Mastering Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2: Review

earweed

I'll be entering a few posts here as I go through tha book and entering my opinion as I go. So far it really looks like it has been put together not as a certification study guide but for someone who needs to learn Server 2008 R2 for work (which is probaly a good thing)
I've read the first 2 chapters and have gone through the detailed Table of Contents to better gage how the book is put together. A lot of the chapters which should be grouped together are seperated for some reason Example Remote Desktop Services are dealt with in Chapter 14 and chapter 25, Active Directory subjects are spread throughout the book.
Another thing that is missing (which is going to be covered on the 2008 R2 exam) is Sharepoint Foundation. The book covers Sharepoint 3.0 and does a much better job of explaining it than the MS Press for Server 2008 does.
Storage which I can tell you is going to be covered on the exam to a greater extent than the MS Press Training kit covered it is mentioned in different sections of the book.
The book, from what I can tell so far, gives a really good amount of space to Hyper-V and what can be done with it.
That's all for now, I'll be making more comments as I do my 2-3 week remediation journey to retake the exam.

EDIT: From the looks of it this book will really benefit those people who use it for the 70-640 and 70-642 a lot more than for the 70-643.
Also looking forward to reading the chapters that Darril Gibson Contributed to the book. Those that are of my main interest are the 2 Remote Desktop Services chapters. He contributed Chapters 6,10, 13,14,17, 20-22, 25.

EDIT***** This review will be very 70-643 Centric since that is what I am using it for **************

###### Anyone wishing to add whatever opinions they have of the book are more than welcome##########

earweed

First entry: Deploying Servers

Deployment - the book put about 20 pages dealing with deployment and nothing really amazingly different from the MS Press Training kit for Server 2K8.
It doesn't cover areas of the skills measured: Capture Windows deployment Services Images, dynamic driver provisioning; PXE provider; multicasting; VHD deployment
The unleashed book does a better job withh this but I still recommend using the MS Press Book as the primary source for deployment.


Configure Microsoft Windows activation: Not in one centralized location. Best to use the MS Press Training kit or Sybex for this area of study. Not covered very well in the unleashed book either.

Configure Windows Server Hyper-V and virtual machines: Chapter 29 does a fairly good job with this. Does a good job of explaining Virtual networking. Also provides (a little, not thoroughly explained) what storage to use and why. Probably better suited while studying for the 70-646/647.
The unleashed book does a really good job on this area.

Configure High availability: Not covered real well. Gives some info in the Hyper-V chapter.
Covered really well in the unleashed book.


Configure Storage: Not covered real well. Gives some info in the Hyper-V chapter. The unleashed book doesn't give a lot of coverage to this except intertwined with the high availability chapter. Covered more thoroughly than the Mastering R2 book.