Certification Books

This book is an excellent read start to finish. Topics are introduced gradually, the same topics are dug dipper as we proceed. The author makes sure you understand clearly as we proceed.
No confusions created with too many scribblings and notes, going back and forth; like in the "Head First..." I had to drop that one at end of 2 chapters, you can refer to that for some examples if at all.
With this book I never had to refer to anything at all. I definitely recommend this book over the "Head First..."

What I was most impressed in this book was how clearly it's written and yet it goes deeply on those details that can always get you confused on a certification exam.

I am very satisfied.

This is a good book to learn the concepts of EJB but for the exam you need the HFEJB book.
The details of Context objects (which method of Context object you can use in which method call of the Bean class) are more descriptive in HFEJB
If you are planning to sit for the exam this book should be accompanied by HFEJB

This is a very good book on a complex subject. Explanations of the concepts are easy to understand. Exam objectives are covered in detail with example codes and review questions.
Each chapter covers the individual exam objectives as well as summarizing the gist. Logical organization of the chapters helps conceptualize even the toughest topics.

The Quick Prep Appendix for last-minute cramming and free downloadable Whizlabs SCBCD exam simulator are very effective tools for the exam.

I recommend this book as must have SCBCD exam preparation book that can be also used as a reference book on EJB.

I used this book as a primary preparation tool for the Sun Certified Business Component Developer (SCBCD) exam. Being a beginner in EJB, I found this book to be very friendly. I liked the layout of the book in general and the writing style of the author in particular. Only relevant pieces of code are presented to focus explanation of topic in question. A complete running application may be downloaded from the author's website. The multiple choice questions at the end of every chapter and ALERTs in every chapter made remembering main points easier. Deployment descriptor elements are clarified in considerable detail and they are explained well. Please note that there are errors in this book - some of them are fairly obvious such as using a capital letter as opposed to a small letter (Java versus java) while others are not so obvious but noticeable by experienced java developers. Regardless of its minor faults, I consider this book to be a valuable addition to my library. Normally I would have a cut a star for the errors but because of its content quality, I felt compelled to give 5 stars. I just passed the exam today thanks to this book. I know that I will not hesitate to buy another book from this author. Thanks Mr.Sanghera! I recommend this book highly without any reservations whatsoever.

I bought this book for reference rather than than study use, but it has served its purpose well. First, this book provides decent coverage of Cisco Pixes. Brief overviews are provided of key technical concepts - enough that you can understand what exactly you're configuring. Secondly, the book provides excellent example configurations, even going so far as to step you through basic software setup. (i.e. A step-by-step guide to setting up the integrated PPTP Windows 2000 VPN client, including screenshots). Finally, it provides some of the best coverage of Cisco Pixes that I've found outside of Cisco's website.

There is only one thing I would have liked to see included in this book: A basic configuration example for those who want to use the Cisco Pix as a termination point for Cisco VPN Client connections. For THAT, I had to go hunting for information on Cisco's website. Thus far, this is my only complaint about the book.

I can whole-heartedly recommend this book for anybody who needs a good reference on setting up, configuring, and managing Pix firewalls.

Excellent book, everything you want to know about the Pix. Very thorough, topics are explaned well, in great detail and with good examples. This is the best Pix book on the market that I know of.

I got this book to configure a Cisco Secure ACS with VPN clients, and i reached my goal. And you can get many other topics in a cookbook style. You can read the technical information or only take ideas from examples. Excellent PIX firewall book.

This book well and truly paid for itself after the first couple of chapters. We found a number of areas where our setup was wrong and this book provided a very indepth look at the PIX product and enabled us to fix this easily and quickly. Good book for all users.

If you use PIX, get this book, it has a LOT of great info.

If you are coming from mainframe DB2, this is the book for you. Phil Gunning does a great job of explaining the many parameters and settings that make up DB2 UDB. Explanations are clear and straight to the point. It helped me to understand the DB2 UDB architecture and to get up to speed quick.

This book has helped my get started on monitoring and tuning my databases. Coming from Sybase, I had no idea where to start. I picked up this book and it guided me through all the monitoring setups and provided a monitoring and tuning methodology -- along with recommendations. This stays on my desk and is very handy.

