(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best business technology books

When I started as sysadmin, reading this sub and learning about products helped me in my field. Someone mentioned CCNA certification, personally I think that would be overkill for your job, however you can still look at syllabus and just skim through. I do not know about CompTia, if it is easy then maybe that is worth it. Sysadmin is broad field, it includes networks and security, servers, storage and various solutions. You know all this as you sell it all. But how do you put it all together -- defines your infrastructure.

Just before I begin, quite a lot of terms are just a product knowledge. I.e. if you sell racks, you know what unit is. If you sell switches, you know what are SFP ports. And so on.

As a buyer, sometimes I find it difficult to make a decision how to setup my infrastructure, even as a team of 3 we spend time meeting, drawing diagrams and discussing etc. If project is big, we may come up with 3 different plans within a month.

If you find certificates boring and taking long, I suggest you just read this sub from time to time, most popular topics, and learn with others. /r/homelab definitely check this sub as well.

If your clients are mostly Windows, perhaps skim through this book: Microsoft Server 2016 unleashed , most SMEs setup AD environment, Hyper-V or VMWare, and storage.

What are storage array levels ( any easy random link from google about raid level 0, 1, 5 and 10 for starters ) and raid calculator. While at it, ask your technicians difference between SAN and NAS, but you may already know it.

I cannot think of anything about networks, but we mostly use fierwalls, as we need to segregate networks and setup access controls between them. Setup DMZ (google it). Routers are of little use for us. SMEs would buy firewall with intrusion detection or prevention. Something like Checkpoint, which could prevent intrusions and also control which applications can access internet (i.e. is facebook allowed?).

Networks switches is easy to understand. Little more complicated network can make use of VLANs (i.e. each department can have their own VLAN. also telephone network (VoIP) usually connected into separate VLAN for QoS). How Spanning Tree protocols (STP) work is complicated for beginners, but good to know they exist and what they are for. The (STP) feature found in managed Layer 2 switches. PoE is another term you might hear - it means power over ethernet, when you can connect phones and IP video cameras to computer network without need of power socket. Expensive stuff.

software wise, apart from Windows, SMEs may need monitoring, logging and backup systems.

Look at this guy's backup question May be your type of customers. Sometimes people mention 3-2-1 backup approach.

It is also important to have monitoring setup to monitor infrastructure: SNMP from network switches to monitor traffic speed, various metrics from Windows operating system, and server health. It is on our wiki You can setup PRTG quick and easy on windows box to play with, for fun. Logging tools are complicated subject for security and compliance, suggest leave it for later (marketing term: SIEM).

If all of this is still not enough, can read PCI DSS SAQ D questionnaire and whatever you can pick up from there - read up. If something is complicated - skip for another time/year/life. This will give you some insights into best practices and good security approach in planning and managing infrastructure.

Hope my thoughts are relevant to your question. Good luck, ask us anything. Try to setup small lab yourself but do not be discouraged..

​

EDIT:

I recommend you also read about OSI model in networking. 7 Layers. It is good knowledge for any techie, not only for network admins. OSI model is kind of theoretical, TCP/IP model is practical -- just FYI.

If you happen to learn this much, I think you may even become a consultant one day. Something to look up for!

Wow, 24 hours and no replies?!

Fine, you know what? FUCK IT!

Alright, first off - While you can concentrate on physical, understanding the basics of the digital side of things will make you more valuable, and arguably more effective. I'll take this opportunity to point you at Metasploit and tell you to atleast spend an hour or so each week working to understand it. I'm not saying you have to know it backwards or inside-out, just get a basic understanding.

But you said you want to go down the physical path, so fuck all that bullshit I said before, ignore it if you want, I don't care. It's just a suggestion.

Do you pick locks? Why not? Come on over to /r/Lockpicking and read the stickied post at the top. Buy a lockpick set. You're just starting so you can go a little crazy, or be conservative. Get some locks (Don't pick locks you rely on!) at a store, and learn the basics of how to pick.

Your fingers will get sore. Time to put down the picks and start reading:

• Social Engineering - The Art of Human Hacking
  
• Practical LockPicking - A Physical Penetration Tester's Training Guide
  
• No Tech Hacking - A Guide to Social Engineering, Dumpster Diving, and Shoulder Surfing
  
• Unauthorised Access - Physical Penetration Testing For IT Security Teams
  
• Ninja Hacking - Unconventional Penetration Testing Tactics and Techniques
  
• Metasploit - The Pentration Tester's Guide (OPTIONAL but suggested)
  
• The Basics of Hacking And Penetration Testing - Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing Made Easy (OPTIONAL but suggested)
  
• Keys to the Kingdom: Impressioning, Privilege Escalation, Bumping, and Other Key-Based Attacks Against Physical Locks (OPTIONAL but suggested)
  
  That reading list right there gives you over 2000 pages to read. Read. Read More.
  
  Tired of Reading? Have you been listening to the Social-Engineer.org Podcasts? 53 quality podcasts right there. Time to catch up!
  
