Syngress "real" server 08 vs MS self paced LABS for 640?

tdean

i cant seem to find many reviews on either of these.... im mostly interested in labs since i have cbt nuggets for the server 2008 path. does anyone have any experience with either of these books?

thanks in advance.

Lunchbocks

If you are referring to the Microsoft Self-Paced book, then I am using that book in addition to the Microsoft Official Academic Course book and CBT Nuggets. Personally, I find the labs in the Self-paced book good. They only have you do one lab for each topic, but it seems to cover the topic well. I haven't taken any of the 2008 Exams, but have taken NT 4.0, 2000, and 2003, so I am somewhat familiar with MS exams.

I have 3 servers set up in VMs for my certification labs. The one thing I am doing different is that I am performing the labs on each server to to increase repetition. Also, like in the automated account creation, I am creating accounts for all Formula 1 drivers, then for all of the Orlando Magic players, etc. That way rather than create 5 users from the labs, I am creating 75 users when I am done. Repetition is how I learn.

hth

GagHalfrunt

I found the Microsoft TK dry but I got on with it OK.

I have no experience of the 70-640 Syngress book, but I'm reading the Citrix XenApp5 one right now and it's pretty bad. Totally disjointed and contains information that's clearly cut & pasted from earlier Citrix versions!

tdean

hmmm, thanks for the responses guys. im also looking at a "mastering" server 2008 r2 by mark minasi... i have their vSphere book and its good. i guess i'll try the MS self study for the labs.

earweed

The Syngress 2008 series got really bad reviews. As far as studying the 2008R2 book don't forget that this test only covers Server 2008 so you may be learning a few "extra" features which wont be on the test.
I've only seen the Syngress Prep kit for the 70-647 and from what I've read so far it doesn't look good.
Good luck in your studies and don't forget to LAB, LAB,LAB

tdean

oh yeah... thats no problem. actually, i've worked with 2k8 and gone through a couple classes so none of it is unfamiliar. i actually only need labs. i dont even need the books really. but, i dont know where to find good labs for that.

earweed

The labs in the MS Press Training Kit were what I used and seemed to be sufficient. Since you have experience with 2K8 a lot of them will seem pretty simple to you though. I had zero experience before studying for this exam so they helped me a lot.

tdean

i was looking at this, but there are apparently a ton of errors.
Amazon.com: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-640): Configuring Windows Server 2008 Active Directory (9780735625136): Tony Northrup, Dan Holme: Books

then i saw this, but i dont know how much lab work there is. although, i think it covers EVERYTHING.
Amazon.com: Mastering Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2…

earweed

Yeah the training kit has a TON of errors in it. That second book should carry you all the way through the 640, 642, and 643 labs. It does appear to cover Everything you'll see in your 2k8 path of exams. It may be enough for you if you already have a lot of experience.