This book is really well organized. The section on logical and physical design was a good review for me. It reminded me how important a good design is to a successful database implementation. The SQL Tuning, Buffer pool tuning, and DB and DBM CFG tuning chapters have helped me take care of my problem databases and suboptimal SQL.

I found this book to be very useful in tuning SQL and bufferpools. I liked the chapter on Problem determination and the utilities section. All v8 utility enhancements are provided.

The chapters on Type-2 indexes and MDC really helped me better understand how type-2 indexes improve performance now I understand what a dimension is and how to identify good candidate dimensions. The chapter on buffer pool tuning and Sort along with the DBM and DB CFG tuning tips have helped get my boss off my back!This is a great book by a DB2 Consultant.

THE BEST Book on UDB to get INDEPTH!! If you want to know indepth, read this -most of the content may be in ibm db2 udb information center also.

I was trying to learn SQL and database basic. I have been looking to several different books and I was lacking a book that would systematicaly explain data base and SQL basics. This is the book. Chapters regarding Data Retrival are just right, not to short and not to long. Just right.

I recomend the book to somebody that would like to learn SQL and DB2 basics.

I used this book to write Exam 704 (Advance DB2 UDB DBA certification). I cleared the exam with flying colors.
I consider this book as DB2 UDB Bible. This is one of the some good books on DB2 UDB.
Also recommend to DBAs who are not preparing for certification since it covers almost all the aspects of DB2 database.

Regards
Prakash Gautam

I just found this book, and after reading it wish I had found this years ago. This is the most comprehensive book on DB2 that I have ever seen. This book has already saved me a lot of time. The performance chapter is great and helped me improve the performance of my DB2 server by over 30% in less than a week.

This is the book I was waiting for long on DB2UDB. This not only covers topics for certifications but also good (very good) reference material for all UDB DBAs on LUW platform.

Although I haven't had to use this manual yet; as I haven't been out of Cisco school for very long; I'm sure it will be VERY handy down the road after I have forgot half of my command line parameters! Seems to be just as advertised, and it is a handy size to fit in my laptop carrier.

Great book to have. Small so it fits in my lap top carrier. Cisco has so many commands and when you don't use all of them everyday, sometimes it's hard to remember. Also if you are a CCNA student, this is great for CCNA-2 when you start working in the lab. You can find any command in this book that you need.

Great product, either for real life or to study for the CCNA. I do wish they made a version w/ spiral binding.

Must have handy quide and reference for those commands not used everyday and a refreasher on those you forgot! Maps perfectly the Cisco's CCNA network academey classes (CCNA 1,2,3, & $). I'd also recommend the "CCNA Portable Command Guide" too.

Chris

If you are going through the Cisco Academny you will thank you're self for buying this book. Everyone who see this book, rushes out and buys it. It is well worth the money.

This book covers most QoS materials used in Cisco 642-642 Exam helping candidates get to know about QoS theory and Cisco router and switch configuration for several networks components (LAN, WAN, Service Provider). With small errata you can get at Cisco Press makes this book an excellent resource for QoS students.

I was floundering in QOS in my lab preparation, so I picked this book up on the advice of an architect I work with. Since then I've seen it recommended by many very senior engineers, and I know why. If you have some hands-on with modern QOS (Modular QOS CLI...) you will get a *lot* out of this book. I poured through it in about a week and it filled in a ton of gaps. Great writing style, about as much a "page-turner" as you can find on a subject this dry.

I really appreciated the overview chapters, as I managed to get a patchwork knowledge of QOS, and the follow-ups were sufficiently detailed to give solid depth of understanding. Also, don't toss the CD out, it's not just some goofy test engine for the VOIP test. It has the first edition's chapters that were cut out. If you're working toward the CCIE R&S, this is really important as the CD contains the Frame Relay Traffic Shaping chapter.

If you're doing QOS or studying for the CCIE R&S, read this cover to cover, at least twice. Good stuff all around. I also have "End-to-End QOS Network Design" as well, but haven't gotten to it yet or I'd comment on the differences.

