The full title would not fit the headline, but it should really read “(MSTS): Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 (70-595) Certification Guide – a review”. Not exactly catching, is it, but do not let that fool you. This book is the ticket.
Have you ever thought “I should get certified! Take that exam, and get famous! Or at least a pay-raise and respect from my peers” but then you thought “But I don’t know if I can pass and there is really no way for me to know what to study” so you did not go thru with it?
Stop that! Now you have the best support you could ever get. A study guide for the exam. Before this you had to resort to blog posts like this, and then read more comprehensive books. The latter might not be so bad but you constantly wonder: Is this important for passing the exam? So now you do not have to worry anymore. This is a definite five star product that is a great companion in the pursuit of the coveted title of MCTS.
The book walks you thru everything you need to know in order to pass the exam and then some. I think that even if you do not plan to take the exam, this is a good book to get anyway because it shows so many BizTalk things in such rich detail. After each chapter there is a short section called “Test your knowledge” in which you get to answer a couple of questions in the style of the exam itself.
The structure of the book closely mimics the different sections in the exam so you know that you get the right amount of knowledge and know you are studying the the rights things in order to pass.
- Configuring a Messaging Architecture
- Developing BizTalk Artifacts – Creating Schemas and Pipelines
- Developing BizTalk Artifacts – Creating Maps
- Developing BizTalk Artifacts – Creating Orchestrations
- Debugging and Exception Handling
- Deploying, Tracking, and Administrating a BizTalk Server 2010 Solution
- Integrating Web Services and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Services
- Implementing Extended Capabilities
The last couple of chapters are the icing in the cake: the first is a very practical instruction about how to get prepared for the exam, how the exam is structured and so on. The last is a sample certification test! You can actually measure your chance of passing as well as getting feedback about your level of knowledge and what to, perhaps, read up on.
The authors are well versed in the product and have years of experience as developers, architects, Certified Trainers and to some extent as authors.
The only critique I have for this book is that it too focused of explaining how something is done (How to configure a sendport to use the HTTP-adapter) and it does not tell you why you should use the particular adapter, and perhaps discuss pros and cons. I fully realize that this is not the point of the book but I still want that.
The style of the book, that it is so packed full of information, tends to make it a bit tedious to read and you quickly fill up on information. Do not try to cram it all in at once, small chunks and you will be fine.
Go to packpub.com, or Amazon, or perhaps Bokus and buy it and get the title of MCTS, now!
More information about the authors:
Johan Hedberg, @Johed – MVP and MCT
Kent Weare, @wearsy – MVP
Morten la Cour, Microsoft Employee
Blog Post by: Mikael Sand