  Tired of listening? Take a break! And by "Take a break" I mean grab your lockpicks, a lock, and start picking while you relax with a Jayson Street video. He's fun to watch, and will hopefully distract you while you try picking a lock. Also, he highlights how you don't have to be a computer-genius to be good at PenTesting. Go watch more of his videos while you pick locks - It's entertaining at least, and informative/educational at best. Now go watch Deviant Ollam's videos if you're done with Jayson Street.
  
  Sounds like a lot? It's not. You'll spend a bit of money getting started with picks, locks, and books. It's the nature of the game, no good way around it. It's time-consuming. You may have to give up playing your favourite games for a while. But the things you learn and skills you develop will pay more than that game did. By the time you're halfway through any one of those books you'll have a much better idea of what questions you want or need to ask in order to progress further and faster every day.
  
  Go to Security Cons. DerbyCon is awesome, and happens in late September, plenty of time to start saving money and making reservations. Talk to people, ask questions, and make connections. You will learn more in those 4 days than some people learn in months or years and you'll have tons of fun.
  
  If you can swing it, attend Deviant Ollam's "Physical Security Skills for Penetration Testers" class. The things you will learn in that class will make it worth every damned penny, and you'll feel like a bad-ass at the end of it.
  
  Is this what you wanted?

Qualtrics and Questionpro are tools I've used in the past. Qualtrics is very good, but it has a couple of limitations. It's matrix question tool leaves a lot to be desired from time to time, among a lot of other things. Questionpro had slightly more intuitive pipe/skip logic tools, but Qualtrics has a survey flow tool that is fantastic for visualizing how things play out. If I had to make a recommendation for one or the other I'd lean towards Qualtrics. Other programs like surveymonkey always come off as tacky and unprofessional looking to me, but then again the ones I've seen are made by people who clearly don't know much about survey design and are just trying to get some quick responses for something.

Check if your university has a subscription to either of the above. I have made formal, professional surveys using both Questionpro and Qualtrics with a good deal of success. I don't know about qualtrics, but questionpro has several different versions you can buy- some are more crippled than others. Be wary of this, and make sure you can export SPSS format so you don't lose variable labels that you set up in the survey software.

Ask me any questions you might have, I'll be happy to help. I'm doing my MA thesis right now too, as well as a separate web survey.

Edit:
IAMA Sociology grad student that specializes in web survey design

From my experience qualtrics support is also excellent. I've always heard back from them in around 24 hours with videos of them acting out the answer. Totally helpful.

Also, I recommend you read and memorize Dillman et al. 2009 : http://www.amazon.com/Internet-Mail-Mixed-Mode-Surveys-Tailored/dp/0471698687 . The definitive source IMO.

I'm currently studying for my 70-740 and have my exam soon. I was given advice from other users on here and I can honestly say I've come a long way with the resources I used. I started studying on and off in September but I would say 3 solid months would be sufficient in a typical 'full-time work/family life' situation. You could smash it out earlier if you wanted to put in the time, but I personally found that going at a steady pace you will retain the information better. These are the resources I have been using:

CBT Nuggets - IMO this is probably the best resource I used. You sign up to a monthly subscription for $59 which you can cancel at any time (you also get a free week if you want to try it out). With this you get the full range of course videos by excellent trainers. I was able to retain a lot of information from their teaching methods. Very interesting stuff. You also have access to pre-built labs specific for each video and can follow along with the trainer. I'm more of a visual/hands-on learner so this was very beneficial. You also have access to mini quizzes and the Kaplan practice test. Personally I found the test slightly off-topic in some areas and the question styles don't match Microsofts, however it's still useful to benchmark yourself and identify weak areas.

https://www.cbtnuggets.com/it-training/microsoft-windows-server-2016-70-740-installation-storage-and-compute

EdX Notes - I started off with this. It's basically a collection of notes directly from Microsoft giving you all the information you need to know for the Server 2016 exams. If you go to their website and search for Server 2016, there are around 30 different sections you can use, however for the 70-740 exam I would only focus on Infrastructure, Virtualization and Basic/Advanced Storage. Other course notes such as Networking or Directory services can be used for later exams.

https://www.edx.org/course?search_query=server+2016

70-740 Exam Ref by Craig Zacker - Very in-depth which covers all the objectives in the exam. I felt it was necessary to add a bit of extra theory to the videos. The book is fairly cheap off Amazon and goes into a little more detail on certain objectives that may have been missed in CBT Nuggets. I find that a combination of books/videos helps.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/70-740-Installation-Storage-Compute-Windows/dp/0735698821/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1550575563&sr=8-2&keywords=70-740

Microsoft Docs - Invaluable resource. Their documents cover everything up to date in the current Server 2016 world. If I was ever unsure about anything I would go here and read up on it. For example, a quick google search 'Failover Cluster MS Docs' would take me straight to where I wanted to be and I could go over the areas I was weaker in.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/failover-clustering/failover-clustering-overview

MeasureUp Practice Tests - I always use MeasureUp for all of my exams. It's a great resource for testing yourself towards the end of your studies. Their tests are customisable and they give detailed responses to both correct and incorrect answers, so you can actually see why something might be different to what you answered. Recommended by MS and included in their exam bundles.

https://www.measureup.com/

There are other resources but this is just what I used. You can also create your own server labs at home and play around with the stuff if you're new to Windows Server, however I didn't do that just because of my current home setup and where I work uses the technologies anyway. CBT Nugget labs were enough for me. But if you're not experienced with servers then some form of labbing or practical content is a must.

