Microsoft® Windows® Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant [Paperback]

William R. Stanek (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1740594835 | ISBN-13: 978-1740594837 | Publication Date: April 28, 2004 | Edition: 1

Portable and precise, this pocket-sized guide delivers ready answers for managing Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP from the command line. Zero in on core command-line tools and techniques—learning timesaving ways to extend your operational efficiency and reach over multiple domains and networks. With its quick-reference tables, lists, and step-by-step instructions, this book delivers the fast, accurate information you need to get the job done—whether you’re at your desk or in the field!

Get fast facts to:

• Create and use command-line scripts
• Perform multiple, complex operations by grouping commands
• Run commands, scripts, and programs on a scheduled basis
• Use event-logging tools to monitor and fine-tune system performance
• Gain control over disks beyond what you can do from the GUI
• Administer Active Directory users and groups, computer accounts, and domains
• Maintain network printers and print services
• Configure, manage, and troubleshoot TCP/IP networking services
• Get tips for using command-line related Resource Kit tools

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William R. Stanek has over 20 years of hands-on experience with advanced programming and development. He has written nearly 100 books including: Microsoft Windows Vista Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Windows Server 2008 Inside Out, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Administrator's Pocket Consultant 2nd Edition, and Microsoft IIS 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (all from Microsoft Press). He also wrote MCSE Core Exams in a Nutshell and Windows Vista: The Definitive Guide for O'Reilly.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (April 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740594835
• ISBN-13: 978-1740594837
• ASIN: 0735620385
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William has over 20 years of hands-on experience with advanced programming and development. He is a leading technology expert, an award-winning author, and a pretty-darn-good instructional trainer. Over the years, his practical advice has helped millions of programmers, developers, and network engineers all over the world. He has written more than 100 books. Find William on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/WilliamStanekAuthor.

William has been involved in the commercial Internet community since 1991. His core business and technology experience comes from over 11 years of military service. He has substantial experience in developing server technology, encryption, and Internet solutions. He has written many technical white papers and training courses on a wide variety of topics. He frequently serves as a subject matter expert and consultant.

William has an MS with distinction in information systems and a BS in computer science, magna cum laude. He is proud to have served in the Persian Gulf War as a combat crewmember on an electronic warfare aircraft. He flew on numerous combat missions into Iraq and was awarded nine medals for his wartime service, including one of the United States of America's highest flying honors, the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross. Currently, he resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.

William recently rediscovered his love of the great outdoors. When he's not writing, teaching, or making presentations, he can be found hiking, biking, backpacking, traveling, or trekking in search of adventure.

Follow William on Twitter at http://twitter.com/WilliamStanek. William also writes as Robert Stanek. To learn more about Ruin Mist, Magic Lands, Bugville Critters, visit http://www.bugvillecritters.com/.

William R. Stanek (www.williamstanek.com) lived in Japan from 1985 to 1989. He traveled extensively and made many friends. While living in Japan, he spent much of his free time in Aomori (青森), Hachinohe (八戸), Misawa (三沢), and Tokyo (東京). He misses the wonderful food and drink and the good friends he made. He says, "On break, I traveled all over. On the island of Hokkaidô in Sapporo they have these wonderful Ice Festivals. My favorite thing about spring was the Cherry Blossom Festival. I'd take day trips to Aomori (青森) and Hachinohe (八戸) all the time. While in Japan, I studied kendo, the Japanese language, and Buddhism."

William lived in Europe from 1989 to 1991. During that time, he lived in Germany (mostly) and had several extended stays in the UK and Scotland including deployments to Mildenhall, UK. He spent his time in the UK travelling, and especially enjoyed his visits to Cambridge and London. He's been a football (soccer) fan since he was old enough to kick a ball and especially enjoyed being in Kaiserslautern for the championships. He misses the wonderful food and drink and the good friends he made. He says, "There's nothing like Fridays at the pub or Saturday market."

