certifications

I just passed the exam, and this book was an important method of study for me. There are quite a few pragmatic examples regarding security and various standards and questions that will help on the exam, and just increase a general understanding of Windows Server 2003 security,

This book covers the topics examined by the 70-299 test with enough detail that if you have a moderate amount of experience with Windows Server 2003 you will pass the exam. I would recommend that you use VirtualPC to simulate this stuff in your own lab if it isn't feasible to do so on your production network (setting the company DC to Secure Server Only IPSec can be a bad idea without having workstations properly configured). The practice questions, both in the book and on the accompanying CD-ROM are good preparation. Coming into this exam I already had passed the Windows 2000 version. I recommend that you buy the book and do the exercises. Also, get your core exams out of the way (networking, AD, Server) as you'll need some of this knowledge as well.

I've been teaching Microsoft operating systems for 14 years and I've used all of the MSPress books, or almost. This is an exceptional book for the ease of the explanations and the step-by-step details provided. Northrup and Thomas explain exactly why you want to do something, then they tell you how to do it. They have step-by-step procedures for configuring a computer individually, using Active Directory, or editing the registy. The thing that I love the best is that they don't assume any prior knowledge of the product like many technical books do. They define each and every term that they use. I hope that this book, and others like it, set a new standard on technical writing.