Last point - do not rely on practice tests 100%. MS keeps changing their objectives and not all the tests are up to date. Use them to get use to 'Microsoft style questions' and fill in any gaps you are unsure about.

My test is on Tuesday. I'll let you know how I get on.

As promised here are the SCSM resources I have used over the years.

Microsoft Resources

Service Manager TechNet – Service Manager technical documentation.

Service Manager Engineer Blog – A blog run by the Microsoft product engineers for SCSM.

Microsoft Virtual Academy (System Center 2012 courses) – Online training course for System Center produces including SCSM.

Blogs

Marcel Zehner’s Blog – A Service Manager MVP

Chris Ross’s Blog – Another Service Manager MVP

Anders Asp’s Blog – Yet another Service Manager MVP

Anders Bengtsson’s Blog – He is a Microsoft Senior Field Engineer. This one is mainly around automation with SMA and Orchestrator, but also has some good SCSM info.

Books

Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Manager Cookbook – I have read this book and it contains a ton of good information on setting up and deploying SCSM. It provides a great foundation on how and why things are done in SCSM.

Microsoft System Center: Optimizing Service Manager – I have also read this book. It provides some guidance along best practices when it comes to deploying and customizing SCSM. The kindle version is free.

System Center 2012 Service Manager Unleashed – This title has not been released yet, but the Unleased series is known for be great resources.

This is out of my league in terms of knowledge, as I don't know the way Unix security is implemented too well but I will say this, syncing Windows permissions to Unix will be easy, just group the write permissions into Windows into a write permission on Unix, the other way though is going to be considerably hard unless you start working with the Unix version of extended attributes, which I certainly don't know about.

For information on the Windows Security system, and how ACLs work, then the Windows Internals 6th Edition books will be your best bet, Mark Russinovich, David Solomon and Alex Ionescu practically know the OS inside and out and they are a great read for learning more about the insides of Windows. Security is in part 1 chapter 6 on page 509 or 487 depending on your reader, but it helps to read through both just in case there are some additional details listed elsewhere.

I've linked the books below on the US version of Amazon, if you are in a different country it should be available using the search box on their, additionally you can probably

Part 1: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Edition-Developer-Reference/dp/0735648735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405718207&sr=8-1&keywords=windows+internals+7th+edition
Part 2: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Edition-Developer-Reference/dp/0735665877/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405718207&sr=8-2&keywords=windows+internals+7th+edition

Additionally I think Russinovich has a public email that you can contact him on to discuss stuff if you like. Apologies that I couldn't help a bit more but like I said, the requirements are far beyond my scope of knowledge.

The best series of books is the Inside SQL Server series, and although they are quite advanced, database internals aren't a simple topic. The idea is to find an area that you're interested in, and take a deep dive from there. Maybe I should write a series of articles on the topic, for people with your experience level.

If you are interested in how the storage engine works, then Microsoft SQL Server 2008: Internals is a good choice.

If you're more interested in how queries are processed, then perhaps starting with Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Querying would be a better option.

Additionally, I highly recommend a good selection of blogs, particularly the guys and girls over at SQLskills. Also, consider reading the Books Online pages on Planning and Architecture.

Any questions, feel free to ask - I love chatting about SQL Server, particularly on the MSDN SQL Forums, or SQL Server Central.

One of my mentors once told me there are 10 types of DBA, and I honestly agree with that sentiment highly. Which subtypes are you looking at mastering? Programming tsql/plsql/etc, database architecture, database tuning, database maintenance and physical design, application accessibility in a database, advanced query design? What draws you to sql?

for the record, BI probably most interesting is gonna be architecture and query design. For architecture, I'd read the Kimball series. For query design, depends on the language. I can say that for MSSQL, http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Microsoft-SQL-Server-2005/dp/0735623139 is a great book. The inside MSSQL book, however, is not my first reccommendation for neophytes. If you've got a good six-seven months of sql experience on the job it's great; for first learning sql querying there are likely better books (dunno which, sorry).

The Service Manager Unleashed and Service Manager Cookbook are both great resources. the cookbook gives you a good overview and shows you how to do many common tasks, and the unleashed book provides a great deep dive.

There are also a ton of great community resources available.

MyITForum - The Largest, Oldest, and Most Active System Center Community

System Center Central - A community dedicated to Microsoft System Center 2012

System Center Universe - Past System Center Universe presentations

Microsoft Virtual Academy - Microsoft Virtual Academy – Various getting-started courses.

