The Ultimate Windows 2000 System Administrator's Guide

Windows 2000 is the latest operating system form Microsoft and the complexity with which it was developed has made the understanding of the application more difficult for administrators. You have planning and migration issues, active directory and directory services issues, new file formats that weren't part of the NT OS. You have distributed file system concepts, public key encryption and security, VPN and IP Security as well as IIS issues. All of this must is similar, yet different that NT and yet you are responsible for making sure the transition is easy and quick. The Ultimate System Administrator's Guide is definite help in this task.The 894-page text is load with figures, table, diagrams, pictures, notes and most importantly step-by-step procedures for the support and administration of Windows 2000. The author break down the subject matter into sections with detailed descriptions of what you need to do and then allows you to try it with the hands-on exercises. I was most impressed by the amount of information presented, I was a little taken back by the somewhat complex technical explanations in certain areas. Overall the author did an impressive job making sure that the information was for the most part easy to understand.I liked the fact the book starts with an overview of 2000 administration and the 2000 architecture, this way you have some idea of the way the operating interacts with your computers. Then there is an excellent section on the planning and migration from NT to 2000. The author makes every effort to give you the most up to data and accurate information so that transition is as smooth as possible. Then after all this you begin to discuss the Active Directory and Directory services which is over 100 pages of information.Chapters 7,8 & 9 are the user administration chapters dealing with accounts, groups, policies, permissions, and security, sharing and distributed file sharing. Follow that up with over 350 pages of information on networking, security, encryption, naming services, VPN and IP security data management and disaster recovery, terminal services, IIS issues, clustering, indexing and message routing. This is simply one of the best books for 2000 administration on the market today. There is also an appendix with over 100 pages of 2000 commands and utilities, by far the most complete collection I have ever seen. Finally the book makes working with and supporting 2000 a whole lot easier. The layout of the topics and information itself is what makes this book a must have for all those studying for the certification or the longtime administrator

Often online documentation and many computer books concentrate on the step by step process of how to accomplish a task while glossing over the more detailed theory behind it. This often leaves a system administrator with unanswered questions especially when the task he needs to complete varies slightly from the basic task outlined in most books. The Ultimate Windows 2000 System Administrator's Guide does not fall into this trap. It is an excellent resource for system administrators precisely because it gives the background, the theory, and the practical steps needed to administer a Windows 2000 environment. It is evident that the authors have a strong grasp not only on technology but also on what a system administrator faces on a daily basis. Personally I felt that their coverage of Active Directory made a complex subject easier to understand. After reading those chapters I felt confident in my ability to implement Active Directory. Another part of the book that I found valuable were the chapters on security. The chapters were organized well and explained the concepts with plenty of descriptions and detail.Overall I felt the diagrams, notes, and tables supported the text so that they added to the value of the written text. The organization of the book is such that it can be used as a reference book allowing the reader to examine only those sections of particular interest or it can be used as a training guide taking the reader through Windows 2000 in a more sequential fashion. I believe that this book is definitely an integral part of a Windows 2000 system administrator's reference library.

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!!!

Now that Microsoft has finally produced a real enterprise operation system, I needed to identify a book that could explain both concepts and offer practical guidance to my university students. I have examined over a dozen books that publishers have sent in the hope I would adopt one or more of the books for these classes. This book is the best available. It is well written and organized. It tackles highly complex concepts in a logical fashion and provides solid implementation guidelines. Students new to operating systems will find the first two chapters a good foundation. My advanced students can dig into advanced security, networking and directory services topics. This is the only book I will need for both my introductory and advanced courses. Overall, this is an excellent book.