Not for an real administrator
Show me the pages wich describe how to replace a primary domain controller. Or how to set up RIS the right way with all kind of differend hardware. The info the book gives is not inside out information thats why the 1 star. If you want to get an overview of server 2003 this book could work for you. But dont expect to learn daily stuff work.
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Inside Out
I found that this book contained information and detail that exceeded what would turn up in a typical web search. The book devotes around 200 pages just to AD. I have several books and this one actually gets used!
Excellent writing style, comprehensive coverage
As a comprehensive Windows Server 2003 reference, there is no comparison as far as I'm concerned. Quality shines throughout the book and it is obviously the product of extensive research and lots of realworld experience. Stanek takes some pretty bland subject matter like DNS, Active Directory, and optimization and makes it understandable. This book made many things clearer for me, and I actually enjoyed reading it. Explanations are so much detailed that you can actually configure your system step by step by following the book. Also discusses the underlying technology in a detailed conceptual way, that gave me the overall understanding and insight of what really is going on. If you are trying to learn or working with Windows networks, this book is a must. The book never makes you confused, and virtually all aspects of networking are covered. You really cannot go wrong with this book it is well worth the money.
Very Good Book
I recently bought a copy of this book. I saw it on the desk of a colleague at work and decided to have a look. It is really great and I also like the writing style of Stanek. My only regret is that I didn't purchase it earlier. This would have saved me considerably time and effort in researching several administration problems that may crop up from time to time.
THE BEST ONE STOP RESOURCE
I needed a comprehensive book on Windows Server 2003 and this is the one I picked after reading through all the others at the bookstore. Stanek has the most comprehensive coverage I've ever seen in a single book on security, filesystems/availability, Active Directory, and most anything else you'd want to know about Windows Server. I've been an admin for 12 years and there's things I learned that I'll admit I didn't even know Windows Server could do. As an example, this book has TWO performance monitoring and tuning chapters. These chapters cover remote monitoring, command-line monitoring, performance logging, etc. Chapter 19 covers both MBR and GPT disks as well as SANs, RAIDs. Chapter 20 covers everything you'd ever want to know about NTFS including hard links, data streams, journaling, reparse points, sparse files, disk quotas, etc. Chapter 22 is covers shadow copy from its internals to everything about how it works. Chapter 24 covers everything you need to know about IP addressing and subnetting. There are two chapters on DNS with everything from setup to troubleshooting. Some of the best coverage is on Active Directory. There's eight chapters and the 300 pages covers more than some other entire books on the subject. Get this book jump straight to Chapter 12 and keep reading until you get to Chapter 41. You'll learn a lifetime's worth of knowledge and get more expert advice than in any other book. Thank you Mr. Stanek for such an excellent book.
(30 reviews)
