Darril Gibsons 70-647 Book

earweed

Has anyone used this book when studying for the 70-647?
Amazon.com: MCITP Guide to Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administration (Exam # 70-647) (9781423902393):…#_
I was searching for additional resources for the 647 and stumbled upon this. It's got a pretty rich price tag is why I doubt anyone here has used it. From reading the table of contents it seems to cover the objectives really well.

netBooger

That is a lot of money for a 450 page book. I have not used it but I wonder why it costs so much.

Maybe it gives you a foot massage while reading?

Claymoore

I assume you are considering this book because the MS Press book is not available on Amazon. You can order the 70-647 MSTK directly from O'Reilly (who now distributes MS Press titles).
MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-647): Windows Server® Enterprise Administration - O'Reilly Media

O'Reilly lists the book at full price for some strange reason. The $70 price tag is still steep, but you do get a practice exam with the book and I think you still get a 15% off voucher (an $18.75 value!).

Not sure why the book is in stock at O'Reilly.com, but out of stock at Amazon, NerdBooks.com and Borders.com. Hopefully it's just a production problem and not some type of sales contract problem. O'Reilly has never had a consistent discount at Amazon, but at least it wasn't list price.

earweed

I've actually already got the MS Press book. I was just wanting to know if anyone recommended the Gibson book.
The Syngress book, which I already have, doesn't really seem that great from what I've read in it so far. It spends the majority of the time showing how to do things and rarely addresses why to do things or giving scenarios of situations which would help in studying for the 647. I was considering taking the Syngress book off of the recommended resources list and was wondering if anyone had used the Gibson book.
With the steep price tag of the Gibson book it's very doubtful I'll get it.

Darril

I'm familiar with that book and I can recommend it:).

It has only been out for a short time. It was written primarily as a college/university text and they are just more expensive, but I do like the idea of getting a foot massage with the book. It also includes a trial edition of Windows Server 2008 which I'm sure affected the price some.

As far as the content, it covers the objectives completely and includes a rich assortment of exercises to reinforce the important concepts. Some of the first exercises lead you through setting up your own virtual PC environment including a single domain and then later you'll create multiple domain environments, all on a single PC.

HTH,

Darril Gibson
Author: MCITP Guide to Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise Administration (Exam # 70-647)
ISBN-10: 1423902394

earweed

From what I saw of the book that I could read for free it looked pretty complete. I may check to see if any used copies come up on ebay and pick it up. I'd be open to putting it on the recommended reading in my resources list if I could get a discount copy of it (j/k). I've already got 3 books to digest for that exam (MS Press, Sybex, and Syngress) and need all the help I can get due to having no actual experience outside of my lab set up at home.

Devilsbane

Most of the MSpressbooks are $100+ too. And some of those are only 300 pages.

It is because the targeted audience is a college text book, and they can get away with it. Also, as Darril said, the trial software likely plays a part in the price.

earweed

Got the book and already started reading some of it. I'm gonna read it while still studying for the 643. It's a really easy read. Since it's for college students it has a lot of extra stuff which I can skip over (some of the exercises) and the review questions don't come with answers so I may be posting a question or 2 on TE from time to time.
EDIT: Wont be able to post any questions from the book here due to copyright but I may post questions here RELATED to the questions in the book.

earweed

I've been working on some of the review questions in this book. They are really a good test of your overall Server 2k8 knowledge. The book being aimed at college students some people here may find the questions overly difficult.
I'm mainly doing the sections in the book having to do with what I'm studying for the 70-643. Lot of good info in this book.

Nobylspoon

Safari Books Online has that one, you could always sign up for their free trial and read as much as you can during the free period. It would atleast give you enough time to study the chapters that cover topics that you might be struggling with.

Nobylspoon

Nobylspoon wrote: »

Safari Books Online has that one, you could always sign up for their free trial and read as much as you can during the free period. It would atleast give you enough time to study the chapters that cover topics that you might be struggling with.

My mistake, this was a different book that I was thinking of. It was his 70-646 book. Amazon.com: MCITP: Windows Server 2008 Server Administrator Study… Safari does not have that one.

earweed

So far I don't think this book, in itself, will be enough for me to pass the test. From doing some of the questions in the book I have had to research the 640, 642, 643, and technet articles. I think the questions in the book are the biggest learning experience for me. (Reminder - Answers not included w/book)
The book is a good read and great review with the "twist" of looking at things from a design perspective. If you're looking for a book to go along with a 2-3 mointh study plan then this is a good book. It's definitely great as a college text and would be a great book to use if you already have extensive server (2k3 or 2k experience.
If being used by those without experience it would probably only be useful as "part" of a study plan. Combine this with MS Press and do the labbing and it would be OK. Do the questions at the end of the chapter for a better learning experience.

The book includes 2 CD's: Evaluation copy of Server 2K8 and a CD containing files you would dowload for labbing in Chap 7 "Securing Windows Server 2008 Servers"

earweed

Nobylspoon wrote: »

My mistake, this was a different book that I was thinking of. It was his 70-646 book. Amazon.com: MCITP: Windows Server 2008 Server Administrator Study… Safari does not have that one.

Darril has a long list of books out and it's easy to get them confused.

nrs

I've been disappointed with the quality of the books that are out for 647 (I've read through the Sybex & Microsoft books) so I've been anxious to give Darril's book a read. Unfortunately, as others have mentioned it is fairly expensive - so I've held off until now. Yesterday I read the announcement about NOOKStudy which is a new product from Barnes & Noble for digital text books. I discovered that they do "rentals" of ebooks and even offer a 7 day free trial of some books. I was really amazed to see that Darril's 647 book was there so I grabbed the 7 day free trial last night.

You're fairly limited in how you can use the book - during your trial the program does not allow you to copy text from the book or print it. You also have to use the NOOKStudy application to read the book. After getting a better look at the book I immediately decided it was most certainly worth the money and purchased it. In my quick reading last night I made it to page 35 (around the end of the first chapter) and I think I've gained more information from that than any other 647 book I've looked at. I can't say that those books don't cover material Darrils does - the objectives for the exam are pretty clear from Microsoft and each book attempts to cover those. But Darril's is laid out in a way that really works for me - it's an easy read. I often have problems with knowing just enough basic information of a subject that I get bored with a book and miss the details that I need to fill in the big picture. That doesn't seem to happen with this one.

I'd really recommend anyone who's studying for this exam to take a look at it. My personal progress has been (in this order) 640, 642, and 646 two weeks ago.

earweed

Glad to see you like the book as much as I do. It's definitely an easy read and covers the objectives very well. Definitely try some of the questions in the book. I've been working on some but don't have a way to check the answers except to research.
I'm going to be using that book too.
Post a review of the book on Amazon as there aren't any reviews yet. The only downsides I see to the book are not having the correct answers in the book and that the practice exam the book lists which should be available isn't. I've contacted them and the book doesn't include that practice exam.
I'll be studying for the 70-647 after I take and pass the 70-643 next month.