Customer Reviews

Exchange Server 5.5: 24Seven

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this book as a sys admin working with Exchange Server for the first time, and this book took an already complex product and made it more frustrating. I was looking for a book that would explain the capabilities of Exchange Server and how to configure it to exploit these capabilities. This book seems much more concerned with migration of existing enterprise messaging systems to Exchange and upgrading existing Exchange installations than actually setting up Exchange from scratch.

While I am sure that there is good info in this book that I will eventually use, I would definitely not recommend this book to someone who didn't know quite a bit about Exchange Server to begin with.

PURCHASE THIS BOOK I read this book in 4 days. As an ex-military sys admin of over 20 Exchange 5.5 servers, running 5 for the #3 ranked web host, and now 15 for another company, I have been working with Exchange since the beta of 4.0, and loving 5.5. I have experienced all sorts of disasters, site migrations, and many other situations (sure boss, we can do that), I thought I knew just about everything there was to Exchange 5.5. But I wanted to learn more about this powerful software application, and this book was the trick. Jim begins with the preparation phases, organizing your thoughts so that you have a successful roll-out/upgrade. It covers in great details day to day operation. Jim also gives some great advice for disaster recovery, but he first spends time explaining what you need to do to avoid disasters to begin with. He then covers routine maintenance (and automating those tasks) some additional bells and whistles that I've been trying to learn for months now. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK if you are an experienced beginner or an expert administrator with Exchange 5.5. If you love Exchange like I do, you will not be able to put it down til you are done. Make sure you read the scenarios, the book is full of them, from situations he's lived through. Many of these will help you to learn the real-world scenarios that you might encounter and how to help you survive. With this book in hand, you'll impress everyone around you with your new knowledge. The only regret I have is that it is paperback and not hardcover.

If you are lucky enough to pick up this book before you implement Exchange 5.5, you be able to kick sand in the face of other Exchange Admins. This book brought up so many good points I had never thought of. The book is tailored for someone who already knows a little about Exchange and is not intended as an exam prep book. The chapters cover so many "what to do if..." and "what to do when..." type senarios with "Real World" examples that make them make sense. This book covers backup procedures, disaster recovery, how to keep your server running in tip-top shape, security measures, advanced Exchange Admin procedures, and performance monitoring. You can buy the book now and be prepared when Exchange breaks, or later you will wish you had it before it happened.

This book can make mail admin's life easier. I did not pickup this book from the beginning. I had Exchange 5.5 unleashed a year ago. I thought it would cover everything if I looked hard enough. To my suprise, this book is the best book for the real world. I enjoyed every pages I have read. It shows you how to implement solid Exchange server. All the cautions that you should be aware of, i.e. how to restrict relaying without simply disable it. and good security practice. Highly recomended for all Exchange admins.

This is the book I was looking for all the time, since my company decided to install MS Exchange Server as messaging platform. The reading is very easy (like a John Grisham - couldn't put it down), and there are so many tips and hints, that my book is plastered with post-it notes which indicate what to do and look. Very interesting are the parts about Maintenance and Security. I can recommend it to everyone who has to keep an Exchange Server box up and running.

I don't usually write reviews, but I had to for this book. The author not only knows his stuff, but is capable of putting his indepth knowledge in a very step 1,2,3 approach, something I have found to be an exception in alot of what I read. One think I have to note, I am the main systems person for a trading firm, and we are required to do message journaling (keeping all communications for three years). I have tried to find information on this topic and how to implement it on many message boards and other forums, as well as in documentation. Being that I did not know the actual term was "journaling" I found this impossible, and therefore, have been backing up every single mailbox, and that does not even "legally" do the trick. This one 2 page section on how to implement this makes this book worth more than money, because we are now legal. To the author, thank you for your help, and I look forward to anymore lit. that you produce!

I picked up this book by accident thinking it would be a good "starter" book. AKA - Having never used exchange server before, I wanted a basic book for setting up accounts, addresses, basic administration, etc. This is not that book at all. If you want a really low level book, look elsewhere. However, I quickly found out Exchange Server is intuative enough that it's easy to figure out the basics all on your own just from playing with it. Aside from that, I am greatly impressed with this book. It's solved every problem I've ran across, and more. The best thirty bucks you'll spend this year.

comprehensive, well-indexed (with tabbed pages to identify the sections, even) and lots of great real-world best practices to make life easy. A must-read for new Exchange admins, a wonderful reference, and a great place to pick up tips for those in the field.

I have read about 10 Exchange books in the last 2 years and this is by far the best. It is very readable and non-technical sounding. I think those that are new to Exchange can use this book in conjunction with training materials to explain some of the technical stuff in a more human manner.

Normally I'm not a fan of technical references, but Mr. McBee's delivery of this highly technical information makes for very easy reading. When reading this book it's as if you were sitting there having a conversation with him. Many of the technical points are explained through first hand experiences and stories, which makes what is normally confusing very simple. Being an Administrator I found this book with a lot of practical and useful information for everyday Exchange administration. The author has gathered data from many different Exchange Administrators, and compiled their helpful hints and tips all into one. This book is a must for every Exchange administrator.