These are both good to show you what to do for the hands on stuff...that's why we suggested them. They'll give you plenty of ideas and are great guides for pretty much anything, I'm not sure there's really anything they don't cover.
As far as hands on, it just really depends on how much money you are willing to spend. Without actual network equipment, you are severly limited on what you can do. That is why I first suggested this software
that is a network simulator. It creates a real network for you and has exercises that you can do, that way you don't have to spend thousands of dollars on equipment. And it also will show you the screens you can play with in 2k3. You could make a domain controller with your copy of 2k3 and just play around with that. Just type dcpromo into the run prompt and it will allow you to make it into a domain controller and install active directory and you can play around with making accounts, etc. You just wouldn't be able to have other computers on there without having, OTHER COMPUTERS
As far as the in depth knowledge and interworkings of a network and how to set it up, etc. Cbtnuggets is great for that because it's basically taking the classroom set up to you. The instructors give you examples and information that you should know from everyday scenarios...a lot of stuff that you probably wouldn't learn on your own, things that come from experience, etc.
So it depends on which end of it you're looking for, but either way you go, you'll be getting valueable knowledge. If you don't have a lot of cash, you could just get the network simulator and play with that a bit until you get enough money to buy some of the cbtnuggets cd's, and that will get more in depth for you. You might also buy the microsoft cube for 290-294...that will probably help you out, especially the 294 book for active directory since you wouldn't have the entire network, just the domain controller, and that is where you set up active directory.
Well, I guess that's about all I can think of for now. Don't hesistate to ask any more questions if you've got 'em
