Thursday, November 10, 2011

SY0-301 Security+ Study Guide Released




The CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-301 Study Guide is released! This is an update to the top-selling SY0-201 Security+ study guide, which helped thousands of readers pass the Security+ exam the first time they took it.





Here are a few highlights about the book:

  • 100 percent coverage of SY0-301 objectives
  • Over 450 realistic practice test questions
  • 100 question pre-test
  • 100 question post-test
  • Practice questions in each of the eleven chapters
  • Comprehensive acronym list

All practice test questions have in-depth explanations. You'll know why the correct answers are correct, and why the incorrect answers are incorrect. Additionally, the chapter content explains the topics in full detail. No matter how CompTIA words the questions, you'll have the knowledge to correctly answer them.

Picture yourself taking the Security+ exam and seeing the results “You passed.” You can do it and this book can help.

40% Discount For A Limited Time

As a favor to the many people that have shown so much interest in this update, I’m making it available at a reduced introductory price. For a short introductory period, I'm offering the book with a special discount of 40% off. That's a whopping $14.80 off the list price of $36.99.
  • Order here now
  • Enter discount code XQY3HAAG when you check out for the 40% off discount
Why am I offering such a steep discount? I’d like to get this book into as many people’s hands as soon as possible. While there is certainly no obligation, I’m hoping some of you take the time to provide comments on the book. Readers just like you posted comments on the SY0-201 Study Guide Amazon page to let others know about the book value. It may be your review that 54 out of 54 people find helpful.

A Quick FAQ List

I can hear a couple of questions coming so here are some quick answers:

Q. Will the book be available on Amazon?

A. Yes. I expect it to be on Amazon within two weeks.

Q. Is the 40% discount available on Amazon?

A. No. Amazon controls their discounts. As an example, the CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead- SY0-301 Practice Test Questions book was published on September 15, 2011 and as of today, they still have not reduced the price.

Q. How long will the 40% discount be available?

A. I plan to replace it with a 25% discount in 30 days.

Q. Is a Kindle version coming out?

A. Yes. The process takes a little while, but I expect to have the Kindle version out within 60 days. I'm not sure of the pricing at this moment.

Instructors

If you're an instructor, check out this page http://getcertifiedgetahead.com/instructor-resources.aspx Many instructors in the United States and in at least two other countries used the CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-201 Study Guide to help their students pass the Security+ exam the first time they took it. You can help your students pass the SY0-301 Security+ exam the first time they take it too.

Darril Gibson
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Sunday, July 18, 2010

MCITPSuccess.Com Rehabbed

With the release of my new Window 7 book and a recent Windows Server 2008 book, I realized that the MCITPSuccess.com site needed to be updated. I recently reorganized it and posted some more material for Windows 7.

While this site has been most active with SQL Server MCITP certification topics in the past, it looks like Windows 7 and Server 2008 MCITP topics will be filling my time for the foreseeable future.

If you're studying for Windows 7 exams, take a look at the sample questions that are listed at the bottom of some of the Windows 7 pages. For example, these pages has some sample questions:

With the Windows 7 about to explode on the scene, I'll be doing a lot more with Windows 7. If there's something you'd like to see, feel free to let me know.

Darril
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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Security+

If you're studying for the Security+ exam, check out this blog:
Security+ Get Certified Get Ahead
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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Retiring exams now 40% off

The 70-447 exam: Upgrade: MCDBA Skills to MCITP Database Administrator by Using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is retiring in March 2009. If you're an MCDBA in SQL Server 2000, this exam with the 70-431 will earn you the MCITP: Database Administrator in SQL Server 2005.

Microsoft has recently announced that all the exams that are scheduled to retire have their prices reduced by 40 percent. In the U.S., the normal price is $125, so this makes the price $75 ($50 off!).

This price reduction applies to all the exams retiring in March 2009. You can see the details here:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/discount/default.mspx

Darril Gibson
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Thursday, May 8, 2008

Wanted: Professionals with Database Skills

Another survey is out identifying the top 10 IT skills wanted by employers today.
  • Number 8: Database Management
  • Number 9: Business Intelligence and Data Mining.
Database Management.
Of 1400 CIOS polled, 66 percent considered database management to be considered an in-demand skill. And, median pay for professionals
with these skills increased by 10% over the past two years.