Channel9 – System Center and other Microsoft related video presentations.

Marcel Zehner’s Blog – A Service Manager MVP

Chris Ross’s Blog – Another Service Manager MVP

Anders Asp’s Blog – Yet another Service Manager MVP

Anders Bengtsson’s Blog – He is a Microsoft Senior Field Engineer. This one is mainly around automation with SMA and Orchestrator, but also has some good SCSM info.

Cireson Blogs - They make a ton of Service Manager add-on, some free

SCSM PowerShell Overview - A blog series I've been writing on how to use PowerShell with Service Manager

System Center 2012 Service Manager Survival Guide - A large collection of helpful Service Manager links.

NPTEL has a ton of courses online, found two computer architecture courses during a quick search:

http://www.youtube.com/course?list=EC59E5B57A04EAE09C

http://www.youtube.com/course?list=ECD8AF625E53B0691F

The first course looks to be more of an introduction course like I took this past semester and like what you are probably looking for, the latter looks like it covers some of the same material but then moves onto more advanced topics. Also, the book that was used in the course I took is actually a pretty great book: http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-A-Programmers-Perspective/dp/013034074X

It's quite less dense than many CS textbooks, goes into detail where it needs to, reads well, and provides some good history lessons throughout.

I recently got this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Active-Directory-Designing-Deploying-Running/dp/1449320023

I was mostly looking at it for the sites and subnets things since that recently became something I had to learn about real quick, but overall I'm pretty happy with it.

If you want Windows server in general, you can't go wrong with the "mastering" series of books.

For powershell, I recommend the jump start series:
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/GetStartedPowerShell3

That (and the toolmaking one that follows) are the best single resource I've seen so far.

Standard Disclaimer: 20+ years in IT, now teaching an 18 month course in IT, covers A+, MCP Windows 7, and Net+ Certs

Net+ is easy enough to pass, whether or not you know the material.

HR peeps do not seem to know this, but Higher ups in the IT field do.

It sounds like you actually want to Learn the material so I am going to agree with everyone else and suggest you take a CCNA course at a local Community College. I would add that you might start by reading a good NET+ study guide for all the background info that you may not yet have. When you study the Cisco stuff you are going to want actual hardware to play with.

for a fascinating read check out:

http://www.amazon.com/Steal-This-Computer-Book-4-0/dp/1593271050

best advice i can give is to start reading anything and everything you can get your hands on related to programming, operating systems, networking, security, etc......



a few books i'm reading/have read/on my list to read and all are excellent starting points:

BackTrack 4: Assuring Security by Penetration Testing (this book was just released and still relevant when using BackTrack5)

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester's Guide

Ninja Hacking: Unconventional Penetration Testing Tactics and Techniques

Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning

Gray Hat Hacking The Ethical Hackers Handbook, 3rd Edition



plenty of links to keep you busy for awhile:
Open Penetration Testing Bookmarks Collection

Here is a review with a lot of references: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01405919/document beware that it is quite long and techincal :)

If you want start programming and playing around, I suggest you to have a look at netlogo: http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/index.shtml
or if you want something more "robot"-oriented you can have a look at argos: http://www.argos-sim.info/

This book is also very interesting: Swarm Intelligence : From Natural to Artificial Systems

On youtube you also find a lot of cool videos: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=swarm+robitcs from there you can look online for a more in-depth explaination of what is happening.

Let me know if you have any specific question. I worked a lot in swarm robotics in the past, so I might be able to help :)

If you want to become a successful SysAdmin, you need to change the behavior you just exhibited.

You will NOT be successful if you can't change this.

What you just did:

• Hello, I am L1/L2 Support
  
• I intend to take Microsoft 70-410 soon
  
• What books or resources should I use?
  
  What you should have done:
  
  
• Hello, I am L1/L2 Support
  
• I intend to take Microsoft 70-410 soon
  
• I have reviewed the official exam site here
  

• I have reviewed the free training material provided by Microsoft here
  
• I am aware of these resources Udemy, CBTNuggets and Book
  
• Having reviewed the three as best I can, I'm leaning towards buying "X". What are your thoughts? Am I overlooking any additional resources?
  
  -----
  
  It is CRITICAL to your success that you see, understand, and embrace the differences between those two examples.
  
  Your example is structures so we are doing ALL of the work for you.
  The example I provided shows that you have done a fair quantity of investigation already and are just asking for some guidance - thus sharing the work.
  
  Structuring questions so we have to do all the work is offensive to us. As it should be offensive to you. Don't do it.
  
  Always research answers first, and always illustrate that you have researched when asking for assistance.
  

You're probably going to absolutely hate my advice, but I recommend you read these two books:

Windows Internals, Part 1 and Windows Internals, Part 2

They're very long books, and they can be very dry if you're not interested in them. But if you want one surefire way to learn driver development, it's to learn how the inner mechanisms work. When I first started trying to teach myself Linux driver development (which I feel is actually even easier than Windows), I noticed most of the tutorials I did pretty much went in one ear and out the other. I could write the drivers up and get them working with the tutorial, but I just didn't know what to do next. You'll probably retain maybe less than 25% of the material when you read both those books (probably around 1,300 pages). However, what you will retain is the breadth of knowledge.