I bought this book to send it to Chile, where a nephew was in desperate need of it as part of his career and work in Telecommunications. Before I sent it, I had the opportunity to browse through it and I was very impressed with the easy to understand presentation of complex concepts, the lay out of topics, and its organization in general. Lots of diagrammed visuals and a section with very detailed answers to challenging questions. I understand that this is a book that is hard to find in Chile, so, I am also very impressed with the excellent service and information that Amazon.com provided me at ALL TIMES. I could compare prices and get the best one offered, shipping was done in a very timely basis to give me plenty of time to send it to Chile. I cannot tell you how happy my nephew is. He got this wonderful Self Study Guide as a College Graduation Gift. This book is an excellent resource material for those who need to brush up their knowledge in IP Telephony, or to help others to prepare for those exams.

This is an excellent book for QoS. I recommend this for anyone interested in mastering QoS.

Well I originally bought this book to help study for the 642-642 QOS exam. I certainly used it for that and then some. It covered all of the exam topics pretty well and for me was an easy read. I might add that I ended up scoring a 905 on the exam, so it can be done!!
What I didnt realize was that I would use it even more after the fact for a reference on deploying QOS for customer networks. Definitelt worth the money for this book.

I have had an overall Great experience with this product. It's easy to follow along, certification (one of many) here I come...Look out!

Good books, with all the information needed to get certified, for a good price. It met expectations, and I would buy others from this series.

If you are looking to take the A+ 601 and 602 exams this is all you need. I took both exams today (29 May 08) and passed with plenty to spare on both exams. This kit gets it right on all fronts. The information is clearly presented, the flash cards, chapter tests and cumulative exams are all on the mark in the sense that the questions hit the right areas and are representative of the verbage/presentation you will see on the exams. Again, absolutely nothing else is needed. This one hits the nail on the head.

I have nothing but great things to say about this set. Between the 3 books, and the discs, it's everything you need to know for the A+ and then some. Not to mention the flashcards and included .pdf files make this ridiculously convenient. An absolute must have for anyone seriously planning to take their test.

This three book set in the Complete Certification Kit may not be needed to pass the A+ exam. I have yet to take the exam, but I find that the infomation in the three books to be kind of redundant. They are also dry when you read them word-by-word. I wish someone came up with a fun way to study, like comedy within a book. Or maybe something to entertain the adult male.

Consider just picking CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide. And maybe A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition (A+ Certification All in One Exam), so you could have another author and publishers perspective. I picked this Complete Certification Kit because it was a best seller with a high star rating. But so is A+ Certification All in One Exam and CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide. Good luck testing!

I give this book 4 stars because in chapter four, the review questions are for the wrong chapter...But this book really gets into the wireless side of Security. I have not taken this test but cannot wait. I have my CWNA cert and had to read the book about 4 time due to the fact that I don't work in the wireless field.

I enjoy reading these books by planent3 wireless I wish they authored other topics. Unlike the CWNA book, this book fouces alot on secuirty..well the cert is called Certified Wireless "SECURITY" Pro. I have read this book only twice and still feel that I should read it 2 more time before exam day.

The only thing is that many times this book "tells" you how to implement a solution; it doesn't show you how. Don't get me wrong this book is a great learning tool. I enjoy this books so well that I'm going to get my CWAP, after earning my CWSP.

Good luck , all and have fun with this stuff !

I was on the look out for a comprehensive book for wireless security, something which was vendor neutral and would cover a lot of wireless protocols and authentication solutions.
This book is packed with a wide range of wireless networking security protocols and solutions including 801.x, 802.11i, DES, 3DES, AES, WEP, WPA, TKIP, PPTP & IPSec VPNs, wireless VLANs, EAP, EAP-TLS, LEAP and EAP-TTLS.

So I got just the book I was looking for.

Niloufer Tamboly, CISSP

The Devinator does it again with a superbly written book. However, did anyone notice the review questions for Chapter4??
The chapter talked about DOS and the questions were about Encryption? Is this a typo or was that intentional?

