Microsoft's MCSA certification is fastly becoming the certification to obtain for those in the Network Administration positions. While the 70-218 exam seems to cover a great deal of material it's good to know that there is manuals out there that can help you study.
With over 95 exercises, over 15 labs and over 500 practice questions and half of the book dealing with troubleshooting, this is an excellent good user guide for both self study and in the classroom. What the authors have done is completely covered each objective and the overall result is one of the best guides on the market today.
From installing DNS to configuration of DHCP to working with group policies and server administration there is more than enough information and exercises to keep you very busy. I like the fact that this book is setup in a manner that allows you to work at your pace and also repeat lessons as you need to.
The cdrom included is also an added bonus; unlike most cds I have seen this one include videos so you can learn by watching. You also have the ability to take several practice exams before going live and they include and e-book; which has an added chapter for hotfixes and services packs.
Something new added to the Cd is the Master Exam, like no other software I have seen before. This software has very detailed explanations and they stay away from the Microsoft "most correct" answer type questions.
With the Master exam you can also download a 70-218 a simulation from LearnKey, again adding greater value to the overall package. With everything included you have the total package, about the only it doesn't do is take the exam for you.
This book greatly assisted me in preparing for the 70-218 exam.This book went well beyond the scope of the certification objectives and offered valuable insight into concepts I need to know in my daily administration.
This is just one book written by Rory McCaw, that I have enjoyed reading. His writing style and tone make it easy to read and comprehend and I truly appreciate the technical accuracy. Kudos to the technical editors!
I am enthusiastically awaiting the update version of this book for .NET. I would love to sit in one of Rory's classes if he is ever in my area.
I have had the opportunity to hear Rory present for Microsoft on Microsoft Operations Manager and High Availability and bought his book immediately afterwards