William lived in Hawaii from 1991 to 1996. During that time, he worked shift-work at Kunia Field Station, attended Hawaii Pacific University and University of Hawaii, and spent a lot of time at the beach. He and his wife's first child was born in Hawaii. William's writing career began in Hawaii when his first book, Electronic Publishing Unleashed, was published in 1995. The runaway success of that book and it's sequel, Web Publishing Unleashed, helped establish him as a leader and innovator in technical writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concise and Potent, September 14, 2004

By 

Joaquin Menchaca (San José, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Paperback)

This is a very well written book with every page being very useful and consise. Each page is a treasure, which is a far cry to a lot of tech books filled with fluff and opinion these days.

I am both a Solaris and Windows system administrator, and though I dearly love GUI interface to access complex things, I would not like to repeat these tasks on hundreds of desktops. With this book, I found that I could automate chores and remotely configure desktops. There are so many gems in this book, this is a MUST have for any PowerUser, Admin, or anyone simply wanting to use command-line alternatives.

In the beginning Stanek covers the differences between Windows and MS-DOS command shells (cmd vs command) and environments, Win2k3 Reskit, and Cmd Shell fundamentals (similar but slightly different that ol' DOS Batch files). He then jumps into (Chap 4) one of the most important topics, task scheduling from the command line, which is essential for automation, especially for backups, virus updates, etc. The following chapters, he covers topics like registry maintence, process management, event logging, disk maintences (RAID, partitioning, formatting, etc.). The process management part can be useful in killing spyware processes, especially for spyware that blocks out such functionality through the GUI.

My favorite sections that have the most impact for me is Active Directory tools (account creation, groups, etc.), printer management, and network management. I tried to figure out, for instance, the enigma of "netsh" command before without success, and this book helped me on that powerful tool. Now armed with this knowledge, I can remotely configure desktops IP addresses, and monitor the health of printers, without even getting out of my seat.

All in all, this book is excellent. Very well organized chapters and flow of information, and very well written. It's works both for general reading and also as a reference.

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stanek strikes again, May 13, 2004

By 

James McCarty (Hilliard, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Paperback)

Like most of Stanek's books, this volume is concise, practical, and emminently useful. There have been several "command line" books published previously, but this book is by far the best.

The book contains a quick course in writing .bat files for those not already "in the know." I liked this section for both beginners and old-hands who need to occasionally need to create quick command files and do not need the functionality of a full scripting language.

The various commands are covered in sufficient detail. The command include the basics plus AD commands and commands from MS's website and resource kits.

Highly recommended.

39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, what a NEAT little book!, July 19, 2004

By 

Michael Rimov (Corvallis, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® Command-Line Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Paperback)

I had never read any of Mr. Stanek's books previously, and had grabbed this at a local store because (1) it was on sale and (2) I wanted to see if there was any additional command line info I could glean from it, especially since a quick browse showed that I would learn a few things like command-line task scheduling. [I've done basic batch scripts since MS-DOS 5]

By the end of Chapter 3, I was thinking that this was an excellantly written book. The other reviewers have it properly nailed down that this author's style is concise. There's no better way to describe it. I never feel like I'm wasting time reading what the author presents. The other plus to the organization of the book is that the headers are well defined enough that it is easy enough to skip ahead if I'm not interested in a particular topic.... which, of course, most other books do as well.... However, the difference here is that this author never makes me feel like I missed some key critical sentence in the area I skipped. I can pick up wherever I want to in the book.

By the end of Chapter 6, I was thinking, "WOW, I HAVE to write a positive review of this book, I didn't know Windows exposed so much to the command line"

By the end of Chapter 8, I was thinking, "Windows Server 2003 could do ALL THIS???????" :)

So, in all, I got a huge dose of administration knowledge for Windows Server 2003 in a VERY compact format. I'm off to purchase the other books that this author read. It is seldom that I've come across an author that packs so much into so few words. A harried administrator's (or Programmer's!) must read.