Business intelligence/data mining
Companies are recognizing the value in being able to retrieve and analyze the data. Pay for professionals with these skills grew by more than 22% in 2007.

Check out the full article here.
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Thursday, April 3, 2008

Deploy an image to a computer

Deploy an image to a computer

This is part 6 of a 6 part series that will give you information on capturing and deploying images using ImageX. In this part, you will deploy a captured image.


  1. Boot the system using a bootable disk containing WinPE and ImageX. The bootable disk can be either CD or a USB disk. The boot process will take several minutes.
    Note: If you want access to an external USB drive (such as one that holds the image you want to deploy), plug it in right after the boot process has begun. If you don’t plug it in before WinPE boots, you probably won’t be able to access the drive once WinPE completes the boot process.

  2. When the boot process is complete, you’ll have a command prompt on the X:\ drive where you can enter command-line commands. The following drives may be available. Enter the Drive letter with a colon (C:) to see what you can see. When done, enter X: to return to the X: drive.
    C:\ This is the original C: drive
    D:\ CD/DVD drive
    E:\ If you booted from a USB disk, this is it.
    F:\ Extra drive (such as portable USB drive)
    X:\ This is a RAM disk created by WinPE
    The format of the ImageX command when deploying an image is:
    ImageX /apply “source of .wim file” “image name or image number” target
    · Source of .wim file. This is the full path and name of the file such as F:\Images\Myimage.wim
    · Image name or image number. When an image file is created, it can be named. Addtionally, multiple image files can be contained within an image file and images can be referenced by their number. The first image is 1, the second is 2, and so on. You identify the image name by the image name, or the image number, not both.
    · Target. This is the drive letter where you want the image deployed. It will most commonly be C:\

  3. If you booted from a CD drive and you want to copy an image from a different DVD disk (but have only one CD/DVD disk drive), you first need to copy two files to the X: drive. Use the following two commands from the X: drive:
    Copy d:\imagex.exe x:\
    Copy d:\wimscript.ini x:\

  4. Enter the following command to deploy the first image from a .wim file named MyImage.wim.on the D: drive in a folder named Images.
    Imagex /apply D:\images\Myimage.wim 1 c:

This will take a little time but really not that long. I've deployed imges about 2 GB from a DVD and it's only taken about 10 minutes.

Once you deploy the image, reboot, and answer the setup questions from sysprep's mini-setup program.


  • To get information on images contained within an image file, use the following command:
    Imagex /info “path and name of .wim file”

  • For example, to get information on a file named myimage.wim in a folder named images on the F: drive, enter the following command:
    Imagex /info F:\images\myimage.wim

  • If images are named intuitively you can easily identify them in the Name node ( ) of the output.

This is the end of the 6 part series on using ImageX to creat and deploy images.

Part 1 Download and Install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)
Part 2 Prepare the Windows PE Folders
Part 3 Prepare a Bootable CD
Part 4 Prepare a Bootable USB (optional)
Part 5 Run Sysprep and Capture an Image using ImageX
Part 6 Deploy an Image using ImageX

This information is valuable when preparing for the MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician exams.

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Run Sysprep and Capture an Image

Run Sysprep and Capture an Image

This is part 5 of a 6 part series that will give you information on capturing and deploying images using ImageX. In this part, you will run sysprep on a system to prepare it to be captured.

    Run Sysprep


    If you are capturing only one image of a system for restoration purposes (not for cloning) you will not need to run sysprep. In other words, if there will never be two instances of the same computer image on the network, sysprep is not needed. However, if you want to join the computer to a domain you must run sysprep

    Warning! After running Sysprep, you'll need to reenter the key from your installation DVD. Make sure you have it available.

