Rating: 
Summary: Not what I had hoped
Review: After reading all these other great reviews I bought this book. That was 6 months ago and while I haven't read the book cover to cover I've used it as a reference on many different areas of Win 2000. I found just about every time I needed an answer to something, this book just didn't go deep enough to answer my question. To be fair Windows 2k is vast and any one book which tries to cover it all will miss something. Most of the stuff in this book you could learn on your own or get from the help files. The whole reason I bought the book was to explain things that were hard to find answers to not basic explanations that you could get anywhere. I give it three stars b/c it is well written and I haven't found any typos or errors, but the value of the content is negligible. My advice is to buy a book on the topic you need help with and stay away from books that try to answer it all.
Rating: 
Summary: Help Screen Prints
Review: As an experienced Windows NT administrator, I was hoping that this book would explain in detail the changes in the Windows 2000 world. What I got however was a bunch of screen prints and help desk files. Thanks but no thanks, I could have received this information from the built in MS Help. For example, a major change from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 is the concept of "roaming profiles" to "file redirection." There was barely a mention of this in the book, let alone enough detail to make proper planning / implementation decisions. What are the differences of basic to advanced file redirection, why are the permisions fixed in start menu redirection. If you don't think these concepts are important, think again. Using file redirection under active directories group policies is one of most critical element for a successful Windows 2000 implementation. It helps guarantee the backing up of user start menu's, my documents, my pictures and application settings to a central server. I would strongly recommend the "Mastering Windows 2000" book over this "screen-print" book any day. This book could be ok for a student playing with the OS, but for a professional will not be suitable.
Rating:
Summary: Help Screen Prints
Review: As an experienced Windows NT administrator, I was hoping that this book would explain in detail the changes in the Windows 2000 world. What I got however was a bunch of screen prints and help desk files. Thanks but no thanks, I could have received this information from the built in MS Help. For example, a major change from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 is the concept of "roaming profiles" to "file redirection." There was barely a mention of this in the book, let alone enough detail to make proper planning / implementation decisions. What are the differences of basic to advanced file redirection, why are the permisions fixed in start menu redirection. If you don't think these concepts are important, think again. Using file redirection under active directories group policies is one of most critical element for a successful Windows 2000 implementation. It helps guarantee the backing up of user start menu's, my documents, my pictures and application settings to a central server. I would strongly recommend the "Mastering Windows 2000" book over this "screen-print" book any day. This book could be ok for a student playing with the OS, but for a professional will not be suitable.
Rating: 
Summary: Invaluble Reference for Windows 2000
Review: As an IT professional it is inevitable that you will be called upon to implement newer technologies. Often this occurs early in a product's life cycle, before you have had the opportunity and the time to become completely familiar with the product through the hands on experience of 'repetition of implementation'. Such is the case with Windows 2000. Windows 2000 brings a myriad of potential new services and functionality to the corporate enterprise environment, both large and small. My customers are IT savvy enough that they are aware of some of the newer functionality, and see where it could improve their IT environment and business productivity. As an IT professional I need information resources that will both bring me up to speed and act as a 'as you go' reference for Windows 2000. 'The Ultimate Windows 2000 System Administrator's Guide' has quickly established itself as being this reference for me. The book is well organized and indexed, and the content is solid. It has been particularly helpful for me as a Windows NT 4.0 expert in navigating the new OS, and implementing new or improved functionality. An example of this is the Group Policy and Software Installation (functionality) of Windows 2000 and Active Directory. The ability to distribute software in the enterprise, without having to do an SMS implementation, is important feature of the new OS. With 'The Ultimate Windows 2000 System Administrator's Guide', I was able to quickly understand the concepts involved and implement the functionality.
Rating:
Summary: Newbie gives a thumbs up
Review: First of all, I have no training in A+ or MCSE and I'm not a sysadmin. I was really just looking for a book that completely covered Windows 2000 Professional and Server so that I could set up my home LAN properly (5 machines), and to be able to get some ASP coding done. The book is very well written (as I look at my sagging shelf of telephone-book-sized doorstops, ... each written so poorly you'd think English may have been the author's third or fourth language...) and great for a newcomer. Some of the issues went right over my head, but that's ok...like I said, I'm new. Also I learned a lot about the operating system in general. One would think that after using a computer for years Windows is Windows...which it definitely is not. Lots of attention to the OS as a whole. Good chapter(s) on Active Directory. Some good stuff on basic networking, too. You get it all with this book...light weight to hard-core. All you anti-Active-Directory NT whiners out there, if I can do it, so can you! Took me about two weeks of reading, planning, studying, and executing my network...which is now on an Active Directory-based domain ... Just go buy it. Thank you Williams and Walla!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent SysAdmin book for Windows
Review: Great COMPLETE reference. Very comprehensive, and written in an agnostic style. Unix admins migrating to W2K will find this a great reference, as well as regular MS folks. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: A Real Life Saver
Review: I am a member of a team responsible for rolling out Windows 2000 for a bank with several hundred branch offices. We have all searched for a single reference that can provide the information we need. Needless to say, we now have many books on the topic, but this is the best. This book provides the answer we need. It gives great background on each topic and then gives us solutions. It is well organized with an excellent command line reference guide. The security sections have already been a life saver and suggested solutions that would have resulted in real damage otherwise. The Active Directory stuff is also super. I guess that I must measure the value of a book by the number of times someone comes to my cube to borrow it. I can report that this book is always used by someone in the group. That is way my group manager is purchasing copies for the entire group. I want to personally thank the authors. Great job guys!!!
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect!
Review: I am almost through the book and I have found it to be very good. I appreciate that the author took the time to explain all the new concepts like kerberos, active directory, pki etc.. The books I like most are those that give you the great info and have lessions that build on one another. The authors give great detailed instructions how to perform the tasks and they explain just about everything. My only complaint is there could have been more continuity between the step by step examples. I liked this book 10x better than the microsoft press book regarding information content. The only place that the microsoft book beat this book is that the examples have continuity from chapter to chapter. I have read hundreds of books and I am always looking for the perfect book on a subject, this book comes very close!!! Nice job!
Rating:
Summary: Almost Perfect!
Review: I am almost through the book and I have found it to be very good. I appreciate that the author took the time to explain all the new concepts like kerberos, active directory, pki etc.. The books I like most are those that give you the great info and have lessions that build on one another. The authors give great detailed instructions how to perform the tasks and they explain just about everything. My only complaint is there could have been more continuity between the step by step examples. I liked this book 10x better than the microsoft press book regarding information content. The only place that the microsoft book beat this book is that the examples have continuity from chapter to chapter. I have read hundreds of books and I am always looking for the perfect book on a subject, this book comes very close!!! Nice job!
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive Guide .. Even Better Than Microsoft's Offering
Review: I am an IT manager requiring both theoretic and practical guidance on the deployment and management of Windows 2000. Prior to purchasing this book, I bought other "administration guides" from Microsoft Press and several other publishers. While they were reasonably helpful, they lacked real depth and an understanding of what I face. They generally spend hundreds of pages on basic issues like print and file server functions, and ignored more advanced topics By contrast, this book digs-in. For example, it provides an exceptional theory chapter on Active Directory. This is followed by a comphrensive implementation chapter. Another strength is the various chapters on security, Kerberos, PKI, and virtual private networks.This is truly the only book I have seen that handles both basic level and advanced topics in a comprehensive and an easy to read fashion.
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