(Part 2) Best business technology books according to redditors
We found 693 Reddit comments discussing the best business technology books. We ranked the 211 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
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
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:
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?
Yup, it is Management Information Systems.
Here is the book
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.
Hi!
I keep a list of resources I've found helpful for learning PowerShell here. Books, cheat sheets, videos, etc.
Highlights (from my perspective)
If you prefer videos:
If you prefer books:
If you learn by example:
Stop by #powershell on IRC (Freenode), and check out twitter. Many folks idle or chat in the IRC channel, and from my perspective, you can't beat twitter for up to date PowerShell content.
If you want to see the vision for PowerShell, check out the Monad Manifesto
Good luck!
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!
Start with this:
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Windows-PowerShell-Month-Lunches/dp/1617294160/ref=sr_1_3?crid=26462OWKXC9YH&keywords=learn+windows+powershell+in+a+month+of+lunches&qid=1568013284&s=gateway&sprefix=learn+windows+%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-3
Then this:
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-PowerShell-Scripting-Month-Lunches/dp/1617295094/ref=sr_1_4?crid=26462OWKXC9YH&keywords=learn+windows+powershell+in+a+month+of+lunches&qid=1568013284&s=gateway&sprefix=learn+windows+%2Caps%2C231&sr=8-4
And finally this:
https://leanpub.com/powershell-scripting-toolmaking
​
I'd also recommend spinning up a virtual environment with at least 1 server and 2 workstations. Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 Enterprise both have evaluation editions you can download and install for free.
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.
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:
What you should have done:
-----
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.
Read Windows Internals - http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Internals-Edition-Developer-Reference/dp/0735665877/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0RC78Q7CBY0MX3SQHDNP
It is co-authored by Mark Russinovich who is a Microsoft Fellow. There are two parts to that book, both ~$30, but they provide in depth information on the workings of Windows in a variety of areas.
PowerShell and WMI by Richard Siddaway http://www.amazon.co.uk/PowerShell-WMI-Richard-Siddaway/dp/1617290114 what a book.. What a book..
Then once you have the basics down, the followup book has been incredibly helpful in getting me putting together cmdlets that act more like native ones
Learn PowerShell Scripting in a Month of Lunches
Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1617295094/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_LJYwCbE21BF87
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.
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
First, read our Wiki. It is very thorough and answers a lot of these common questions such as
day to day? The Practice of System and Network Administration
And the topical reference books listed below.
Books to help in shaping a sysadmin? The above &:
The Phoenix Project
Time Management for System Administrators
Topical Books I see mentioned often and have been very helpful to me:
Powershell in a month of lunches
Learn Python the hard way
Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook
Windows Server 2016: Inside Out
Group Policy
AbsoluteBSD
FreeBSD mastery:ZFS
CCNA
RHCSA/RHCE
Pro Puppet
SSH Mastery
On my docket:
FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS
Michael W. Lucas and Thomas Limoncelli are very good sysadmin writers, you can't go wrong with a topic they have chosen to write about.
Most of the *nix stuff assumes a baseline knowledge of how to use a unix-based system. I learned as I went but did pick up an old copy of Unix Visual Quickstart Guide not too long ago at a used books sale, which seems like a good starting place for someone overwhelmed with sitting at a terminal and being productive.
I notice I don't have any Virtualization books, perhaps someone else can fill in good books. Most of my knowledge regarding virtualization and network storage has been a mix of official docs, video training, and poking at it. Seems innate but it isn't.
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.
Learn to program in C irrespective of whatever you need to do at your job. That is the only way you can learn how the machine actually works. My introduction to computers and programming was via C and though it was difficult, in hindsight it was worth it. Also as another commentator said learn how to debug; the single most valuable skill in a real job.
Beg, borrow or steal this book (and read it cover to cover);
Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective
Let me start by telling you that InfoSec jobs are in-demand now more than ever and that's not likely to change as more and more of the world are starting to use computers, computers continue advancing, etc. So, barring any sort of impending dark ages and assuming you're putting enough effort into your education and continuing education, you should be able to work your way up without too much trouble. Focus on getting your foot in the door and be professional.
 
