Rating: 
Summary: Just forty more and we can have a REAL chorus
Review: 1. The software DOES NOT WORK. The answers are often obviously wrong, the hints are not correlated to the questions, it appears the various parts of the exam were written by someone who lacked the knowledge to synchronize them (in a relational database book this is inexcusable). The practice tests have a hard time-out, and when you exit the test it locks-up your machine with an invisible pop-up window. 2. The text itself is so unbelievably brief, and so lacking in concrete examples, as to be unusable as either a tutorial or a reference guide. No trace of documentation on any but one feature of DBCC is included; Query Analyzer docs are woefully brief. 3. This book will help you FAIL the MCDBA exams. Beyond that, as the other reviewers attest, the content is so off the mark that if you buy it, you will wish you hadn't. 4. "No Stars" is not one of the valid selections. That's my rating.
Rating:
Summary: DBA Not
Review: Dave Perkovich is not a MSSQL DBA and he doesn't have a clue. The book is full of errors. For example: The book states several times that the timestamp field is a datetime field. This is not true. I started marking the errors in the book. More than a third of the pages are marked. The test software is full of bugs. Don't buy this book. If you bought this book, try to get your money back.
Rating:
Summary: BEWARE - THIS BOOK SHOULD NOT BE ON THE MARKET!!
Review: I bought this book because I couldn't find any others in my local bookstores. When I 'browsed' it, it seemed clear enough so I took a chance. Now that I've read all but the last few chapters (and done all the exercises, etc), I feel I would buy it again and, indeed, recommend it with a small qualification or two. Positives: First, it is not the bottom of the heap - far from it. I've read much poorer quality technical books before. I rated it at 3 stars but, if it hadn't claimed to be a test prep book, I would have rated it at 4 stars. Second, it is great for new people. So what if it misses a few of the finer points (even necessary ones?) Within two days of starting with it I was using DTS and replication and getting XML responses back through IIS. I found it very clear to get these services going. Third, I don't mind pictures and this book has quite a few. Nothing like a picture to show you what screen you *should* be looking at. Fourth, other than minor typos, the author is literate. Better than many other books out there. Negatives: First, this is *not* a test prep book. I've taken a number of cert tests (dozens) and I don't feel like I'm even close to ready for testing. However, I do feel a lot more confident about understanding the questions. A lot more. Second, there are some awful mistakes in some of the exercises. All of them are correctable and you have to correct them but it makes you suspicious whenever you start an exercise. For me, that isn't a bad thing. For a complete newbie, it could be a bit distressing. Third, the test banks don't work well. This doesn't make it a '1' in my opinion. I've not seen a test bank in a book that is representative of the real test. However, it does degrade my overall score for the book a little. Like I said when I started, if the book hadn't advertised it was a test prep book, I would have given it a '4'.
Rating: 
Summary: It isn't that bad!
Review: I bought this book because I couldn't find any others in my local bookstores. When I 'browsed' it, it seemed clear enough so I took a chance. Now that I've read all but the last few chapters (and done all the exercises, etc), I feel I would buy it again and, indeed, recommend it with a small qualification or two. Positives: First, it is not the bottom of the heap - far from it. I've read much poorer quality technical books before. I rated it at 3 stars but, if it hadn't claimed to be a test prep book, I would have rated it at 4 stars. Second, it is great for new people. So what if it misses a few of the finer points (even necessary ones?) Within two days of starting with it I was using DTS and replication and getting XML responses back through IIS. I found it very clear to get these services going. Third, I don't mind pictures and this book has quite a few. Nothing like a picture to show you what screen you *should* be looking at. Fourth, other than minor typos, the author is literate. Better than many other books out there. Negatives: First, this is *not* a test prep book. I've taken a number of cert tests (dozens) and I don't feel like I'm even close to ready for testing. However, I do feel a lot more confident about understanding the questions. A lot more. Second, there are some awful mistakes in some of the exercises. All of them are correctable and you have to correct them but it makes you suspicious whenever you start an exercise. For me, that isn't a bad thing. For a complete newbie, it could be a bit distressing. Third, the test banks don't work well. This doesn't make it a '1' in my opinion. I've not seen a test bank in a book that is representative of the real test. However, it does degrade my overall score for the book a little. Like I said when I started, if the book hadn't advertised it was a test prep book, I would have given it a '4'.
Rating:
Summary: Book should be renamed as SQL Server for Dummies...
Review: I have gone through this book and the chapters are repeated with the same content and the book is just filled with screen shots. I think this would be useful for a beginner and not for someone who is preparing for a professional exam. Hence, the name should be changed to something like "SQL Server for Dummies". Also, the author just wanted to fill some pages and publish it in the market and I don't feel he is qualified enough to write a exam book for DBA certification as he himself is not a DBA!
Rating:
Summary: Deserves 0 Stars
Review: I thought this was an OK book until I took the SQL Server 2000 certification exams. Total trash! Luckily, I had also studied Rob Vieira's book, Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming. Stay away!
Rating: 
Summary: Not -At-All-What-You-Need
Review: I wish I had read the other reviews prior to reading this book, because they are right. This book had me thinking I was ready for the exam, when I was actually far from it. To be fair, this is a decent "Intro to SQL", with plenty of hands on exercises. You do need to be able to trouble shoot however, because some of the examples won't work as written. I feel I'm better off having read this book than I was before I read it, but sad to say, I failed the 70-228 exam. And that's after getting a 98% on the "Final Exam" included with the book. Oh well, I guess I'll have to find another exam prep book and keep working with SQL. It least it's good to know the exam isn't a cake-walk, and certifications can still mean something.
Rating:
Summary: Not -At-All-What-You-Need
Review: I wish I had read the other reviews prior to reading this book, because they are right. This book had me thinking I was ready for the exam, when I was actually far from it. To be fair, this is a decent "Intro to SQL", with plenty of hands on exercises. You do need to be able to trouble shoot however, because some of the examples won't work as written. I feel I'm better off having read this book than I was before I read it, but sad to say, I failed the 70-228 exam. And that's after getting a 98% on the "Final Exam" included with the book. Oh well, I guess I'll have to find another exam prep book and keep working with SQL. It least it's good to know the exam isn't a cake-walk, and certifications can still mean something.
Rating:
Summary: No good
Review: In line with the other reviews, this book does not cover the material with enough depth to pass the exams. The topics are treated superficially and the exam software that comes on the CD is buggy. The review questions and exams in the book are not nearly as hard as the real exams. I passed 229 based on my experience as database designer. I flunked 228. To be honest, in the foreword the book states that you need to use the SQL books online as well to prepare for the exams. However on the cover it says all in one is all you need, which is definitely not true. Purchasing this book and studying it is a waiste of time and money.
Rating:
Summary: It is useless ...
Review: The book is useless if you want to pass 70-228 and 70-229.
*** The CD is worse than the book. The software is buggy. ***
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