    1. Locate the sysprep program for your operating system. It is often in this folder: C:\windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe, but it may not be there. If Sysprep is in this folder, browse to it and skip steps 2 and 3.
    2. If Sysprep is not in the sysprep folder extract it from the installation DVD. Insert the installation DVD for your operating system into your DVD drive.
      Warning! If you use Sysprep from a different OS, you will likely encounter problems which may make the image unusable. If the image is valuable to you, you should first capture it without Sysprep to ensure you can get back to square one if things go wrong.
    3. Browse to the X:\Support\Tools\ directory (where X: is the drive letter of your DVD drive). Right click the Deploy.cab cabinet file and select Explore. Copy the contents of the Deploy.cab to a folder on your C: drive. Browse to the folder.
    4. Double-click the sysprep.exe utility to launch it. Read the warning and click OK.
    5. On the Windows Vista Sysprep tool, select "Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE)", select "Generalize", and select "shutwdown" as the shutdown option. Click the OK button and after a moment, sysprep will complete and the system will shutdown.
      For the Windows XP Sysprep, select MiniSetup, Pre-activated, and PnP check boxes. Ensure the Shutdown choice is set to Shutown. Click the Reseal button. Read the information in the dialog box and click OK. After a moment sysprep will complete and the system will shutdown.
    6. When the captured image is deployed after running sysprep, you will need the installation key. Make sure this is accessible.

    Capture the image

    1. Boot the system using a bootable disk containing WinPE and ImageX. The bootable disk can be either a CD or a USB disk. The boot process will take several minutes.
    2. When the boot process is complete, you’ll have a command prompt on the X:\ drive where you can enter command-line commands. The following drives may be available.
      - C:\ This is the original C: drive
      - D:\ CD/DVD drive
      - E:\ If you booted from a USB disk, this is it.
      - F:\ Extra drive (such as portable USB drive)
      - X:\ This is a RAM disk created by WinPE
    3. The format of the ImageX command when capturing an image is:
      ImageX /capture “image path” “path of wim file” “name of the image” “description”
      • Image path. This is partition or volume you want to capture. It will most commonly be C:.
      • Path of .WIM File. The path and name of the new WIM file. For example, you can save the image as MyImage.wim in a folder named Images on the c:\ drive. The image file would be C:\Images\MyImage.wim. The folder must exist, but the .wim file will be created.
      If you have enough room on the drive you are capturing, you can save the image file to the same drive. In other words, if you’re capturing C:\ you can save the image file on the C:\ drive.
      • Name of the image. This is free text and could be something like “Sales Desktop Image”
      • Description. This is free text and could be whatever you like. To describe the image.
    4. Change the drive to the drive holding the ImageX program by entering the drive letter and a colon at the prompt as X:. If you booted from the CD drive, this would be D:. If you booted from the USB drive, this would be E:
    5. Enter the following command to capture an image named “SalesDesktop” to a .wim file named MyImage.wim.on the root of the C: drive.
      Imagex /capture c: c:\Myimage.wim “Sales Desktop” “desc”

    Depending on how much data is contained on the C:\ drive this can take from several minutes to over an hour. The “mins remaining” estimate is pessimistic at first giving a very long time to complete, but typically completes much quicker. If you save it to a local disk, it seems to be much quicker than saving it to an external USB disk.

    Once the image is captured, you can reboot your system and copy the .wim file to a DVD or an external USB drive. You can then deploy the image contained within the .wim using ImageX.



    • To get information on images contained within an image file, use the following command:
      Imagex /info “path and name of .wim file”
    • For example, to get information on a file named myimage.wim in a folder named images on the F: drive, enter the following command:
      Imagex /info F:\images\myimage.wim

    • If images are named intuitively you can easily identify them in the Name node ( ) of the output.

    You have prepared a system to be imaged with Sysprep and captured an image using ImageX. The next step is to deploy an image.

    Part 1 Download and Install Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK)
    Part 2 Prepare the Windows PE Folders
    Part 3 Prepare a Bootable CD
    Part 4 Prepare a Bootable USB (optional)
    Part 5 Run Sysprep and Capture an Image using ImageX
    Part 6 Deploy an Image using ImageX

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