Now then, I'm currently an Information Security Analyst in the US, so this information may be completely irrelevant to you out there in NZ. I initially only graduated with an Associate's (2-year) in Information Security & Computer Forensics. I managed to get my job before I had even graduated as I worked hard in school (a stressful amount, really) and knew how to conduct myself in a professional manner. They actually paid for my certifications, and a lot of companies out there will as well. Here's the tiered structure we followed - all InfoSec related certifications:
 
Within the first 6 months, we are sent to training to obtain our CompTIA Security+ certification. This is roughly a 1-hour, multiple choice test and you need at least an 80% to pass. I would recommend any of these three books to study from:
This is the book that my company had provided me to study from
This is the book my friend had given me. Both her and I studied from this and passed successfully
This is the book we are currently learning from in my Bachelor's program
Take your pick, they'll all achieve the same essentials, mostly. I am awful at studying and mainly just crammed the few topics I wasn't sure about in the night/morning before my test and passed with an 86%.
 
Next, we're sent to get our GSEC, which is the GIAC Security Essentials Certification. The Security+ focuses on several main topics and gets in-depth with the information, whereas GSEC covers a wide span of topics but doesn't get very in-depth. This test takes about 5 hours to complete also, compared to the 45 minutes that it took to take the Security+. It's important to note that the GSEC, while 5 hours long, is open-book. My company sent me to a training class that provided 6 different books to cover any topic on the GSEC, however you also need an index. The books themselves don't have a table-of-contents, so you need to make an index yourself that covers just about every topic on every page. In my case, a coworker sent me his that he had used, and it turns out it was out of date so not a single page was correct. Much to my own surprise, I passed with an 82% (the minimum passing score is 74%) so while the index/books are important - they're not completely necessary as long as you paid attention in your classes. It should also be noted that I did not actually study for this. Most of it was just common-sense stuff like "Which of the following does an Intrusion Prevention Device do?" and knowledge that I had obtained from school/work.
 
After GSEC is the GCIH, or, GIAC Certified Incident Handler. I haven't taken this yet, nor the next one, so I can't speak to their difficulty or process, but I've been told by other analysts it's roughly the same as GSEC, just different information and more hands-on like capture the flag runs.
 
Finally, after GCIH, we are sent to get our GCIA, or, GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst. Same with GCIH, I have not been sent to obtain this cert just yet, but I can only imagine it's somewhat similar to the last 2 as they follow GIAC's tiered structure.
 
So TLDR - as a current InfoSec Analyst - the recommended certs are Security+, GSEC, GCIH, and GCIA. There are many more certs out there, though, these are just the ones my company values currently.
 
