Apple Training Series: Mac OS X Support Essentials (2nd Edition)

This book is for Service Professionals or those wishing to become Service Professionals. It gives the reader everything he/she will need to pass the required exam for the Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) designation. This rating replaces the Apple Certified Help Desk Specialist (ACHDS) rating and covers Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. Each chapter provides in-depth coverage of the workings of the operating system. The Appendix includes the Apple Troubleshooting Workflow Chart and troubleshooting methodology used by Apple Technicians.

You'll learn about Installation and Setup, including configuring, installation troubleshooting, etc. Lesson 2 covers User Accounts, how to manage them, account security, and more. Lesson 3 covers Storage, Partitions and Volumes, File Ownership and Permissions, File Management via the Command Line. Lesson 4 covers the Mac OS X Volume Hierarchy, Mac OS X Metadata, Archiving and Backup. Lesson 5 discusses Applications and Boot Camp, Processes, and how to run Windows on a Mac. Lesson 6 provides detailed information about Network Configuration, fundamental networking concepts, configuring Mac OS X networking, and network troubleshooting. Lesson 7 describes how to access network services and directory services. Lesson 8 takes you through a discussion about providing network services, providing and protecting network services, and troubleshooting shared services. Lesson 9 talks about peripherals and printing, as well as faxing. Lesson 10 includes an overview and detailed discussion of the startup process and troubleshooting the startup process. Finally, the Appendix covers troubleshooting techniques.

Support Professionals need to pass one exam, Mac OS X Support Essentials v10.5 Exam (9L0-402), sponsored by Thompson Prometric. This book will give the reader everything necessary to pass the exam. Those pursuing Apple Technical Certification may also want Apple leader-led training, which is available at training centers in major cities in the United States.

For the above reasons, I highly recommend this book, which is well written, easy to read, contains essential information, is thorough in its scope and complete in its design.

I picked this up to read and prepare for a mac OS X certification test. Its got lots of great information and really explains a lot of what is going n in the background in Leopard. I've used macs for years, but I still found this to be helpful in explaining the why behind a lot of the Mac OS.

It's hard for me to get past my only major complaint with this book: the complete lack of proofreading. It's littered with typos, duplicate or missing words, and sentence fragments. At least a dozen in the first half of the book alone! For example, pg 27 ends with, "However, if you wish to migrate from another MAC system." That's an if/then statement without the "then" part. That's the whole sentence, I swear.

Technically speaking it's very thorough, without going overboard. The information is presented clearly and logically. I'm a novice MAC user whose clients use a few MACs for nothing important but are looking to expand their usefulness and this book helps me understand some of the finer elements the other idiots guide books don't.

Really, it's a fine book. But if typo's drive you nuts -and this book has more than its fair share of them- wait until they release a revised copy.