Rating: 
Summary: Great foundation for 70-292 and 70-296 studies
Review: I recently upgraded my MCSE 2000 to MCSE 2003 and used this book as my core study material. First off I must say that unless you are very experienced with Windows 2003 I doubt any single book alone will suffice to provide all the needed material. Having said that for me it was a great start explaining the differences between 2000 and 2003 and hammering home the important points. It makes references to other online sources such as various white papers for more detailed information which should be taken advantage of. The explainations of trusts, dns namespace and name resolution, sites/global catalogs, UPN logon, users/groups, Group Policy, software installations, Organzational Units, redirected folders, Terminal Services/Remote Desktop, and backup/restores/shadow volume, were particualry good and very accurate. However I thought that the information on Certificate Services/PKI was a bit lacking and is HEAVILY covered in the 70-296 exam.
The quiz questions in the book are quite good with some real brain teasers that help you determine if you know a subject good enough. I would not spend too much time on questions that relate to rote memory facts but concentrate on those that present a problem/solution format. The real exams rarely test you on memorizing facts anymore like the maximum memory this edition of the operating system can have, etc. What is very helpful is that many of the questions will supply the answer, why it is right and why the others are wrong. I did not even try the cdrom quizzes. There are several hands on practice examples in the book. Unless you are real familiar with the particular topic I would be sure to do them and at least read through the others as there is often helpful information included such as the permissions needed on a share for redirect folders.
Beyond the book I did supplement my studies with pertinent chapters from the Windows 2003 Server Resource kit which you can download free. Of course I have had a lot of hands on experience with Windows 2003. In my case this was on my own home network, so you don't have to work in a large network. The one area as mentioned previously I thought Upgrading Your Certification to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 was lacking in was Certificate Services/PKI to the extent that the exam covered it. In general the upgrade exams, particularly 70-296, were heavy on security. Much more so than any past exams I took. What I suggest and what worked for me was to also supplement my studies with the Microsoft Press MCSE book on implementing security for the 70-299 exam. That book covered PKI, ipsec, kerberos/ntlm authentication, smart cards, and wireless network security in much more detail that I found helpful.
All in all if found the Micrsoft Press MCSA/MCSE Upgrading Your Certification to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 to be a great core study guide. If you look at it in that regard and not the sole source of information to pass the exams, which in my opinion is unrealistic, I believe you will find it very helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical Micro$oft press
Review: I went through the book, and felt well prepared for the exam. Then, I took the exam. I found that I got questions that I assumed were kind of tricky questions. I was asked quite a few questions that were in no way mentioned or covered by this book. Emergency Management Services is something new, that I had no clue even existed. This book uses the word emergency 3 times (found by searching the PDF version of the book) not once in an important context.VERY LACKING in other areas also.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice book, but lacking important content
Review: I went through the book, and felt well prepared for the exam. Then, I took the exam. I found that I got questions that I assumed were kind of tricky questions. I was asked quite a few questions that were in no way mentioned or covered by this book. Emergency Management Services is something new, that I had no clue even existed. This book uses the word emergency 3 times (found by searching the PDF version of the book) not once in an important context. VERY LACKING in other areas also.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Micro$oft press
Review: It's typical Micro$oft press garbage. First off, it reads like stereo instructions. Second, it lacks any real depth, without a doubt not nearly enough to pass this exam. I spent a good hour in a local bookstore browsing through this title before deciding to go with another vendor.
Rating:
Summary: Worth it!!!
Review: MCSA/MCSE Training Kit covers Exams 70-292 and 70-296. These are the core exams for current Microsoft Windows 2000 MCSA/MCSE who want to upgrade their certs for Windows Server 2003. The book is not designed to be a Server 2003 guide, for that I recommend Windows Server 2003 Administrator's Pocket Consultant by Stanek (it has filled in many gaps and has just the right amount of coverage). The training kit, at over 1,000 pages, does an excellent job of covering the exams (from what I've seen). I have just now started working with the CD-ROM and the practice questions, and these seem to be excellent as well. I like the structure for taking practice tests and the pointers back to the training kit. I believe everything I need to pass the exams is cover. I'll post back in a few months with my results.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book for study
Review: Not a Microsoft press fan, but this book seems like best in category for Upgrade study.
The book is huge, but the tear out study card leads one through the chapters needed to study, by topic, for each of the two exams covered, 70-292 and 70-296.
A reference in readme.txt on the CD goes to Microsoft site for book corrections, something no other publisher has. Editing in some books is really terrible. My experience even with Sybex is very disappointing. But editing in this book is clear, in order, and interesting.
Criticism of the length of the book by others fails to recognize that if you already know a topic, you can skip it! Everyone who has ever taken a Microsoft exam also knows that never, never, never does any book cover what is required to pass MS exams without further practice tests and reading. Microsoft wants us to retake every exam and pay each time, right! We do some research for web sites that tell us what is missing so we can do other study, as necessary.
Comes with Server2003 CD and second CD with the book on it! Some others do not.
Rating:
Summary: Just not Enough to pass the exam
Review: The exam is heavily concentrated on DNS. In addition, the book is oriented on how to do the basic administration of Server 2003. The questions on the exam are much more difficult than the material presented in the book. The book is good for a general overview of the new product. However, to pass the exam you must really dig into the product with hands on the server. A much better product to use would be the Minasi book for server 2003 plus pulling ever resource from technet on DNS. Neither books covers the detail of DNS that is needed to pass the exam.
Rating:
Summary: good book to pass the exam
Review: This book is not designed to be a comprehensive Server 2003 guide but a study guide on passing the Server 2003 upgrade exams. Under that criteria, it is an excellent book. Don't expect to be a Windows Server 2003 guru with this book, but do expect a simple, straight-forward book on understanding the new features of Windows Server 2003 and how to pass the upgrade exams, 70-292 and 70-296.
Rating:
Summary: Get it.
Review: This book is worth the money - get it and pass the tests. I passed the 70-292 exam after spending a couple of weeks reading the pertinent chapters and carefully working through the corresponding problems.
Back in 1996-1997 I bought a couple of Microsoft books to study for the NT4 MCSE, and afterwards I swore I'd never buy anything from Microsoft Press again. Well, they've certainly redeemed themselves with the recent series of training books.
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