UK IT Training – Review Part 5 – Server 2003 & XP Support 8 Day Course (Days 1-5)

[ManicD]

Part 1: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18792.html
Part 2: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread18793.html
Part 3: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread20079.html
Part 4: http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread21490.html


OK, so this is the longest and apparently the most important course in the UKIT arsenal. 8 days Monday to Friday then Monday to Wednesday the following week.

Again the same day layout as the A+ 9:30-4:30 with breaks in between. The lack of books between the last course and this one again annoyed me, but with the help of the past instructor Andy and a couple of PDF documents he sent me I was reasonably well prepared.

Also, if you haven’t done it by now, can I say, MICROSOFT VIRTUAL PC!!!! INSTALL IT, PLAY WITH IT, USE IT!! It really is your friend!!!, You can download the ISO images for server 2003 R2 as a trail version from the Microsoft website, this gives you a free 180 day trial after you activate it (though when you try to download it it almost looks like Microsoft wants you to buy it, just keep going and trust me, its free). Plenty of time to play about and teach yourself a few tricks. I also found a ‘fully legitimate’ ;-) copy of XP Professional that seems not to ask to be activated. This I installed on several virtual pc’s to play with and have got a nice little system going to practice my skills on. I cant stress enough how much this setup has helped me.

Anyway, back to UKIT…firstly the training books. This time on the first day of the course we were presented with two file-o-fax style books, produced by N+S Courseware, one called ‘Supporting Windows Server 2003’ and the other ‘Windows XP Professional Installation, Configuration and Administration’ Our instructor was quite clear he personally didn’t like these books stating these contained “just enough information” which I suppose is ok, but sometimes what you really need extra information so that you learn everything in depth and thus find the surface stuff that you are to be examined on easier. I’ll add my own thoughts about the books when I have actually worked with them for a while.

So Monday, first day of course, a new classroom and a new instructor (Eban). The day had a nice steady speed and again this instructor was good and easy to talk to, making the class seem at ease. The content of the day moved on well, and we covered the Installation and deployment of XP, DHCP in depth and a little DNS.

Tuesday, a little harder than the first day, much more in depth a fair bit of work on DNS, Setting up an active directory server and basic administration of an active directory.

Wednesday, where did Wednesday go I don’t know, yeah, a lot more active directory and a few other bits such as NTFS and sharing file permissions etc

Thursday, for me possibly the most boring day so far, more NTFS and sharing permissions, IIS and System backups (which considering we did it at A+ and N+ took a stupid amount of the afternoon) I was falling asleep by the end, thought I think their were some lass members who still hadn’t really got it :-s. Tomorrow should be good, group policy objects are the bit I’ve been waiting for all week!!!

Friday, my most interesting day so far, group policy object with OU’s (but not how they apply with groups themselves :-s ) then terminal services which was not so interesting.

On further review of the books throughout the week these books are amazingly ****!!! Its near impossibly to find what your looking for the contents pages give incorrect page numbers, the content of the books themselves has not enough depth to understand the concepts behind whats being taught and they are just useless as a reference or training aid. I think most people would be better off buying their own off e-bay, most of my class also feel this way… A big let down after the sybex books have been so good. Its now the weekend after 5 of the 8 days and I shall personally be going down the library tomorrow and searching out the Microsoft Press books to borrow for a while.

So far, I have to say once again the quality of teaching has been really good, the trainers at UKIT really seem to want you to do well, which as a student it a great boost.

I'm breaking up this and the next three days of this course so theres no too much to read in one go and to keep interest.

as always any questions e-mail me with %username% at hotmail dot com

Comments and thoughts always appreciated...

[Ozzy2k7]

Hey,

I've tried downloading the server 2003 trail but it says it will email me the url but I never get it.

do you know something I don't

Ozzy

[ManicD]

Originally Posted by Ozzy2k7

Hey,

I've tried downloading the server 2003 trail but it says it will email me the url but I never get it.

do you know something I don't

Ozzy

you should have got the email, i assume you have noted the product key you were given, heres the link that comes in teh email

Go to the Installation Instructions at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...linstruct.mspx to begin the download process for the Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition with SP2 (32-bit x86) trial software.

[Ozzy2k7]

Originally Posted by ManicD

you should have got the email, i assume you have noted the product key you were given, heres the link that comes in teh email

Go to the Installation Instructions at: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserv...linstruct.mspx to begin the download process for the Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition with SP2 (32-bit x86) trial software.

