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Rating: 
Summary: Very poor software!!
Review: Although the book was in a good presentation style, unfortunately the testing software that comes with it is very disappointing, not user friendly in the least, invisible answers, answers that can't be seen because of the exhibit buttons.
If you don't need the software then the book is OK, but if you are relying on the software for the exam prep questions then forget it!!
Rating:
Summary: Sign of a steady decline
Review: I purchased this book in order to solidify my experience of ISA server after 2 years building firewalls with the product, with an aim of taking the 70-227 exam at the end. As I began to read the book, I realised that a lot of the content was far too basic to really get into the nuts and bolts of ISA. Each exam topic is skirted over in such a way as to not genuinely explain how ISA works. This may be acceptable to scrape through the exam but won't prepare you for using ISA in the real world. The book is full of typos, and some of it - particularly the interrelationships between protocol rules and packet filters - is plain confused.The chapter assessments have exhibits which aren't clear enough to answer the questions without taking a leap of faith, and some of the answers are ambiguous at best (like leaving the word "deny" out of "deny packet filter"). This is not very helpful to people who are novices with the product. If you are hoping to use the CD to cement your knowledge, forget it. While the questions may well be valid, they are poorly presented and the questions and answers wrap off the screen on some systems. Mine even told me I was doing an Exchange exam at one stage. This is simply not what you expect from a major publisher - if you're going to include this quality of material, you shouldn't bother bundling it at all. If you bought this book already, consider getting a transcender test to test and rebuild your knowledge, and play with an ISA server - the online help contains a wealth of information about it. Also be aware the book went to press before FP1 was released, so there is nothing about the OWA publishing wizard. This will probably be the last Sybex book I buy. I have been unimpressed by several of their titles now - so I'll be sticking to the genuine Microsoft material in future!
Rating: 
Summary: Well organized, comprehensive and must buy for 70-227 exam
Review: Thanks to William Heldman and Sybex, this book is all you need to pass ISA 2000 server exam with a good score. I used this book alongside Cert21.com ISA server 2000 exam to study the product and exam objectives very well, and passed the real exam from the first try. Comprehensive, well written and organized with all exam objectives and more. I suggest you install ISA server serveral times and configure it for different senarious. The companion CD includes good exam questions to help you study for the exam. As usual, Sybex is the best resource to use for any future exam preparation guides.
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