When you start working with WDF, you probably won't know nearly anything required to develop your first real driver. What you will know after reading those books though is how to learn. Once you have the breadth to figure out what you don't know/remember, you can easily look it up and figure it out for yourself. If you don't know what you don't know, it's unlikely anyone (including online resources) will be able to help you.

Not sure where you got that 10-25% bit. Care to give references? There are a really large class of computations (including protein folding and quantum physics) that are done well in Java.

Most network simulations are run on ns2, which uses TCL. Java is used a lot in these problem domains and JIST is far faster and easier to use.

See also ptolemy, another nicely written hybrid simulation framework written in java.

See starlogo. It's very nicely done and the framework's written in Java. It is a companion to Mitch Resnick's excellent book "Turtles, Termites and Traffic Jams"
that shows how simple simulations can yield lovely insights.

For your particular application I would look at OpenStreetMaps. Otherwise...

David Hay's

• [Enterprise Model Patterns][1]. This is a beast of a book, but has some great patterns.
  
• [Conventions of Thought][2]. More stuff on MRP.
  
• [A Meta-Data Map][3] . Haven't read this one.
  
  Len Silverston's
  
  
• [Data Model Resource Book Vol. 1][4]. Your main data model patterns.
  
• [Data Model Resource Book Vol. 2][5]. Case studies by industry.
  
• [Data Model Resource Book Vol. 3][6]. A deeper explanation of Vol 1.
  
  Michael Blaha's [Patterns of Data Modeling][7]. This one has some interesting temporal, graph, and tree models.
  
  Martin Fowler's [Analysis Patterns][8]. This one skims some of the other patterns, but gives accounting a solid treatment.
  
  They are all well-rated, and I have read all but one, and they are all very good. Several of them are available on [safaribooksonline][9].
  
  Also, OASIS's [Universal Business Language][10], schemas
  
  
  [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Model-Patterns-Describing-Version/dp/1935504053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346950468&sr=1-1&keywords=enterprise%20model%20patterns
  [2]: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Patterns-David-Hay/dp/0932633749/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1PQPGE4E6T2RPR2XTN80
  [3]: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Patterns-Metadata-Management/dp/0120887983/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1PQPGE4E6T2RPR2XTN80
  [4]: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Resource-Book-Vol/dp/0471380237/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=08T9TEZJNZM2EMKZV3AB
  [5]: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Resource-Book-Vol/dp/0471353485/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=1D5TDG7479G7TQMBPNWF
  [6]: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Resource-Book-Vol/dp/0470178450/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=08T9TEZJNZM2EMKZV3AB
  [7]: http://www.amazon.com/Patterns-Modeling-Emerging-Directions-Applications/dp/1439819890/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346950554&sr=1-1&keywords=patterns%20of%20data%20modeling
  [8]: http://www.amazon.com/Analysis-Patterns-Reusable-Object-Models/dp/0201895420/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346961699&sr=1-1&keywords=analysis+patterns
  [9]: http://my.safaribooksonline.com/search?q=data%20model
  [10]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Business_Language
  

Well, we hit the 10000 limit. Reserving this comment for the misc. section.

FREE TIME/FUN/MISC.
The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security
The Art of War
Steal This Computer Book 4.0: What They Won't Tell You about the Internet
How to Disappear: Erase Your Digital Footprint, Leave False Trails, and Vanish without a Trace
The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey
Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart
Casting the Net: From ARPANET to INTERNET and Beyond thanks sjhill
A Quarter Century of UNIX thanks sjhill
A Reading List For the Self-Taught Computer Scientist thanks zinver
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk thanks segamix
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable thanks AgonistAgent
Snow Crash thanks AgonistAgent
Cryptonomicon thanks Mirple

Microsoft Virtual Academy.. That would be a good place to start, and then maybe check out the exam ref books. Although those are more geared towards certification, they are pretty amazing at at least laying out the concepts.


Some other notable courses from MVA:

• Server 2012R2 Whats New Jump Start
  
  
• Intro to AD
  
  
• Networking Fundamentals
  
  
  If you want to dive into AD, the best book I have purchased regarding would be this.

The boids homepage has some good historical stuff. I believe there are a few swarm intelligence books out there like this one and then most modern stuff is going to be in conference papers and journals.

Note that the original boids followed very simple rules. You can get quite complex behavior with a few simple rules. The flip side is that it's extremely difficult to guarantee any kind of behavior in the control-theoretic sense with these kinds of multiple interacting systems. What we always did was have a good software simulation system where we could test out our new rules without the risk of crashing airplanes in real life. After many simulated runs, when we were convinced that the algorithms would behave well in most situations, we would port to hardware and test there.

Edit: Some folks are suggesting that the Kennedy book is more approachable.

