Several weeks ago, I encouraged you to check out the Microsoft Technology Week Conference in a Box DVD-ROM. Microsoft advertised that this resource was available for purchase by anyone holding an active Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) certification. Unfortunately, by the time many of you went to the URL I provided, the company had changed the availability policy, claiming that it originally offered the DVD-ROM solely to Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) and Microsoft Certified Technical Education Centers. Many of you complained, so SQL Server Magazine looked into the issue, and Microsoft agreed to make the TechWeek DVD-ROM available to all MCPs, as originally advertised. Apparently, the pen is mightier than the sword! I'd like to thank Microsoft for rethinking the policy and making this valuable resource available to the technical community!
In case you missed my original column, I'll recap the key reasons you should buy the TechWeek DVD-ROM. It includes multimedia content from more than 100 Technology Week sessions, along with the online versions of 29 Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) Trainer Kits including these SQL Server courses:
- 2071A Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Transact SQL
- 2072A Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database
- 2073A Programming a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database
- 2074A Designing and Implementing OLAP Solutions Using Microsoft SQL Server 2000—Beta Materials
- 2087A Implementing and Administering Microsoft Windows Clustering
Beta Materials
- 2092A Designing and Populating a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2000—Beta Materials
- 2093A Implementing Business Logic with MDX in Microsoft SQL Server 2000—Beta Materials
The online trainer kits are essentially soft copies of the material that MCTs use to deliver classes at Microsoft Certified Education Centers. The online kits include PDFs that mirror the content in the printed courseware, as well as more than 40 pages of hands-on SQL Server lab material for these topics:
- Working with Subqueries
- Automating the Maintenance of a Standby Server
- Creating User-Defined Functions
- Implementing Triggers
- Data Mining
- Case Study: Implementing Budget Allocations
The DVD-ROM also includes multimedia presentations about the following SQL Server topics from some of the leading experts from Microsoft and the third-party technical community:
- Advanced DTS
- Building Large Cubes with SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
- Building "Scale Out" Applications with SQL Server 2000
- Database Modeling with Microsoft Visio 2000
- DTS Overview and Enhancements
- Implementing User-Defined Functions in SQL Server 2000
- Introduction to Data Mining with SQL Server 2000
- Introduction to Data Warehousing with SQL Server 2000
- Introduction to SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
- Maintaining Availability with SQL Server 2000
- Performance and Tuning of SQL Server 2000 Analysis Services
- Presenting Course 2071: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Transact-SQL
- Presenting Course 2072: Database Administration for Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- Presenting Course 2073: Programming a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database
- Presenting Course 2074: Designing and Implementing OLAP Solutions Using Microsoft SQL Server
- Presenting Course 2092: Designing and Populating a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2000
- Presenting Course 2093: Implementing Business Solutions with MDX in SQL Server 2000
- Solving Business Problems with MDX Part 1
- Solving Business Problems with MDX Part 2
- SQL Server 2000 Curriculum Review
- SQL Server 2000 High Availability Technology
- SQL Server 2000 Index Enhancements
- SQL Server 2000 Installation and Upgrade
- SQL Server 2000 Multi-Instance
- SQL Server 2000 Security
- SQL Server 2000 XML Enhancements
- What's New for SQL Server 2000 with Replication
The above list contains only the TechWeek DVD-ROM's SQL Server content. The DVD-ROM also includes similar content for a variety of other Microsoft technologies. Here's how to order the DVD-ROM (remember, you must be an active MCP):
- Go to http://www.mvpstore.com
- Click the MCP logo on the left-hand side of the page
- You should now be at a page that includes logos for all five MCP certification programs. Click the MCP logo again.
- The TechWeek DVD-ROM logo will appear in the upper right-hand portion of the screen. Clicking it will take you to an order page.
Today, the following link takes you directly to the DVD page, but I can't promise that this particular link will remain active.
http://www.mvpstore.com/catalog/product.asp?PXC=1&PXS=86&PXP=877
This valuable content is a bargain at just $399 for the entire package. Buy it soon, before Microsoft changes its mind again!