I have read three other wireless security books and they all basically [stunk]. Some of them had three or four good chapters, but they also had a lot of "fluff" material and just did not cover the material in a logical manner. This is by far is best wireless security book published to date. Even more important than being a study guide, the book will become your permanent reference book when deploying solutions in the real world.

The book covers a wide range of wireless networking security solutions including 801.x, 802.11i, DES, 3DES, AES, WEP, WPA, TKIP, PPTP & IPSec VPNs, wireless VLANs, EAP, EAP-TLS, LEAP and EAP-TTLS. It covers numerous Layer 2, Layer 3 and even Layer 7 solutions.

The guide also has a great section on wireless security auditing tools. In addition there are several chapters that discuss the implementation of security policies and why corporations need wireless security policies in their company handbook.

Although this book is the best wireless security reference book available, I would still highly recommend that you take the CWSP class which is about 80% lab with about 35 hours hands-on with the equipment. The guy who writes the tests for Planet3Wireless is the Marquis de Sade of test creators. He is sadistic, but bottom line is that I was forced to learn and understand the material and concepts. Hands-on experience combined with intense self study from this study guide will enable you to pass the CWSP test.

But regardless of whether you plan on getting certified or not, this book will be your Wireless Security Bible.

I spent many, many hours going over the CWSP Official Study Guide. I feel like Devin Akin did an awesome job of authoring it. This book was developed to help people attain the Certified Wireless Security Professional certification but I use it whenever I need a definitive answer on questions related to wireless security.

A ton of research was put into making sure all types of wireless security products were covered and I think you'll benefit not only from the challenge of the CWSP exam but also from the knowledge you'll gain while studying for it. I can certainly vouch that undertaking this complex subject has definitely helped my career in the IT industry. Getting the CWNA and CWSP certifications could do the same for yours.

Though the Financials OCP exam is being retired, the Financials package itself remains unchanged. This book is still the best introduction to how to use Oracle Financials.

The exam this book relates to retires in about 2 weeks from now and Oracle Corporation has not given an indication of what will succeed this exam.

How relevant is the book if I can't use it for the specified exams?

This is the most thorough book on Financials I've seen. A must-have, whether you're going for the OCP certification or not.

Most complete treatment of Financials I've seen. Excellent book.

Top notch all the way around. Got me through all five exams. That OCP logo looks mighty good on my resume!

Back in 98 I took a datanetworking course and the author, Dave Prowse, was my instructor. This course concentrated on hands on skills. Wiring, network design and building, server installations, troubleshooting, the knowledge needed to do the job. This book brings Daves hands on approach home and is a good companion for anyone considering a home network lab.

I've just passed my CompTIA Network+ certification using this book and other sources.

David Prowse's Network+ Lab Manual provides some great exercises, providing real experience required for understanding the topics covered by the Network+ exam.

The book also gives clear and concise summaries of all the important areas of the exam, including the OSI model; Commonly used TCP/IP ports and network cabling types.

Great Book! I'd definitely recommend it to anyone taking the Network+ certification.

Just passed the Net+ exam. I found this book through a link on the website www.technicalblog.com. While going through the labs in the book, I did have a few questions about some of the step by step instructions. They were answered quickly by the author on the above website. I also got some valuable information from other moderators on the sites bulletin board.
I didn't really understand VPNs until going through the labs in this book. The questions (while I wish there was more) were very helpful as well.
Amazing book for the money, I recommend!

I actually took the Net + Class with David Prowse this past year, the class was very amazing and then when I was studying for the test, his new book came out and it was like putting the finishing touches for me. It answered all my questions and got me ready for the test. I passed the test easily, thanks to Dave's teachings and his book.

If you want to pass the test, you must study first and then practice everything on a real network, this book can be a great help when you try to actually do what you learn in class.

Great book

This book is by far the best cert book I have ever read. It's extremely informative and presents the information in a manner that is easy to understand and learn. Mr Prowse goes so far as to offer up his techblog for assistance with any issues you may come across while reading the text and and doing the labs. Also, he is extremely helpful and responsive when you do need a questions answered.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to prepare for the Network+ exam.