DNS on Windows Server 2003

I got this book coming from a BIND background and wanting to move to Windows DNS (I do have a valid reason). The first few chapters cover DNS background similar to the BIND book. After that it moves on into how to do things in the Windows world. It uses examples that are straight from the BIND book but done in Windows 2003. There are lots of screen shots and clear explanation. One of the really good things, for those coming from a *nix background, are the chapters on running from a command line and using PERL scripts to manage DNS. Overall it is a great book for anyone running DNS on Windows.

I find O'Reilly books to be like Cisco's or Apple's books, in that they place a value on being readable, witty, and scrupulously technical. You will understand DNS on Win2K3 if you read this book.

Simply put, this is the most thorough and complete text on DNS for the Windows Active Directory (Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003) platform; period. In addition, it covers the basis and "the guts" behind DNS in general irrespective of operating system but of course focuses and drills deep into the application of DNS in the Windows AD NOS. For you UNIX fiends out there, go with its sister book "DNS and BIND" written by the same team. You can be an absolute novice on DNS or a seasoned systems engineer/administrator and this book will be equally enthralling. Whether this is your first book on DNS or not, it definitely will be the last one you need to buy...at least until Windows "Longhorn" Server debues in 2007-2008. And despite one mistaken reviewer's comment: THERE IS FULL COVERAGE of Active Directory Integrated DNS Domain and Forest Zone Application Partitions. Just buy it,and you will never bat an eye at tackling any DNS issue ever again.

As in-depth as you will get on DNS for Windows 2003. A recent reviewer stated that it's much of the same. Well, much of it really is; and if you''ve been working with DNS for as long as many of us, nothing about its operations should be new to you. The most significant "tweaks" in DNS in the past few years have been done by Microsoft, to support their AD/200x line - those features are detailed quite specifically in this book (it's what this is all about anyway). And with AD continually evolving, chapters such as Managing DNS Programmatically (with WMI completely in mind) should be of utmost importance for the practicing MS administrator (that is, if you've really read the book!)

This book is well-written and very easy to read. It covers all the basics of DNS and the specifics around Windows Server 2003 DNS. The AD chapter is a gem!I have to disagree with reviewer "Santhosh Sivarajan". Just as with the base OS, there weren't huge differences with DNS between 2000 and 2003, but I think this book did a good job in covering the differences. All the major enhancements including conditional forwarding and stub zones were covered in detail. Also, contrary to what Santhosh said, application partitions are covered in depth in the AD chapter.In short, if you are running Windows Server 2003 DNS, you won't go wrong with this book.