Customer Reviews

Mastering Windows 2000 Server

5 star:		(110)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the book that made me wonder how come all those other technical books make learning Windows 2000 such a difficult and confusing task. I was lucky though since this was my first book on Windows 2000 and I got it at a time when I really needed to get to grips with it fast.

With absolutely no experience in Windows NT 4, networking or administration, I had to learn Windows 2000 Server and the theory at the same time, including DNS, WINS, DHCP, TCP/IP, Active Directory, scalability and security. I literally read the whole thing over a weekend and went ahead the following week to single handedly set up a Windows 2000 based LAN for a small company, and was able to easily cope with all their demands. The network was soon up and running with the Active Directory, DNS, WINS, DHCP and TCP/IP in perfect working order. It is no exaggeration to say I owe the project's success to this book alone.

Mark and his team's writing style make reading it a pleasure. Depth of content gives you a deep feeling of satisfaction that you've covered the subject thoroughly and gained a very clear picture. This is the book by which I judge the quality of other books on Windows 2000 topics, and I have yet to find one that contained something this book didn't tell you and nowhere near as clearly or comprehensively. I have not yet needed to look at another book on Windows 2000 Server, and nor do I think I will.

The book starts out with an introduction to Active Directory, installation (local and remote), the MMC, the Registry, Hardware installation and Storage Management, followed by Managing User and Computer Accounts, File Sharing, Software Installation, Network Printing, Connecting PC Clients and Macintoshes, Terminal Services, How Running a Big Windows 2000 network is different, Novell Netware Integration, a massive 250 pages on TCP/IP in Windows 2000, Internet Information Services, Tuning and Monitoring, Backup and Disaster Recovery, the Remote Access Service and ends with a handy appendix explaining over 30 of the most useful Performance Objects that can be used in the Performance Monitor.

Mark Minasi has deep insider's knowledge of the product and you can sense his enthusiasm as he shares his knowledge with you, leaving nothing out and all with a light touch of humour and very well organised. This is the best book on Windows 2000 Server and I would especially recommmend it to those just starting out, although I'm sure it's every serious administrator's essential Windows 2000 companion too.

I am an NT administrator and technical trainer trying to quickly get up to speed with Windows 2000 Server. Mark's book is just the ticket. Let's face it- the guy not only knows the product backwards, forwards, and diagonally, but he knows how to TEACH the relevant concepts.

This book is serving the dual purpose of helping me prepare for the Windows 2000 MCSE exams as well as gain the necessary skills to do meaningful consulting with Windows 2000.

In summary, the book is purposely structured to be of maximum benefit to people with or without prior knowledge of Windows NT. Current Windows NT experts will doubtless learn some new pointers about NT as they learn brand new stuff about Windows 2000. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

I am new to Windows 2000 Server having bought it to start a web server for my small laboratory services business. The book was rated highly so I gave it a try. When the title says MASTERING it really means you better have prior MS Server experience as a prerequisite to using this book.

Much of the writing in this book assumes a working knowledge of the basics including installation, network setup, server configuration and more. For example, only brief descriptions were given of some entries required during installation. Many install topics where barely mentioned at all even though the concept and proper configuration of these are critical to proper install and server configuration. Some topics are discussed in great detail but seeking this information out among the entire text was difficult at best. The organization and flow of the text in this book could not be easily applied to a new install / setup situation.

In short this is not a HOW TO type of book and you should look elsewhere if you are a beginner.

As an owner of a computer consulting firm and a past professor of computer sciences at the college level, my experience has taught me that Mark Minasi is one of the premier experts on Microsoft operating systems and problems. My first experience with one of his books was after actually trying to do roaming user profiles in Microsoft Windows NT and finding that out of five books I consulted only Mark Minasi's was accurate and complete. The others were written from Microsoft White Papers which had an error and the authors had obviously not actually set up the profiles because it was impossible given their instructions. Since then I always look for Mark Minasi's books first and have always found the most through and useful information in them. This book is no exception.

