Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server Resource Kit (It-Resource Kit) [Paperback]

Microsoft Corporation (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572318058 | ISBN-13: 978-1572318052 | Publication Date: February 19, 2000 | Edition: 1

This kit helps IT professionals deploy and support the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server operating system with in-depth technical detail from those who know the technology best -- the Windows 2000 product group. The multi-volume Resource Kit features seven print references covering deployment planning, TCP/IP core networking, internetworking, distributed systems, Internet Information Services 5.0, server operations, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The companion CD-ROM contains over 200 must-have administration and optimization tools, along with electronic versions of all seven texts.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

By volume, topics covered, and the authority of the authors, nothing documents Redmond's new operating system quite like Microsoft Windows 2000 Resource Kit.

The kit consists of seven books and a well-organized CD-ROM. Each of the books contains comprehensive information about the respective area that it covers, be it TCP/IP or distributed systems. The kit not only includes essential information but also contains detail and background information for its many subjects in great depth. For example, the book that covers Internet Information Server includes instructions on developing client/server and multitier applications. The Windows 2000 TCP/IP Core Networking Guide also has an outstanding introduction to the core tenets of TCP/IP.

Systems administration manuals have come a long way in terms of usability and presentation, but they are still not the easiest to use. Many books (including some from Microsoft) of lesser scope provide information in a format that's easier to follow, and that includes screen shots and step-by-step instructions. The volumes in this kit do not provide as many images, illustrations, or diagrams as other volumes, but the level of technical detail is unbeatable.

Many of the volumes could stand alone. The Distributed Systems Guide, which is over 1,600 pages long, contains complete coverage of Active Directory, PKI, Distributed File System, PKI, and much more.

Why the set includes the Internet Explorer 5 Resource Kit is unclear--it stands apart from the others in that it covers an application rather than a core piece of the OS.

If you have room in your budget and the need for the most comprehensive and authoritative guide available on Windows 2000 Server, this is it. --John Keogh

Topics covered: Each book contains a great deal of information on its subject as listed below. The topics show breadth of coverage for each book and the CD-ROM, rather than simply listing all subjects covered. Security is not mentioned specifically since it is addressed throughout the kit.

Operations Guide: Disks, storage media, remote storage, types of file systems, network printing, network printing from non-Windows machines, performance monitoring, memory and caching, monitoring processor activity, examining and tuning disk performance, Dynamic Disks, monitoring network performance, measuring multiprocessor system activity, system recovery, designing reliable systems, backups, repair, recovery, restoration, troubleshooting, boot process, troubleshooting boot problems, Windows 2000 Stop Messages.

TCP/IP Core Networking Guide: Introduction to TCP/IP, Windows TCP/IP suite, NETBIOS, TCP/IP troubleshooting, TCP/IP tools, DHCP, WINS, Windows 2000 DNS, IPSec, Quality of Service, OSI Model, Windows 2000 Network Architecture, TCP/IP remote utilities, DHCP Options, SNMP.

Internetworking Guide: Unicast Routing, Routing and Remote Access Service, unicast IP routing, IP multicast support, IPX routing, Demand Dial Routing, Remote Access Server, Internet authentication service, virtual private networks, L2TP, PPTP, interoperability with IBM Host Systems, services for Unix, interoperability with NetWare, services for Macintosh, ATM, Telephony integration and conferencing, TAPI 3, NetBEUI, data link control, IBM SNA interoperability concepts.

Distributed Systems Guide: Active Directory logical structure, Active Directory data storage, name resolution in Active Directory, Active Directory schema, Global Catalogs, service publication in Active Directory, Active Directory replication, LDAP, Kerberos, managing flexible single-master operations, monitoring performance in Active Directory, Active Directory backup and restore, Active Directory diagnostics, troubleshooting, recovery, authentication, public key technology, cryptography, Encrypting File System, EFS administration, Windows 2000 certificate services and public key infrastructure, Distributed File System, file replication service, network load balancing, interpreting the cluster log, introduction to desktop management, group policy, software installation and maintenance, remote OS installation, troubleshooting, change and configuration management.

