through this book, you will have an intense
working knowledge of Windows 2000 that should serve you well in the real
world. If you're the sort of person who is good at recalling vast amounts
of details and wants to know everything (because the topics that come up
on Microsoft exams are not necessarily always the topics that are
important in real life), this is for you; if you're not, the sheer amount
of information might flood you under.
The Study System's main strength lies in its
detailed and comprehensive walk-throughs. Every MCSE book has hands-on
exercises, of course, but the sheer variety and depth of the tutorials in
this book practically guarantee Windows 2000 comprehension once you get
through them all. Assuming that you have two Windows 2000 computers that
are networked together (which, given the relative cheapness of low-end PCs
and the easy availability of trial copies of Windows 2000, is probably not
a bad idea for any MCSE candidate nowadays), you'll find a clearly
written and memorable tutorial for most every aspect of Windows 2000, from
disk volumes to creating DNS zones to configuring network settings. Go
through every walk-through in the Study System, and you'll
have a wealth of actual hands-on experience to use in future systems.
Simply put, you will not find a better resource if you like to tinker with
live systems.
Unfortunately, the writing itself is long on detail, but
short on explanation; this works fine as a reference for post-MCSE
candidates, but sells it short for confused pre-testers who still don't
quite get critical MCSE concepts. You'll find some excellent walk-throughs
for creating DNS zones; but, if you're unclear on exactly what a DNS zone
is or why someone might need one, you won't find much hand-holding here.
To confuse concepts for the neophyte further, the book doesn't necessarily
explain things in order. Again, taking DNS as an example, you'll find
"Installing and Configuring DNS" in chapter 7, but won't get a
full explanation of what is TCP/IP (the protocol on which DNS is
based) until chapter 16. If you're willing to read through the entire
book, you'll get all of the detail that you need. But everything that you
need to know to comprehend a particular topic might be scattered across
two or three chapters, which possibly necessitates two or three reads to
nail everything down in a coherent whole.
On the plus side, however, there are many fine and
detailed charts that will serve you well in your post-MCSE days. As
stated, this book works fine as an on-the-job reference, which is far more
than can be said for most MCSE books.
The quizzes at the end of each chapter are well thought
through, and give you two question types: Assessment, which comprise
multiple-choice questions that measure raw knowledge ("Which tool
should you use to create VPNs?") and Scenarios, which are open-ended
questions that focus on troubleshooting and problem-solving. Between the
two question types, you'll get a good idea of what might appear on the
test; but, for a book of this size, the questions are fairly scant
(perhaps 8 to 10 per chapter). Still, the CD adds more questions, and the
quiz-oriented lab exercises add critical depth.
In short, this is not a book that focuses on the exam, but
on Windows 2000 itself--which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. The
advantage is that you gain a fuller knowledge than if you simply had
studied for the narrowly scoped exams. The disadvantage is that Microsoft
has been known to be pedantic on their exams, and a large book that
doesn't focus your attention on heavily tested topics might cause you to
flunk a section that seemed of little importance at the time. If you're a
searcher for knowledge and an experimenter, this book might well be right
for you. --William Steinmetz