Good luck!
Windows Server 2016 Unleashed is very comprehensive!
Referring to Security+ books. I like the Security+ ExamCram (https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-SYO-401-Exam-Cram/dp/0789753340/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1520956323&sr=8-7&keywords=security%2B+401) a lot better than All in One Comptia Security+ (https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Guide-Fourth-SY0-401/dp/0071841245/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1520956323&sr=8-4&keywords=security%2B+401)
As many other users have stated, it really sounds like you're dealing with a bunch of dinosaurs. For a guide on getting things right, I wholeheartedly recommend Jeremy Moskowitz's group policy book. http://www.amazon.com/Group-Policy-Fundamentals-Security-Managed/dp/1118289404 (you can get a taste on google books too)
US link
http://www.amazon.com/PowerShell-WMI-Richard-Siddaway/dp/1617290114/
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.
So I pulled up a few things:
I found CompTIA's (Computing Technology Industry Association) Wiki Page. They have a list of the different certifications they offer and it's quite extensive.
Then I just found some general info on what Security+ is.
Finally I pulled up the Security+ Book on Amazon, it looks like they're on the 4th Edition so that would be the one you would want to get.
You may also want to look at what your college offer's course wise because they might have a class or 2 on Computer/IT Security and those can always go on your resume as "related coursework". After looking at the Security+ it does say that it recommends 2 years of experience in IT Security before taking the test, just a heads up. A lot of these certifications help your resume out and they will help you stand out above the other CIS grads that have a CIS degree and some IT experience. Anyways, hope this helps somewhat.
I sat through a Global Knowledge week long class. Work was requiring two guys on my team to get our MCSA with MS365 so we can become Microsoft Gold Partners.
While the class was great, and a week long it only covered the fundamental levels of Office 365. More for a My company wants to go to Office 365, what is it all about? scenario.
I watched Youtube Videos which were great, and found some VCE files for 70-346 that were outdated, but honestly were on my test almost verbatim.
Also, Get 70-346 Exam Ref and 70-347 Exam Ref
Covers what is on the test in detail.
We also picked up a CBT Nuggets subscription, but both tests were archived from 2015 and were a bit dated.
Also, get yourself a lab. You can provision a 30 day trial tenant domain for free, which helps with understanding and a hands on.
Be prepaired for lots of powershell. Powershell to confirm a new domain. Powershell for setting Sharepoint permissions on specific team sites. Its pretty crazy, but the books do a great job of breaking it down. YOu can get through a book in a day or two because there are lots of screen shots and a chapter per test topic.
Feel free to PM me with any questions. More than happy to help. I love this shit.
https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Inside-Current-Service-dp-1509302484/dp/1509302484/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1549689994
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.
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.
I took and passed the sec+ yesterday.
Resources I used were CBTNuggets as the primary study guide-these are the best-he goes through each of the objectives point by point. And you can speed up the videos if you don't have a lot of time.
Also squeezed in some professor messer, those free youtube videos. Sometimes he expands a particular objective point you're lacking on.
And then used this book from amazon, but I'm sure any would do-I just liked to have a physical copy of something to flip through.
I didn't find it too difficult-I definitely had to focus and think, but I was confident at the end that I had passed.
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
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?
You'll have to grab a book on the topic- one of the big hurdles most people face is just figuring out the sort of questions you've asked at the end here: how do I execute a script? how do I write portable code? where can I execute this script?
The answer to all of these depend greatly on the script. A generic script can be executed from any machine with powershell installed and an execution policy of "remotesigned" or better.
Here's the book I like:
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PowerShell-Cookbook-Scripting-Microsofts/dp/0596801505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314721194&sr=8-1
And here's a tool that will help you get started:
http://powergui.org/downloads.jspa
You're more than welcome to PM me any questions- I'm no expert, but having recently learned a lot of this, I can relate to not understanding it, and the questions you'll have are fresh on my mind.
not a problem. Google and ms technet are your friends.
I have heard great things about
beginner level:
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Windows-PowerShell-Month-Lunches/dp/1617290211/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323979474&sr=8-1
more of an intermediate/advanced:
http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PowerShell-Cookbook-Scripting-Microsofts/dp/0596801505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323979485&sr=8-1
Took this exam and passed on my first attempt. I used this to help me study.
In modern computing & when dealing with a domain, you're rarely going to touch the Registry much less consider fucking with it exception for very rare circumstances or if you're a very very very very big organization.
There are some books this book is usually the standard recommended that I've seen. Otherwise, you're using sites like these from the source. (I wish that site wasn't so hard to find.
I also recommend, judging by the comments, reading this may be helpful: https://darksim905.com/blog/index.php/2017/02/17/rsysadmin-frequently-asked-questions-an-ongoing-series/
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
Windows PowerShell Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Scripting Microsoft's New Command Shell
http://amzn.com/0596801505
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
I came across that one and I was concerned that it's from 2013. I know not much changes in AD, apart from Azure AD, but I'm worried some notable features would be missing.
I also saw the Mastering series (from O'Reilly, right?), and I figured they'd probably be good, but again, I want to ask before I buy, hah.
I've watched that same series and, while I knew much of the content, there was a lot I didn't. It was very much worth the watch, for anyone else perusing this post.
I grabbed this, too, after I watched that.https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1617295094/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
EDIT: I received the book yesterday and had my first lunch-date with it today.
