Embarking on MCSA/Good study material

Grigsby

I am looking to put together the study material for the 70-270,290,291, and 292. I am going to self study, is that feasable with little server experience?

Also is it worth purchasing a copy of server 2003?

I was thinking of maybe a combo of sybex books and ms books?

Does this sound about right, do you have any suggestions for additional/different material?

geekie

I am going to self study, is that feasable with little server experience?

I'd say so as long as you have access to at least one PC with lots of RAM for practice. Install VMWare or MS Virtual Server and get a trial copy of Server 2k3 here

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/trial/default.mspx

do you have any suggestions for additional/different material?

I find CBT's work well for me. I tend to read a chapter of the big blue and then follow it up with a few CBT videos then practice on the home and work labs when I get the time.

Danman32

Why 292? That's the upgrade exam for MCSAs on 2000 so they are also certified on 2003.

Grigsby

You think I could do it with 1.5 GB of ram or does it require it more?

Ahriakin

Configuring 384Mb for the server, and 256mb for the clients I can comfortably run 1 server and 2 XP clients before any paging on 1.5GB of ram. You can run more if you don't mind paging, or configure your clients for much lower ram consumption (its all easily configurable on VMWARE). I do recommend at least 384 for your first server though if you use it for most of your advanced services (DHCP/DNS/RIS etc.), if you create any backup servers you can get away with less. In short 1.5Gb is very workable for at least MCSA level exercises imho.

Slowhand

Don't bother buying the Server 2003 software, if you purchase the MS Press books, they'll generally come with a 180-day trial of the software. I know, from experience, that you can call Microsoft and get a new key for the trial software, if you need to reinstall.

As for training material, I'd recommend going to the bookstore and grabbing a stack of books off the "Networking/Systems Admin/MCSE" shelf, have yourself a nice cup of coffee, and peruse through them until you find the books you like. Chances are, you'll end up getting yourself the MS Press books. Other than that, check out the CBT Nuggets and TestOut video training courses.

Grigsby

Thanks for the tips. I actually snagged a copy of 2003 off ebay the other day for a good price, I think I might just set the server up when I am done...one day.

Anyways, I have a unix server and installed vmware on it the other day. The 2003 copy I picked up is 5cal, so I should be able to esablish 5 hosts, right?

I run windows xp under vmware on the unix server...but that required the xp cd. I dont need a couple copies of the xp cd do I?

kovo

Done wate your money on buying software for home labs, use trial versions and spend your cabbage on text books and practice tests.
I prefer Sybex over MS books as for me they are more easier to read and not as boring. They just seam to make it more enjoyable and easier to read and learn than the MS books do. Get hold of some practice tests and heaps of hands on practice, that is the most important aspect of passing these exams , that u can perform all the tasks and are familiar with working with all the Windows consoles.