In Mastering Windows 2000 Server he covers all the topics that you need to understand and setup a system. Topics covered include DNS, Active Directory, security (internal, remote, file level, etc.), heterogenous networks, the MMC, TCP/IP, IIS, RAS, Software Installation and dozens of other areas. His treatment of each area is thorough and written in a style that most readers with a basic understanding of computers can easily understand. It is not a book that is specifically pointed toward passing one of the MCSE exams but is much more useful than those books that teach you how to spit out Microsoft answers. Instead it actually gives you the foundation and knowledge to actually work with the system and resolve real world problems, something that most exam focused books do not generally provide.

This book should be on the bookshelf of any administrator who is working in a Windows 2000 Server environment or anyone who wants to understand the system. While my company has several technical books on the 2000 Operating System, Mark Minasi's are always the most consulted. The other books are in such good condition that they could be sold again as new.... but not Mastering Windows 2000 Server by Mark Minasi. It is simply the most complete, accurate and understandable book on Windows 2000 Server on the market.

Before I say how much I like this book, I'll confess I have not read it cover-to-cover, as I have the 3rd Edition and it is over 1800 pages. But it is a refreshing change from other texts on the same subject written by folks who think MS products are infallible.

Why did I get this book? I'm not an IT person, but I write a lot of code... mainly for PHP/MySQL-based web sites that usually run Unix-based systems using Apache servers. When offered the challenge of designing a huge web-based application for my employer's intranet, I accepted, but only later found out I had to run my scripts on a Windows 2000 Server. And to make it worse, I would not be allowed to administer the server... only our IT department staff was allowed admin rights to it. And if that wasn't bad enough, no one on our IT staff knew how to run Win 2K Server. Yet they expected me to have all the answers for them. This book has given me the answers.

Now, don't get this book if you are looking for guidance on running PHP/MySQL on Win 2K... no no no. There's plenty of information on the net for that. What I'm talking about is the stuff like Active Directory, or DSN, or SMTP... things that I needed to know to get all our users up and running with the correct permissions to specific directories, databases, email, etc. Its a good introduction to the topics to familiarize yourself with the terminology. If you need advanced coverage on a topic, you may need to get other resources. But this has been a great starting point for me.

One point I want to re-emphasise... before I bought this book, I bought another book on MS IIS 5.0 which just about made me sick to my stomach. The other author was some kind of pro-MS zealot and laced the book with lots of sugary-sweet praise for MS. But not Minasi. I was impressed with his balanced perspective and his mix of both compliments and criticisms.

Anyway, I recommend this to people who know little to nothing about Windows 2000 Server.

Mark Minasi's Mastering Windows 2000 Server is proving itself to be an invaluable resource -- a first-rate reference book that is informative, thorough, and most importantly, clear.

If you're looking for a theoretical and detailed technical discussion about concepts and technologies, this is NOT the book for you. You'd be better off reading some of Microsoft's relevant whitepapers, many of which are freely available to download from their website. But if you're looking for a comprehensive resource that tells you how to use or implement a specific technology or concept, you'll find none better than this masterpiece by Minasi.

I don't know how to stretch this enough, but Mark Minasi is the best as far as the Microsoft NT (on both NT 4.0 and NT 5.0 - aka Windows NT 2000) subject is concerned. I have been a big fan of Mark for a long time. I believe I'm not the only one. I have encouraged my students to buy his books all the times.

The book is really thick, but Mark didn't leave any single page to be without a substantive amount of information. Moreover, Mark never leaved any subject to be touched lightly. Rather, Mark has proven over and over again on many of his books, not only on this one, that he would take time to go deep down to every single subject so that his reader will get the most out of it. (...) You can buy as many other books as you wish, but I can assure you that if you name anything that stands out on those books, I would be able to point out that thing has been covered, and covered rather deeply, in Marks' books without any problem.(...) Another thing, you can have a few laughs when reading Mark's book. This guy really has a very good sense of humor.

Thanks so much Mark.

Tam T. Nguyen, MCSE, MCP+I.

