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Summary: Intmidating Topic...Simplified
Review: I had the opportunity to attend a Microsoft Licenced to Sell Event this week where I won a copy of this book as a door prize. I have spent the last couple of days reading this excellent and entertaining book...yes I said entertaining. The book is written as if you are talking directly to Harry...and not in a classroom style setting. It is very easy to read and covers just about every major topic on SBS 2000. The book also contains places for you to make notes because no well used book should be unmarked. Probably the best feature of this book is the best practices. Many books tell you what to do, with these best practice you'll not only what to do but why you need to do it. Keep this book handy whenever you are onsite!!!
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Summary: The most reable book of a microsoft produkt ever
Review: I installed first the SBS2000 server but after reading the book, I know why I had so many problems. It's a shame I did not have the book before installing my first SBS2000. (I should come which the product of microsoft) I have much experience which W2K server and SQL2000. But this book tells you also everything about the complex of ISA, EXCHANGE and easyness of internet connectivity of SBS. The examples are perfect. I read the book in my free time. I loved every moment of reading. Harry thanks!
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Summary: Super book, very informative
Review: I keep this book handy at all times. It has helped me immensely with my quest for answers to install and setup a Small Business Server. I would reccommend this book without hesitation.
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Summary: Excellent hands on details
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I'm well versed on Windows 2000, but haven't had much exposure to SBS. I really enjoyed the writing style and learned a few tips and tricks along the way. The Linux comments were a lot of fun, having myself lost many a battle with the Linux beast. Two fat thumbs up for this book!
Rating: 
Summary: Might Be Of Some Use To Inexperienced Users
Review: I think the value of this book depends on the amount of experience you've had installing and using prior versions of SBS or even with installing and using Windows 2000 Server or NT4 server. If you've had virtually none then you may find this book of some use. Otherwise I think you'll find it of little value.The author uses his "SSL Methodology" to guide the reader through setting up SBS 2000. What the author is really doing is setting up a sample company called Springer Spaniels Limited (SSL). The text tells you to do this, do that, click here, etc. and gives screen shots of various things along the way. This may give those with little SBS experience the "warm fuzzies" that they are doing things correctly. However, the SBS 2000 set up is pretty intuitive and there is a good amount of help information built into SBS 2000 that is available as you go from step to step through the set up. My complaint is that, since this is true, the book does little more than give you the same information without any more insight. Worse, there is nothing to really help you if you need or want to deviate from the "SSL Methodology" or run into problems. I encountered some problems trying to connect workstations to a new SBS 2000 server that had previously been connected to an SBS 4.5 server. The book was of no help for this. In another case I had a new XP Pro machine that when setup did not load the firewall client (the successor to WSP Client). Again, the book was of no help in dealing with this. (The solution was easily found on the MS Knowledge Base). With no real help for doing things differently from the "SSL Methodology" this book is of limited value. Ditto for no real trouble shooting info. I purchased the book based on nearly unanimous 5 star ratings. Based on those I was hoping for a book that would be more informative and useful (something akin to Manasi's Windows 2000 server book). I was disappointed. I rate this as pretty much a novice's book. At virtually $... a copy it certainly isn't worth what you get. As an aside I note the photo the author provides of an SBS 2000 installation. Apparently this is his work and he points to it with apparent pride. I certainly wouldn't hold up this sloppy job as an example of a quality installation and I hope no one follows it as an example.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrid, full of filler pages
Review: I was new to SBS 2000 and I though this book was going to be great. If you are looking for anything technical on SBS 2000, forget this book. It talks more about how great SBS 2000 is, and very little on how to set it up. If you are looking for help on SBS 2000 or 2003, a better choice would be to go to Microsoft's page for SBS 2003/2003 and under community review the news groups.
