MCSE: Windows 2000 Directory Services Administration: Study Guide [With CDROM]

The Sybex book for 70-217 is pretty decent for a core study book. I passed the exam with a 906, but I used more than a few other resources. I would say 90% of what is covered in the exam is in this book and I found it to be mostly accurate. However I would have like to seen more "real life" ala Mark Minasi style info in the text. 80% of the book was mostly screen shots and step by step exercises in how to accomplish various important tasks, which is fine and necessary. Even though most everything you need to know is here it would have been better to put more emphasis on critical topics to help in the learning process instead of reading like a manual for a lawn mower at times. I used the Syngress book for 70-216 and found the end of chapter highlights to be very helpful - it would be nice to see this in the Sybex book. It is important to know how to use ntdsutil.exe for file maintenance and I did not find this covered in the book. A more thorough explanation of delegating group policy control on new, existing, and links is also needed. The end of chapter questions have improved, but with few exceptions still are not comparable to what is on the actual exam. I found that the Sybex 70-217 book in combination with Exam Cram for 70-217 make a very good combo. Exam Cram mostly filled in the few areas that the Sybex book was lacking. However I highly recommend as usual using the Microsoft website to research further the main 70-217 topics - active directory, dns, ris, and gpo. As always a practice network is a must to go along with any study guide for the MCSE exams. Criticisms aside I think that the Sybex 70-217 2nd edition is a worthwhile read.

This book is very good in covering the concepts of Active Directory and goes in deep regarding DNS.But Overall it is a good read for one who is new to Active Directory. There were not enough Exercises or Examples to play with, So I guess more hands on is needed and expermenting. The Winsim Movies were very good. I would recommend this book.

The usual collection of study help is included: practive exams, Winsims on CD, questions for each chapter and tons of pratical exercises for hands on stuff. The Winsims are my favourites, they give you a video clip of how Active Directory (A.D.) operates. If you do not have the software, this is priceless. About the exam, the primary topics DDNS, RIS, and GPO are covered very well here. The book even has a small appendix on "designing" A.D. as this helps to understand WHY A.D. is needed in the first place. However, I recommend the core kit (4 books) as some questions will be about IPSec GPOs (70-216) and 2000 Server (70-215). There would be a lot of overlap in these books if EACH one had everything in it for the exam. Thus, the core box kit really helps. Good luck.Patrick MACP, MCSE+I, MCDBA

Excellent book. Very thorough. Helped me pass the exam.

The previous Sybex MCSE study guides (for NT 4) were very good. I would have given them four stars. The books of the Win2K series which I've read so far, however, are even more clear, accurate, and contain extensive hands-on exercises. Better than before. The CDs include avi files of nearly all of the exercises from the books, and a test engine with a variety of formats, as well as simulations. The Professional book was very helpful for the exam. I haven't taken the Directory Services exam yet, but the DS book is extremely well-written. Hopefully it maps well to the exam. The DS book seemed a bit thin for the price, although I guess the CD contents made up for it. But, nevertheless, I would say EXCELLENT.