For the bookshelf: MCSE books

There is no need to spend thousands of dollars at a training institution if you have some self-taught expertise and particularly if you don't have a kindly employer who is footing the bill. You will still need help in covering topics that are not encountered in your environment and particularly the official Microsoft view of the subjects. Reading the appropriate books is one way of achieving that goal.

The initials MCSE stand for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and they are worth $10,000 - 20,000 more per year in your pay packet, if your work involves expertise in Microsoft Windows NT. Thus, it is not surprising that many people spend close to $9000 in attending classes and attempting the examinations. Employers are happy to spend this amount, as they might lose a greater amount if their servers are run by unqualified people.

There are eight certifications, details of which are provided at the Web address below:

* Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

* Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer + Internet

* Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

* Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

* Microsoft Certified Professional + Site Building

* Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet

* Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)

* Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)

WWW:http://www.microsoft.com/train_cert/

All students of MCSE subjects should ensure that they have unrestrained access to all software covered in their courses. This often means setting up a special PC for potentially destructive tasks and access to a real network to observe software and hardware behaviour in the workplace.

Fast Track MCSE 6-in-1

by Emmett Dulaney

MCSE Fast Tracks focus on what you really need to know to pass the exams. They can be regarded as "digest" versions of larger certification training books. This compendium is really six free-standing books:

* Networking Essentials (Exam 70-058)

* TCP/IP (Exam 70-059)

* Windows NT Server 4 (Exam 70-067)

* Windows NT Server 4 Enterprise (Exam 70-068)

* Windows NT Workstation 4 (Exam 70-073)

* Internet Information Server (Exam 70-087)

Each book has two parts:

Part I contains only the essential information you need to pass the test. With approximately 200 pages of information, it is a concise review for the more experienced MCSE candidate.

Part II (averaging 50-75 pages) takes you through the test and into the real-world use of the technology, with chapters covering:

* Fast Facts Review Section: "What's Important-to-Know" section from Part I

* Hotlists of Exam-Critical Concepts

* Sample Test Questions: One question per key point made in the book

* Insider's Spin (on taking the exam)

* Did You Know?: Invaluable realworld applications for the technology covered in the exam, taken from the author's training and consulting files.

Listing the tables of contents from six books would have consumed several pages, but they will be familiar to NT professionals and are covered in depth at the New Riders Publishing Web site. A sample chapter from each book is also displayed, so you can gain a very good feel for the book. See the box for a sample topic.

The books contain three or four paragraphs and a couple of illustrations for every topic. The writing style is minimal, which is exactly what a self-taught professional wants, instead of an exhaustive treatment. As there are literally hundreds of topics to cover within 200 pages of each book, the author Emmett Dulaney has done a terrific job. No CD-ROM accompanies this set of books.

In my multi-skilled job environment I am the "backup" NT specialist at work, which means that I have to pick up NT Server skills on the fly when I am not wearing my sales, marketing, or editorial hats. This background gave me an incentive to review these MCSE books with a little more than academic interest.

MCSE Windows 98 in 14 Days

by Marcus Barton, MCT

Here is an example of a detailed treatment of one of the core subjects in the MCSE certification examinations. Marcus Barton covers what may seem like an "easy" subject. Perhaps Windows 98 is, compared to the NT subjects, but it can hardly be ignored. Some NT administrators have an unhealthy disdain for Windows 9x but the
reality is that many offices have a mixture of Windows 9x and NT machines, so they should resist the temptation to take the NT Workstation alternative core exam.

MCSE Windows 98 in 14 Days is not a book for beginners; it is an examination preparation guide for module 70-098. Nonetheless, power users may wish to examine the book, as it explains many technical aspects in textbook detail, often with a flow diagram.

The chapter and appendix headings are:

1. Planning for and installing Windows 98

2. Using hardware with Windows 98

3. Disks, Files, and Folders

4. Linking to your network

5. Windows 98 on Windows NT networks

6. Windows 98 on NetWare networks

7. Linking to the world

8. Locking down the system: profiles and policies

9. Installing and configuring printers

10. Taking Windows 98 on the road: remote services

11. Windows 98 blueprint: internals and architecture

12. Monitoring and optimising Windows 98

13. Troubleshooting Windows 98

14. Practice exam

A. Glossary

B. Answers to review questions

C. How to become an MCSE

D. Command-line switches

That there are 14 chapters is no coincidence. A 14-day study schedule is provided and, like all good textbooks, each chapter includes screen images, exercises, review questions and answers. The examination (and this book) content focuses on typical tasks encountered by network staff.

Barton has done a fine job covering hundreds of topics with a minimum of fluff. At the end of the book he describes the examination environment and the nature of the questions, so that your mind will be at ease. For example, he suggests that you do some last minute revision by reading only the Fast Facts.

MCSE Windows 98 in 14 Days is a Microsoft-approved study guide and one you will re-visit after obtaining your certification.

A sample topic from Networking Essentials

Template Accounts

As an administrator, you should consider creating template user accounts for your various types of users. This would allow you to quickly create new user accounts when required. These template accounts should be disabled to prevent their use on the network for network access.

To use the template account to your advantage, just select the template account in User Manager for Domains and create a copy of it by selecting User | Copy (or press F8). This will copy all properties of the template account except for the following:

* Username

* Full Name

* Password

* Confirm Password

* Account Disabled

Template accounts work best when you make use of the %USERNAME% environment variable for both the User Profile Path and the Home Directory. This will also enable the option User Must Change Password at Next Logon while disabling the Account Disabled box.

One last note: It's always preferable to rename an account than to copy an existing account, because renaming keeps the same permissions and descriptions as the original. Once deleted, group and user accounts can't be undeleted. They must be re-created and permissions and restrictions manually assigned. You can rename accounts very easily, because they are really identified to the system by a Security Identifier (SID).

At the risk of redundancy, to create templates, the system administrator creates an account (just like a standard user account), sets all the groups, hours, dial-in, and so on, and then only has to copy the account and change the fields that differ.

Reprinted from the April 1999 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia