MCSE: The Core Exams in a Nutshell: a desktop quick reference (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly))

With Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSEs) flooding the marketplace, employers can now afford to pick and choose among job candidates. As a prospective MCSE, this means you must use top-quality learning aids in your training. MCSE: The Core Exams in a Nutshell approaches the five core MCSE exams (four of which you must take and pass) as just a part of your total education in the ways of Microsoft Windows NT. The book contends that book learning must combine with experimentation and experience to yield a grade-A network technician. It's a reasonable philosophy that should serve its adherents well in the long term.

Because it's meant to fit into a larger regime of practice and experiment, this book is skinnier than pretty much any of its competitors. Don't let its compact size fool you, though. This is a thoroughly researched, carefully organized guide to everything Microsoft expects you to know for the four main MCSE exams. It's very dense--with lots of tables, lists of options, and procedures--but has enough commentary to help you get concepts like data-striping and database-sizing straight in your mind. Each chapter concludes with a sample test (with answers) and a "Highlighter's Index" that lists key facts in super-concise form. --David Wall

Topics covered: Everything in the published Microsoft exam objectives for Networking Essentials (70-058), Windows NT 4 Server (70-067), Windows NT 4 Server in the Enterprise (70-068), Windows NT 4 Workstation (70-073), and Windows 98 (70-098) exams. (You must pass the first three of those, plus either the Windows 98 exam or the Windows NT Workstation exam, en route to your MCSE.)