Hi there, I am beginning the journey to MCSA server certs myself. Here is what I will be using....

Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Complete-Study-Guide/dp/1118544072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397783917&sr=1-1&keywords=msca+2012

http://www.amazon.com/Exam-Ref-70-410-Installing-Configuring/dp/0735673160/ref=sr_1_sc_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397783917&sr=1-4-spell&keywords=msca+2012

Video:
CBTnuggets.com
pluralsight.com

Lab:
I'm either buying a beefy tower and running a Hyper-V lab or I will work on a virtual lab provided by Microsoft Academy or another source.

I hope that helps you and best of luck!!!

I'm currently working through this one: https://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Resource-Book-Vol/dp/0470178450/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=data+modeling&qid=1572274601&sr=8-12

​

It's pretty long... but has some interesting points. Idk if it's a "good" or "recommended" book to be honest. I kinda just picked one since I wasn't able to find a consistent answer on what books were suggested for solidifying data modeling.

One thing is that this book really forces you to think about how to break apart and modularize them so they are flexible enough to cover _many_ use cases.

I subscribed to CBTnugget couple weeks prior to my test to recap with the videos, and it gives you access to Transcender test which in and of itself is worth it. It's a great practice test. I like how it explains why the wrong answers are wrong. It comes with digital flash cards too.

I got around 50 questions. Besides powershell, make sure you know Hypver-V really well and study up on IPv6 too.

I used Don Poulton's 70-410 book mainly and William Panek's MCSA Complete Study Guide as supplement.

Good luck!

Thank you.

• For the Hyper-V setup, I have been using this: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Hyper-V-Installation-Configuration/dp/1118486498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368031283&sr=8-1&keywords=aidan+finn . He also has a pretty good blog at http://www.aidanfinn.com/
  
• I did not follow the trainsignal lab design. I loosely followed the TLG found here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/7807.windows-server-2012-test-lab-guides.aspx
  
• The storage server is actually my primary desktop at the moment. I started using storage spaces, moved to the stablebit Drivepool software, and am now back to testing out storage spaces. As of right now, I am just using SMB3 to host the VHDX files for the cluster. It actually seems easier to manage than iscsi, and performance for me has been good so far. All of the drives are connected via an IBM M1015 SAS adapter in IT mode. No hardware RAID.

Which book? I found solid information in this one, but honestly the free video series online did more for my prep. In addition to professor messer there are a couple solid courses on YouTube.

Agreed. My experience is on the Windows side of the house, and if I were you I'd go with a Win7 cert. This cert is probably the best one to shoot for first - it should be relatively easy for any first time learner. If you get a nice exam book (not necessarily promoting this one, I liked this series but others have complained, and it's a good place to start your search) you should be able to do well on the exam. Server-based exams would also help you on your way.

Other than that, give it your all in school, as many companies do keep an eye on your GPA.

Hey Chicagoan here as well. You're lucky to find a place that gives reimbursement for your SQL classes. I too looked for a long time around chicago to no avail. I pretty much just taught myself using the books online through amazon and the tutorials there as well. They worked well for me, and as with all things you only get out what you put into it.

http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Microsoft%C2%AE-SQL-Server%C2%AE-2008/dp/0735626030/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1372191271&sr=8-9&keywords=sql+server+2008

EDIT * - go hawks!

VS2015 and VS2017 are practically identical (at least from a learner's perspective). But there's no reason to not upgrade or to have both installed.

I'd recommend getting a book to read and also following along with a video course (Microsoft Virtual Academy is a great place for videos). You can watch videos and work alongside when able, and read the book to flesh out things you're not sure of (or just revise when you can't access a computer).

I recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Visual-2013-Step-Developer/dp/073568183X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492133728&sr=8-1&keywords=c%23+visual+2013

I found the writing style explained things to me better than most other material, and I could grasp concepts that I felt many resources glossed over or didn't explain as well (the Yellow Book is also good at this).

Also, mixing resources helps a lot. You could read one author's take on a concept over and over again and never understand it, only to read a different explanation and it just clicks. When you get stuck on something just find another source.

Aidann Finn's books are the best I've read.

https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Hyper-V-Installation-Configuration/dp/1118486498/

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Hyper-V-Deployment-Aidan-Finn/dp/0470876530

/u/Xibby pretty much covered everything though.

If you only have four ports you'll have to economize somewhere. You need, a port for Heartbeat as well. I'd split management. If management goes down and production is still up, you've got all day to fix it.

Don Dillman is who you need to look towards when starting out on survey design issues. He doesn't deal with measurement issues that /u/DirtGotWet refers to. Instead Dillman focuses on the design of surveys (such wording, layout, pacing, length), ensuring that you get a quality sample from you population, and reducing attrition. There has been a lot of research on which approaches get the best results. I highly recommend it for anyone starting out.

This is what you are looking for

It introduces you to all concepts you need to learn under your first year(s) of programming with C#. It has great, easy-to-grasp instructions and every chapter ends with exercises that it walks you through. I went from a novice to comfortable with the language in ~3 months.

