Server+ All-in-one Certification Exam Guide Book

If you didn't have to pass the exam, the Server+ Certification All-In-One Exam would be a pretty good book to take you to the next level, right after you've passed your A+ exam. But as it stands, a critical lack of focus on passing the exam means that the key topics may be lost in a flurry of side details. First things first: you'll need a fair amount of hardware information at your fingertips even to understand this book, which is not for beginners. Bigelow, a respected hardware author, gives brief explanations of the basics but the fact is that if you don't understand the difference between IDE and SCSI technology, or are still trying to figure out the differences between various Ethernet cablings, you may be lost early on. If you are up to speed, though, you'll find that Bigelow does a very serviceable job explaining the internal components of the PC, and utilises a wealth of detail in order to explain exactly how each component works. Bigelow explains each part in isolation, meaning that if you understand how every port, board and cable of a PC hangs together, you'll be able to keep the full picture in mind while he explains exactly what this cable does. Unfortunately, if you're still a little sketchy on some of the finer operations of the complete PC, you may get so caught up in learning the number and function of pins on the cable he's discussing that you may forget its overall importance to a healthy server in the first place. This is a continual problem with the book; it doesn't focus on the exam. Bigelow provides such a wealth of information that you won't know what's important to remember and what's not. Although the wide scale of the book has to be commended in an age when many books provide just enough knowledge to pass the test and give you no real-world information, the irony is present and weighty: reading this fine book from cover to cover may actually be enough to get you a job, but not the Server+ certificate. In addition, the book doesn't fully map to the exam goals. Although the book doesn't necessarily slack in providing details on things like cabling, baselines and network operating systems, it's obvious that Bigelow's heart is still firmly in hardware issues. You'll get troves of information about hard drives and CMOS setup, but comparatively little on creating baseline server readings and troubleshooting software problems. In short, this book is woefully marketed at the wrong audience. It's a fine hardware book and is a valid addition to almost any MIS technician's hardware library. Furthermore, if you get the information in this book down, you will understand the hardware aspects of a server with enough to not only pass, but probably to stand head and shoulders above many working technicians today. But unfortunately, that means that it isn't a true all-in-one certification--just an adjunct for a larger study course. --William SteinmetzRead More