I've been trying to flex my PowerShell as much as possible at work and in my virtual machines. I'm even running one VM as a core/non-desktop instance just to I can be forced to use the commands on it.
I, personally, do not know of any good online courses for Software Engineering.
I learned most of it through a great textbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Systems-Analysis-Design-Changing-World/dp/1111534152/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420140887&sr=8-1&keywords=software+engineering+changing+world
You really need to have a firm base in understanding your system requirements, your use cases, etc in order to break down problems better.
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.
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.
It's 1100 pages long because the A+'s scope is incredibly wide. You have to be comfortable with all of the objectives, which encompasses roughly every hardware component you would see in a lot of legacy and modern computers and multiple Operating systems and diagnostic tools. Sometimes yeah, he goes into a bit too much detail for the exam itself, but the knowledge is important. For example, his detailing on how the CPU pulls from RAM is a bit over the scope of the exam. But you'll get a better understanding of why he's telling you this as you get further into the field. Plus, knowing so much detail about every little bit of information will make it very, very difficult for you get to questions on the exam you're unfamiliar with.
And as a fair warning if you're planning to make it much further into IT, get ready for a lot more reading and a lot of it will probably be just as much of a slog. One of the fundamental Group Policy Object books is about 900 pages alone.
Thank you.
> 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
Props to you! I've been reading through the Windows Powershell Cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/Windows-PowerShell-Cookbook-Scripting-Microsofts/dp/0596801505, but this looks much more manageable.
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!
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
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!
I just read the majority of this: Group Policy Fundamentals... - thought it was great. It filled in a lot of little gaps in knowledge I had.
The Satzinger one.
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.
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
I googled 70-346 exam and found this.
https://www.amazon.com/70-346-Managing-Office-Identities-Requirements/dp/150930066X
And the 70-347 ref book.
https://www.amazon.com/Exam-70-347-Enabling-Office-Services/dp/1509300678/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=15M3DQTWY2QSX7Z16MVN
> https://www.amazon.com/Exam-70-347-Enabling-Office-Services/dp/1509300678/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=15M3DQTWY2QSX7Z16MVN
Make sure you read those reviews.
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.
Systems Analysis and Design in a Changing World (Sixth Edition) <-- this was the version required for a class
Seventh Edition(?)
This book is free from any programming languages and is instead supposed to aide the development of thinking and planning applications.
murach's SQL Server 2012 for developers <-- required for class
murach's SQL Server 2016
Uses SQL to further enforce "forms" for application data structures.
Professional Test Driven Development with C#: Developing Real World Applications with TDD
Book I purchased during my 4000 project class. Team based project where we had to
After my research at the time, this book seemed to be the most appropriate for my scenario.
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
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&amp;qid=1539205545&amp;sr=8-1&amp;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!
My brother got me this for xmas recently. I liked it
http://www.amazon.com/PowerShell-WMI-Richard-Siddaway/dp/1617290114
I've been struggling with the same thing in my environment, so I'm not sure I can answer this question for you. That being said, I've been doing a fair bit of reading on best practices for this issue and from what I can tell the general consensus is "what works best for your environment".
I've been organizing users and computers into their own OUs by department. That may not work best for your environment though. You may need to do by physical location, both in the office, and nationally/internationally.
I've been architecting mine to best be able to use GPOs and GPPs. Again, you'll want to think about your final setup here. Are you going to have printers mapped by location? Are you having specific printers for specific users or groups? Do your users move between floors? Between sites?
These are questions I've been learning to ask when thinking about AD design. I've been reading The Practice of System and Network Administration and I can't recommend it enough. Another book I've been reading is Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop. The Group Policy book is a great resource and poses different scenarios out to help with organizing AD which I found particularly helpful.
As for those "migrated" users, you'll likely want to put them in the proper OUs, it sounds like there was a merge or something similar in this environment. It may be best to just start over and rebuild the domain, but that's a big if.
Read the Aidan Finn book for your version of Windows Server.
Here's the 2012 version https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Hyper-V-Installation-Configuration/dp/1118486498/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1542665642&amp;sr=8-6&amp;keywords=hyper-v
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.
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&amp;qid=1550575563&amp;sr=8-2&amp;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.
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&amp;qid=1567086196&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-8
https://www.amazon.com/70-410-Installing-Configuring-Windows-Server/dp/0735684243/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=70-410&amp;qid=1567086285&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-7
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&amp;qid=1496963816&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=0735698821
http://www.amazon.com/Exam-Ref-70-410-Installing-Configuring/dp/0735673160
Here is your best bet:
https://www.amazon.com/Windows-Server-Inside-Current-Service/dp/1509302484/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?keywords=server+2016&amp;qid=1565742949&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-8
Also if you want to become good server admin learn Powershell early and learn it well. Build many core servers and learn to set them up only using command line and power shell.
https://www.amazon.com/Learn-Windows-PowerShell-Month-Lunches/dp/1617294160/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=powershell+in+a+month+of+lunches&amp;qid=1565743055&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=powershell+in+&amp;sr=8-1
Congrats on the new gig