Windows® 2000 Automated Deployment and Remote Administration (The Mark Minasi Windows® 2000 Series)

Rating:
Summary: Like a City Map for Tourists
Review: For anybody who has to do an automated deployment, you're looking for a reference that lays out the technology like a Thomas Guide map - but this title is more like a Chamber of Commerce Tourist Map; it will show you all of the main points of downtown, but not much more and nothing in extreme detail. Within this title, the author attempts to cover automation theory, automated deployment (scripted, sysprep, and RIS), application deployment via GPOs, VBScript, WMI, ADSI and even a mini-course in HTML; All that in a little over 500 pages.

For the automated deployment sections, the book does present accurate information, but similar to how a Cliff Note covers a classic. Microsoft's Windows 2000 Resource Kit contains a 1000 page book called Deployment Planning Guide which covers these technologies deeper, clearer and is a free download from their web site. There is, however, a section within this book that provides general configuration and syntax information for the RIS OS Chooser menus and structure. It's a poorly documented area by Microsoft, and this book does spend a fair amount of time presenting the general information and OSCML tag reference. Again though, the information presented neither covers all the nuances of RIS nor it's OS Chooser menu structure, and there is a free Microsoft White Paper that covers the same material as presented in this title.

Scripting is invaluable to any administrator and well worth the time to learn. The sections in this title dedicated to VBScript, WMI and ADSI will go no further than to show you some of the potential these tools can provide you. To really learn any of these three topics would require a text dedicated to just the single topic.

So although this book would be a good read for someone who needs an introduction to the topic of automated deployment and would like a reference point of where to go next, I don't feel that the title is in-depth enough to allow an administrator to close the cover and start their project. The book has tried to show more information than a single title of this size should, and other resources cover the same information much more in-depth, and many times are free.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book!
Review: I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a great reference for GPO's and IntelliMrrror technology. A very easy read, that keeps you interested & has a nice logical progression on how to implement these technologies.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly Thorough!
Review: Windows 2000 has been out for over 2 years (including the beta). I have been surprised as to how few NT administrators have learned, much less utilized the intense level of scripting automation built into the OS. This book may help turn that corner! After all, nothing can be more mind-numbing that watching a CD-based install. And this tackles that issue, whetting an appetite for "what else can I automate," only to provide step-by-step tools on how to script all of the mundane.

While the book does not advertise scripting at its core (Windows Script Host, ADSI, or WMI), it does an excellent job at covering all important elements of scripting. And it does so in the applied setting of automated deployments and remote administration. Truly a book for elevating the NT Admin into being a "full" Windows 2000 administrator, one who can automate through scripting.