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Summary: It's about best practices, not a reference manual
Review: I'll take one star off for somewhat careless editing that includes a few typos and some slightly misleading information, but this is a great book for what it is. If you possess a solid basic understanding of Windows and networking hardware, this book will help you set up a SBS 2000 network with confidence and skill. I think Harry's emphasis on "best practices" is worth the price of the book alone: he is a networking pro, with years of hard-won experience, which he shares freely in this book. His humour and unpretentious style are a bonus - certainly a refreshing change from the impersonal and alienating tone of most books in this field. I used this book to set up several SBS 2000 networks and found it helped me get the job done right. Actually, this edition is probably more complete and helpful than his best practices book on SBS 2003 (which leaves out some of the info in this edition - i.e., makes you go back to this edition to get the job done!).
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Summary: Insultingly stupid
Review: If you need this book you are probably in the wrong business. I was expecting something more in debth. I have an MCSE, and I can say that the dumbed-down course materials I used to study for my exams back in 2000 put this worthless book to shame. If this is all it takes to be an administrator nowadays I might as well quit my job and let the secretary take over, Im sure that she can click the "next" button just as well as I can. Maybe its just me, but I was hoping for an in debth coverage of SBS as a solution, and how it differs from a traditional domain structure, and maybe an analysis of how the properties of SBS can best be implemented in some environments and interlopability with other products. Instead I get some cowboy comparing Information technology to a ranch with cows and such. I would return the book, but im too embarrassed to draw attention to the fact that I actually bought the thing in the first place.
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Summary: Oh my god, so horrid.
Review: Just what the title says. Make no mistake about it, this is a truly awful book. It concentrates mostly on how great Microsoft is for coming out with Small Business Server, and very little on how to set it up. There are GREAT information gaps in the areas of Domains, Active Directory and Troubleshooting in general, to name a few. The walkthrough on the little information that is in the book just assumes that if you follow the author's instructions step by step, the server will just work. Unfortuneately this is not the case. The author leaves out many important details about the setup of SBS and in general seems to be using his new book as his platform to attack the Linux community as a whole. (Hence the subchapter entitled Linux Losers) This is a terrible book. If you're looking to setup a MS SBS, find another book. There HAS to be something better.
Despite the fact that this book contains no useful information at all, it seems to have near 1,000 pages. The information in it is also laid out in a terrible manner, making it near impossible to find anything that might be related to what you're doing with your server. If you're setting up a SBS, find another book, ask people on the internet how to do things, heck ask at 6 year old kid. Any one of these three options would be a better option than reading this book.
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Summary: Good reference for beginners and sbs administrators
Review: Like Harry i have been working with sbs since it's first inception in 1997 - sbs 4.0. The firts two chapters are about what sbs is and is not. Harry has a lot of experience in the field, and He will take through the process of preparing political, comercial and tecnical details of a sbs deployment. Basically we are talking about someone that really loves sbs, and having said that you do notice he is a bit biased. but that's alright as long you get the tecnical details about common administration tasks. I have to stay that this book could have been easily kept to under 600 pages as oposed to the 800. Sometimes Harry is too descriptive. things like dowloading winzip and installing it, does not need a step by step description. this is not supposed to be a dummies book Harry! The chapter about exchange is really good, exchange is huge... but the author was able to descbribe breafly and effectively it's day to day administration. also i really enjoyed installing the conference server add-on and messaging component. I read his first book about sbs - teach yourself sbs 4.5 in 21 days, and at that time i was critical about the lack of in depth in proxy and iis. somewhere in the book harry gets back to mee saying that is impossible to desbribe those two servers, (now in ISA and IIS 5.0 encarnation), in a single chapter allocated to them. I agree, but let's put things straight, HOST HEADERS CANNOT CONTAIN SPACES! In chapter 17 , when describing how to create a web site in IIS manager, the author tells you to put SSl Intranet in the host header field. this is a knowledge flaw. since this site will never work with such mapping. I am not giving it 5 stars, because Harry has not done completely his homework. Sharpen up that IIS knowledge!!! Anyway, thanks a lot for the book. You are still someone I admire just for pushing so much SBS, and by reporting directly to the sbs developer team.
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