Is 290 a solid path to fill knowledge gaps in Windows server?

N2IT

I have the books from 290 and 291 and still have the 2003 OS's from them. I was wondering if just cruising through them and labbing them from start to finish with give you a nice high level knowledge set and fill in some knowledge gaps.I already own the books and I have been picking up the 290 book and been going through it lately. I have loaded 2003 on Virtual Desktop and configured the security settings, DHCP, DNS, etc.Would going through these books strengthen my server client knowledge? I'm not seeking a certification, but I am interested in labbing the material. I was also wondering if you felt installing it to a blank drive would be wise as well. All my installs have been on the VM tool sets.

ptilsen

Going through the books would be worthwhile. If your goal is primarily to improve your high-level understanding of what technologies can (or should) be implemented for given network, just going through the material can definitely have value. The 2003 material is by no means obsolete, and a lot of the core protocols and services are have barely changed since 2003.

If you're going to do all this, though, it would also be worthwhile to peruse the books for 70-640 and 70-642 (or 70-64. There are enough changes and new features that I think it would be helpful to you.

N2IT

ptilsen wrote: »

Going through the books would be worthwhile. If your goal is primarily to improve your high-level understanding of what technologies can (or should) be implemented for given network, just going through the material can definitely have value. The 2003 material is by no means obsolete, and a lot of the core protocols and services are have barely changed since 2003.

If you're going to do all this, though, it would also be worthwhile to peruse the books for 70-640 and 70-642 (or 70-64. There are enough changes and new features that I think it would be helpful to you.

PT

I sat down for about an hour and read chapter 1-2 in the 290 book and almost all of it was review.

I was surprised at the information. I learned a lot of that on the hell desk, working with SA's.

N2IT

Yeah making my way through the book besides going through the MBA program. I love how I am filling in a lot of knowledge gaps.

ptilsen

Be sure to take a look through the 70-640 material at some point. I think 290 is a great review source, but even better is to review both sets of products. Right now is a hot time to do 2003 to 2008 R2 migrations, so knowing that stuff can potentially be of great interest.

N2IT

ptilsen wrote: »

Be sure to take a look through the 70-640 material at some point. I think 290 is a great review source, but even better is to review both sets of products. Right now is a hot time to do 2003 to 2008 R2 migrations, so knowing that stuff can potentially be of great interest.

good info thanks a lot.

Yeah I need to grab 640 eventually. I'm labbing 2003 having some fun with the configurations. I'm skipping over the review items like building an MMC lol and the basics of AD.

It's good info regardless