Yeah I've got the serial but I was missing the link, i'll get that started when I get home thanks

Ozzy

[nishi13]

hello manicD,
while reading ukit reviews i feel like someone is writing my experience..wel bt compared to urs my experience s preety bad
'm preparing for server 2003 and my contarct is abt to end...b'coz of running out of time 3 friends of mine lost their job garantee and now paying more to get the course done...right now 'm not thinking abt paying more just concentrating on my exam
what i would like to say is try to finish your each module as early as possible otherwise you 'll just waisting your money
i dont expect any sort of help from institute and so far i never heard someone happy with their contract n service
good luck mate

[derkit]

Keep it coming Manic - very good read indeed!

[anniemac]

I have been following your 'journey' with UKIT with real interest. Just one question - how did the rest of your class do in the Network+ exam? I also signed up there but am not a happy bunny. Just 2 in my class passed and I wasn't one of them. The general consensus was a lot of the exam questions was not covered in the book. Has anyone finished and actually been placed in a job? Interesting!!

[ManicD]

Originally Posted by anniemac

I have been following your 'journey' with UKIT with real interest. Just one question - how did the rest of your class do in the Network+ exam? I also signed up there but am not a happy bunny. Just 2 in my class passed and I wasn't one of them. The general consensus was a lot of the exam questions was not covered in the book. Has anyone finished and actually been placed in a job? Interesting!!

Looking at your profile i see your actually signed up with skills train not UK IT Training. As far as i know our class success rate was very high, and the other people in the sever 2003 course scored well on the exams aswell.

what book did you study from? I used the sybex books and dfound them quite conclucive when used with the instructor lead training in the centre.

As for people who have been placed in a job i dont know but from my own circemstances i feel i'm in a good position and will progress nicly to complete the course within the allotted time.

[anniemac]

So don't keep us in suspense, what happened next? Days 6-8 and after!

[ManicD]

Originally Posted by anniemac

So don't keep us in suspense, what happened next? Days 6-8 and after!

Sorry, i've been a bit lazy, started work etc etc and had forgotten to update this.

days 6-8 went pretty much the same as 1-5, at some points i felt teh content was getting stuck on what people should have learnt at A+ and because of this we didnt quite cover all teh material in teh course. This annoyed me greatly, i have paid for teh course aswell and didnt expect to be held back and not covering material because people didnt pick up elements earlier in teh course. I spend alot of time trying to fully understand the elements before moving on, others should do the same.

in the end we missed out, performance and monitoring.

Fast forward a week and half and i took my XP exam, nice pass on that one, gave me a smile for a while.

then bingo, i started my new job at a school near me, good days but hard to get teh studing done aswell.

but still a week and half later i was back in the exam room passing my 290. another smile on my face for a month.

Due to the new job, i couldnt make the next avalible course which had been set to start 21st Jan 2008. So beliving another one would be secdualde in febuary and thinking i could get my own studing done in that time i was ok to put off.

Well that was a mistake, the weeks in jan and febuary starting going by faster than i care to remember, my regular calls to UKIT were always met with the answer, "the next course has not been secdualde yet" along came march and finally i get a call. I'm driving along teh road when my phone rings, hands free i answer it, UKIT telling me my course dates 18th,19th,20th,25th and 26th of march, split right over easter, spread over two week causing maximum inconvenience to myself and my employer, bear in mind i was promised this course could be easily woven around my other commitments (my ass they can).

So now two months after i passed my exam, i'm booked onto the next course. alrighty then, looks good....

EXCEPT, my course is due to start on the tuesday, on teh friday 4 days before, i'm called up, i was actually in teh hospital when they called, so i got an answerphone message left telling me my dates had been changed because the trainier couldnt make it... so now my course is put off by a day..new dates wed 19th, 20th,25th,26th and 27th. Brilliant, but what am i supposed to do now, its 7pm Friday night and i've just been told i need to arrange a DIFFERENT day off with my boss.....Its friday night....is anyone working friday night...NO.... I'm sooooooooo lucky i have an understanding boss, its now monday and she was not happy when i told her of teh new arrangements, luckly shes agreed to let me go with it still.

UKIT have now PISSED ME OFF!!!!

They are so stupidly UN-ORGANISED its unreal, they dont seem to care about their students external lives and expect everyone to be able to jump when they clap.

Gah....... More to come at the end of teh week and they better be good this week