After this, you have to get your hands dirty. Google for "programming exercises" or something like that. The point is that you will learn 100 times more when you take on a task that you have to solve by using your brain.

I didn't really have problems with the Microsoft book - do you mean this one?

You may have better luck with us over at /r/IT_CERT_STUDY

In my computer architecture class we used http://csapp.cs.cmu.edu/ (homepage) --
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Systems-Programmers-Randal-Bryant/dp/013034074X (amazon) and i found it really educational. I knew almost nothing of low level stuff or assembly language or how to write C code that the compiler can optimize well and that's easy for the cpu handle, but this book thought me all that and a lot more. Worth the read imo.

I have also been preparing for the MCSA. I've been reading this book and think it's pretty good.

You're looking for step by step: Microsoft Visual C# 2013. I keep it on my desk at work. It's intermediate level, which means it assumes you know what programming is and you know what an IDE is, etc., and he does a fantastic job of holding your hand through the basic syntax before launching you off on the more difficult things. Highly recommended.

Sure, and if you want more insight, check out Windows Internals (non-affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Edition-Developer-Reference/dp/0735665877/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0RC78Q7CBY0MX3SQHDNP). Chapter 10.

Very valuable read, especially if you're in IT or technology-decision making capacity.

Wow, you are really digging deep, mate. I only have this book and the Udemy course.

I also have a few years of experience in System Administration as well. I will see how I will do in the 70-410 exam.

The Microsoft sponsored books are good for complete beginners. Couple this with a Hyper-V lab at home to get hands on experience and the Exam prep book.

Books to recommend:
Exam Ref 70-740 Installation, Storage and Compute with Windows Server 2016
Published: January 2017
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/exam-ref-70-740-installation-storage-and-compute-with-windows-server-2016-craig-zacker/1124816630?ean=9780735698826

or

https://www.amazon.com/70-740-Installation-Storage-Compute-Windows/dp/0735698821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496963816&sr=8-1&keywords=0735698821

I still think this is one of the best series of books ever written.
https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Unleashed-Content-Program/dp/0134583752
I have every edition since 2003 for windows server and they are great for looking over things. Taking the exam preps are nice but these can be just as useful since they broken down and do take the time to explain things.

Responding publicly to: "Any recommendations for stuff to read about agent based modeling?"

One of the best resources for agent based modeling is the modeling tool, NetLogo. It's developed by Northwestern:

https://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/

It has TONS of sample models in quite a few different disciplines to see how things work.

Railsback and Grimm have a nice textbook style book on agent based modeling (http://www.amazon.com/Agent-Based-Individual-Based-Modeling-Practical-Introduction/dp/0691136742)

Mitchel and Resnick have a smaller book focused on the concepts of ABM called Turtles, Termites, and Traffic Jams. (http://www.amazon.com/Turtles-Termites-Traffic-Jams-Explorations/dp/0262680939)

Lastly Growing Artificial Societies by Epstien (http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Artificial-Societies-Science-Adaptive/dp/0262550253). He developed generative models of economics using an environment he called "Sugarscape".

Another popular modeling system is Repast (written by people at Argonne National Labs) but I think it's not as easy for the non-programmer to get started with. If you happen to be near University of Oregon, they are having a complexity conference later this month that features a day-long seminar on Repast taught by some guys from Argonne.
http://calendar.uoregon.edu/event/exploring_complexity

This is the book I'm currently using for my MCSA 70-410 exam. The book itself is fantastic. The only downfall is that the series got cancelled after this book because of a fallout between the author and the publisher. Highly recommend this as a starter.

MCSA 70-410 Cert Guide R2: Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (Cert Guides) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0789748800/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_AvZHwb1P2SKVM

Did you base your studying around the exam objectives? https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-70-410.aspx


In my experience with MS exams they will stick to the objectives they outline. The kicker of course, is that you have to be prepared to answer the MS way. I'd highly recommend buying their study material so that you can get an idea of the way they expect you to answer.

https://www.amazon.com/Training-Installing-Configuring-Windows-Microsoft/dp/0735684332/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=70-410&qid=1567086196&s=gateway&sr=8-8


https://www.amazon.com/70-410-Installing-Configuring-Windows-Server/dp/0735684243/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=70-410&qid=1567086285&s=gateway&sr=8-7

I highly recommend http://www.amazon.com/Data-Model-Resource-Book-Vol/dp/0470178450/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458584943&sr=8-2&keywords=universal+data+models

It's a deep dive, you will learn a lot. Most DBAs (I'm looking at you, Oracle consultants,) don't know these patterns for database design very well, if at all.

This is a great HV book - http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118486498/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?SubscriptionId=AKIAIJ5WNI7ZSH7W4OXA&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1118486498&linkCode=xm2&tag=afm0c-20

You absolutely MUST read these books:


1 - Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals


2 - Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Querying

Happy learnig!

