The Ultimate Windows Server 2003 System Administrator's Guide

Rating:
Summary: TREMENDOUS !!! Solid On ALL Fronts
Review: I have never written a book review before but I am extremely impressed by The Ultimate Windows Server 2003 System Administrator's Guide. It is written with authority yet very easy to understand. It begins with a forward by the Microsoft executive in charge of Windows ... that alone is a solid endorsement. However, the real proof came when I needed to understand otherwise foreign concepts like Active Directory and the various security technologies. The book gave me the theory and then provided very human instructions on how to pull these concepts together in the real world. I have six other Windows Server 2003 including the sub-standard Manasi book that has now become a door stop. The "Ultimate ... Guide" is always at my finger tips unless of course a co-worker borrows it.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Book by Williams & Walla
Review: Like their previous work on Windows 2000 Server, the authors come closer to answering all the questions a SysAd has about Windows 2003 than any other I have ever seen. It provided in depth chapters, as well as example implementations in clear understandable language, and with an organizational structure that was easy to follow. A great book well worth the money!

Rating:
Summary: More descriptive than analytic
Review: One should be skeptical of any book that has Ultimate in its title. But without necessarily concurring with that, Williams and Walla seem to have exhaustively included all the necessary topics for MS Server 2003.

Some aspects mentioned are already overtaken by events. The book says "don't be surprised if the names of the products just mentioned undergo change". Indeed so. The .NET label is now deprecated by Microsoft, while the book says sysadmins should keep an eye on it.

The book is good at the mechanistic how-to level. If you need to do a certain thing with this operating system, you can probably get good guidance here.

It is not so great at critical analysis. Do not look here for a comparative assessment of WS2003 against linux or Solaris. For example, it says that now the user's personal settings can be stored centrally, so that she sees the same layout on any MS computer in the server's cluster. Wow. The various unixes had this in 1994. But maybe that is not the intent of the book, you might say. Ok. But then consider the recommendation that if you run a Datacenter, the minimum RAM should be 1Gbyte. That is a huge amount of memory. Why is it necessary? What portion is needed by a possibly bloated operating system, as opposed to that used by actual customer data? (In the authors' defence, Microsoft probably has not showed them the innards of WS2003.)

Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING CONTENT AND REFERENCES
Review: This book does an exceptional job of explaining the functions and features of Windows Server 2003. As an administrator responsible for managing many favors of Windows for a major university I particularly liked the cross references to older versions of Microsoft server products. Where functions or adminitsrative tools differed, a notation is provided so I can easily glide between the various operating systems.

The authors provided a straight forward approach to installation and an excellent review of new administrative tools. For anyone concerned with security, the book provides in deepth explanations and practical guidance ... almost 400 pages worth. The chapters on active directory and networking were also stand-out. As an administrator, I also appreciated the quick reference appendix to command line administration. This is a solid winner.

Rating:
Summary: WELL STRUCTURED, DIRECT GUIDANCE
Review: This book provides precisely the level of information required for Windows Server 2003 migration, maintenance and functional improvements. The authors use an approach that reviews basic concepts and then marches directly into how-too examples. Unlike other Windows books that include hundreds of pages on trivial items, these authors have pinpointed the most important and complex elements of the operating system and made them easily understandable. They also provide helpful notes and precautionary statements in areas where an administrator should not venture without proper planning. This has saved my bacon more than once. In our Windows administration team there are dozens of titles available for reference ... this is the one book that always get to the heart of the issue.

Rating:
Summary: WELL STRUCTURED, DIRECT GUIDANCE
Review: This kind of book is the best choiche to learn about the 2003 server. It is clear and rich of useful example!

Rating:
Summary: Very easy!!
Review: This kind of book is the best choiche to learn about the 2003 server. It is clear and rich of useful example!

Rating:
Summary: TREMENDOUS !!! Solid On ALL Fronts
Review: What an awesome book. An excellent choice for anyone that wants a detailed understanding of Server 2003. I think this book is well organized and easier to read than most books ive read on this subject.

Rating:
Summary: Definitive
Review: What an awesome book. An excellent choice for anyone that wants a detailed understanding of Server 2003. I think this book is well organized and easier to read than most books ive read on this subject.

Rating:
Summary: Microsoft Sr VP Endorses It ... So Do I !
Review: When the Microsoft Senior Vice President of the Windows Division writes glowing reviews about a book and its authors, I take notice. Brian's Valentine's foreward to this book reflects my impressions ... a book that places Windows Server 2003 architecture and administrative issues in perspective and
then drills down to the internals. Microsoft's top Windows Server 2003 executive wrote a great review of the "Ultimate Windows Server 2003 Sys Admin Guide" instead of writing about competitive books from Microsoft Press ... and I believe he correctly selected this book as the best of breed.

I am impressed with the clear way the authors present a straight forward theoretical view of major features and then go directly into real world utilization issues. Here is a book that educates and provides solid guidance for administration.