Mark Minasi's book is a great all-in-one primer for learning Windows 2000. I recently received my MCSE for NT4.0 and wanted to learn Windows 2000 Server. I obtained the evaluation copy of Windows 2000 Advanced Server forn Microsoft to install on my home network. I had no documentation for it and bought a copy of Mastering Windows 2000 Server to get me up to speed. Mark's book got me going in no time flat. Windows 2000 is a WHOLE lot different than NT4.0 in many ways. Chapter 1 goes through what Microsoft was trying to achieve and what is new. Active Directory of course is the biggest change. Mark explains it very well from the point of view of a beginner and a experienced NT4.0 user in chapter 2. Other major changes well explained in the book are plug and play, dynamic dns, distributed file system, disk quotas, remote installation services, cleint side caching, group policy objects, encryped file system, disk mounting, software installation, and Kerberos authentication to name a few! Mark's writing style is very enjoyable - not boring like a lot of technical books. He does not hesitate to be critical of Windows 2000 where it deserves it. He goes into good depth on TCP/IP with two substantial chapters. Windows 2000 counts heavily on dns which is dynamic and integrated with Active Directory. In native mode (all Windows 2000) you do not need wins or netbios! The book does a good job of pointing out what can and can't be done in native versus mixed mode. Organizational units and group policies are well explained which are big part of Active Directory and a very important concept of Windows 2000. Chapter 4 was especially enjoyable as Mark started off asking Where Are They Now! - referring to where the heck did they move the Network Contol Panel, etc. Us NT4.0 users will find that chapter very helpful as it explains how to do routine NT4.0 tasks in Windows 2000 including the new Microsoft Management Console (mmc). Security has been beefed up big time in Windows 2000. In various chapters this is well covered explaining Kerberos, encrypted file system, and group policy security settings. Mark also explains how to use Windows 98/95 and NT4.0 clients in a Windows 2000 Network. Chapter 20 on tuning and monitoring has a great overview of the network browsing system (you know - master browsers and browse lists) that is helpful in determining why network neighborhood acts as it does. Mark also passes along a lot of helpful tips that he has learned in his experience with Windows 2000 that you probably will not find in Microsoft Press books.As much as I like the book it certainly is not and did not intend to be all encompassing of Windows 2000. The Microsoft Server Resource kit is over 7000 pages! However Mark's book is packed with 1500 pages of most useful info and may be all the majority of Windows 2000 Server users ever need. There are a lot of books that focus on individual topics of Windows 2000. For instance the O'reilly book on Active directory is great. You also might want to get a book focusing on Windows 2000 security - there is just so much more than in NT4.0 with Kerberos, EFS, L2TP, IPSEC, registry settings, and packet filtering . However Mark Minasi's Mastering Windows 2000 Server is always the first book I grab and is kept in arms reach.

I did a review of Mark's book on 02/11/01 for the second edition which I really enjoyed and I am not going to repeat most of what I covered there. The third edition is a nice improvement - particularly in the area of Active Directory and the all important DNS. I recently achieved my MCSE certification for Windows 2000, and after reading over a dozen Windows 2000 books I will say that in my opinion Mastering Windows 2000 Server 3RD Edition is the best single volume Windows 2000 book available. If you are considering studying for the W2K MCSE I highly recommend that you read this "real world" book FIRST all the way through instead of trying to concentrate on areas pertinent to each exam individually. A good understanding of Tcp/Ip, DNS, and Active Directory (including group policies and delegation), that this book will give you, is crucial for your success. The chapters on IIS and Terminal Services were much better than anything I read in any of my "core four" books. Mark's writing style of course is very enjoyable and his tips are much appreciated. Now being a little critical, I would have liked to have seen info on configuring remote access policies, certificate services, and ipsec - maybe next edition. Still a must own book for serious Windows 2000 Server users.

I don't know about you, but when I read a whole ton of great reviews about a book I tend to switch off...thinking "oh yeh, they probably work for the publisher".

However, this book is quite simply excellent.

If you need to learn about Windows 2000 Server and related technologies this is the book for you. It is very easy to read (not dry like Microsoft and Cisco books) and the author has a great sense of humour which has obviously come from working in the real IT world. It is actually enjoyable to read (for a text book!).

Concepts are written in a way that beginners can understand and veterans not feel patronised. Questions that you don't want to ask your workmates for fear of ridicule are answered (we all forget things sometimes!). All related networking and technical concepts of IT infrastructure are explained which means no switching between books constantly.

This is for people that want to learn how to do things well in W2k and have an excellent day-to-day reference, not for those who want to beat the Microsoft exams by learning rote.

The book was so good, I bought the comp...I mean, I bought Windows 2000 Professional as well. Enjoy!