Yes, and http://www.amazon.com/Training-Installing-Configuring-Windows-Microsoft/dp/0735684332/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=164D4Y41GB3J385NFBX9

And went through CBT and some bloggs and labbed a little bit.

I got like a 640 needed 700

Powershell commands are a big one.

I like the following meaty tomes:


AD:
https://www.amazon.com/Active-Directory-Designing-Deploying-Running/dp/1449320023/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=active+directory&qid=1568884370&s=gateway&sr=8-2

GP:
https://www.amazon.com/Group-Policy-Fundamentals-Security-Managed/dp/1119035589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=group+policy&qid=1568884382&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Fair enough.

With that in mind, you may want to consider getting Exam Prep books to aid you. This isn't bad and you might want to check it out:

https://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-410-Cert-Guide-Configuring/dp/0789748800/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=Exam+Prep+70-410&qid=1567121990&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Also, go through 70-411 content. That tends to supplement any gaps you may have noticed in the questioning.

Don't give up. You WILL ace that exam.

Not a new idea:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Turtles-Termites-Traffic-Jams-Explorations/dp/0262680939

Edit: the experiments were very good

I am considering buying Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective for this purpose. From reading the Amazon reviews, I am hoping that this book will help me. I had learned C and assembly language at college - enough to pass the exams, but nothing more. What is the opinion of the proggit folks on this book?

Time Management for System Administrators: Stop Working Late and Start Working Smart

The Practice of System and Network Administration, Second Edition

Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed

Windows Server 2016 Unleashed includes Content Update Program

The Practice of Cloud System Administration: DevOps and SRE Practices for Web Services, Volume 2

The Practice of System and Network Administration: Volume 1: DevOps and other Best Practices for Enterprise IT

Network Warrior: Everything You Need to Know That Wasn't on the CCNA Exam

Took this exam and passed on my first attempt. I used this to help me study.

Windows Server 2016 Unleashed is very comprehensive!

I just typed the exam reference into amazon and bought the MS branded ones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/70-740-Installation-Storage-Compute-Windows/dp/0735698821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539205545&sr=8-1&keywords=70-740

Check these pages https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-70-741.aspx for changes to exam, there is some stuff in the first? book that isn't on the exam anymore.



I read through the books once. Then I used itexams.com to look at old exam questions to get a feel of what I didn't know. Then skimmed through the book again. It only me about 3 days revision per exam.

EDIT: 3 long days!

When I say exam guides I mean things like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-Exam-70-680/dp/0735627088 as in the press kit type book.

I have to say though the only reason I probably find that easy is because I have extensive practical experience on the platforms I am taking the exams on. I also play about a hell of a lot in a virtual lab for features I've never played with.

I got this one:

Exam Ref 70-740 Installation, Storage and Compute with Windows Server 2016 1st Edition

It goes trough basicly everything the exam wants you to know.

Depending on how far you want to go, I used to get the Mastering Windows server books. They are basicly a complete overview/guide of everything Windows Server has to offer. Mastering Windows Server 2016

From recent experience I advise the Pearson book for the 70-410:
http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-410-Cert-Guide-Configuring/dp/0789748800

And the MS Press ref guide for 70-411:
http://www.amazon.com/Exam-70-411-Administering-Windows-Server/dp/0735684790/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452740697&sr=1-2&keywords=70-411

> Querying T-SQL by Ben-Gan or any of his other books.

So say, this one?

https://www.amazon.com/Inside-Microsoft-Querying-Developer-Reference/dp/0735626030/ref=la_B001IGQENW_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1506320525&sr=1-10

• The Practice of System and Network Administration, Third Edition
  
• UNIX and Linux System Administration Handbook, Fifth Edition
  
• The Practice of Cloud System Administration: DevOps and SRE Practices for Web Services, Volume 2, First Edition
  
• Windows Server 2016 Unleashed, First edition
  

Link is on Amazon.ca but same books

https://www.amazon.ca/70-740-Installation-Storage-Compute-Windows/dp/0735698821/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

The only book you will need.
http://www.amazon.com/Active-Directory-Designing-Deploying-Running/dp/1449320023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370956851&sr=8-1&keywords=active+directory

http://www.amazon.com/Exam-Ref-70-410-Installing-Configuring/dp/0735673160

Try this: https://www.amazon.com/Active-Directory-Designing-Deploying-Running/dp/1449320023

https://www.amazon.com/Active-Directory-Designing-Deploying-Running/dp/1449320023/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474667521&sr=8-1&keywords=active+directory

I realized after I posted this that there is no Cert Guide book for 70-411....but the one I was referring to for 70-410 is this one: http://www.amazon.com/MCSA-70-410-Cert-Guide-Configuring/dp/0789748800

Anyway, now I'm trying to figure out if I should just stick with the Sybex combined 410/411/412 book keeping in mind how bad it is and read a lot more Technet articles to supplement, or if I should try to find something else. There doesn't seem to be anything out there that gets glowing reviews as a comprehensive exam prep book for the 70-411.