Amazon.co.uk Review
If you're unsure how your knowledge of SQL Server 7.0 stacks up against the subjects you have to comprehend in order to pass the Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 exam (exam 70-028), you'll appreciate the highly structured approach that
MCSE Readiness Review Exam 70-028: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 takes. Jill Spealman organises her book around the six knowledge "domains" outlined in Microsoft's specification of test objectives. Though she does present a small amount of introductory text with each domain and sub-domain, this book emphasises practice questions and so represents a great way to gauge the alignment of your knowledge with the skills Microsoft requires you to have.
The questions are competent, but the way this book presents their answers is its real strength. Typically, you'll find a question on a right-hand page, where you can study it and the multiple answers at length. Then, on the other side of the same page, you'll find the question re-printed with annotated answers below. The annotations are great--Spealman explains why the wrong answers are wrong and why the correct answers are correct (sometimes she'll refer you to the right answer as a way of explaining the wrong answer, but generally she annotates the answers individually).
MCSE Readiness Review Exam 70-028: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 would be a better book if the author had included more questions on each topic, as many of the objectives Microsoft specifies are addressed by only a single question. A companion CD-ROM includes a quiz program. Though not adaptive (and though it makes reference to books other than this one), the program asks questions different from those presented in the written text. --David Wall
Topics covered: Planning for an SQL Server 7.0 installation (both as an upgrade and as a fresh installation), initial configuration, user management, basic Transact-SQL, security, monitoring, performance tuning and troubleshooting.