Deployment Planning Guide: Overview of deployment planning, creating a deployment roadmap, planning for deployment, creating a test lab, conducting a Windows 2000 pilot, preparing your network infrastructure for Windows 2000, determining network connectivity strategies, Windows 2000 DHCP, using system management server to analyze your network infrastructure, designing the Active Directory structure, domain naming, domain migration strategies, planning distribution security, planning your public key infrastructure, automating server installation and upgrades, using systems management server to deploy Windows 2000, upgrading and installing member servers, deploying Terminal Services, determining Windows 2000 network security strategies, ensuring the availability of applications and services, determining Windows 2000 storage management and strategies, synchronizing Active Directory with Exchange Server directory service, testing applications for compatibility with Windows 2000, defining a client connectivity strategy, defining client administration and configuration standards, applying change and configuration management, automating client installation and upgrades, tools, accessibility for people with disabilities, sample planning worksheets (included as an appendix).

Internet Information Services 5.0 Resource Guide: Overview of IIS, migrating to the new version, migrating a Web server to IIS 5.0, capacity planning, monitoring and tuning your server, developing Web applications, considerations for Unix applications, ISAPI, data access and transactions, administering an ISP installation, security, access to legacy applications and data, ASP best practices, site security planning.

Internet Explorer 5: Overview of IE 5, IE 5 components, customization and administration, working with different platforms, understanding related tools and programs, digital certificates, security based on the source of content, security of the Microsoft Java VM, content ratings and user privacy, planning deployment, accessibility features and functionality, setting up and administering a pilot program, Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit, setting up connections, connection management, running the Internet Explorer customization wizard, customizing setup, automating, working with .inf files, deploying Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, implementing the signup process, using automatic configuration and automatic proxy, keeping programs updated, supporting users, troubleshooting, batch mode setups, IE 5 options.

The CD-ROM: Many tools, including migration tools, network troubleshooting tools, and more.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1800 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (February 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572318058
• ISBN-13: 978-1572318052
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.3 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 22 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,700,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Deployment Planning Guide is OK, March 12, 2000

By 

Thomas E. Denham (Alpharetta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server Resource Kit (It-Resource Kit) (Paperback)

Windows 2000 is considerably more feature rich and complex than was NT and the Server Resource Kit reflects this in volume. It was released the same week I took the MOC Accelerated Training for Windows 2000 and when my Instructor made fun of the idea of buying such a large set of books I calculated that I could read through the 7 volumes in 4 months if I read 50 pages daily. After finishing the Deployment Planning Guide I'm about a week ahead of schedule.

The Deployment Planning Guide reflects Microsoft's understanding that Windows 2000 must be implemented with thorough planning to achieve the potential it has for supporting an enterprise environment. This volume is a Project Manager's dream. Nearly every planning base has been covered here from identifying the appropriate composition of various teams to task sequencing to checklist templates. The material is so well organized for guiding an implementation project that I am surprised it was not released with a Microsoft Project file and instructions to just add your own dates and stir.

The Deployment Planning Guide provides a useful survey of many of the features of Windows 2000. Even after a week of MOC training and reading through the two volumes associated with that class I learned some new things from the Planning Guide about how Win2K works. For people who need to gain an understanding of what the options are and how all the pieces fit together this is an excellent read.

For the most part the Planning Guide is clearly and accurately written. A few times terms seemed to be misapplied and the results were confusing. Repetition became annoying as the reader was referred to Server Help or the Unattend.doc on the installation CD for more information too frequently. Chapters 13 and 25 repeat the same material, once to describe automating server installations and then again to describe automating client installations. These problems reflect an obvious effort to make each section self contained but even so the volume is quite readable as an overview of Windows 2000 networking.

Check back in about 30 days for my review of the 1500 page Distributed Systems Guide!

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything you ever wanted to know about Windows 2000 and, April 28, 2000

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[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server Resource Kit (It-Resource Kit) (Paperback)

One of the negatives of the Microsoft books is that they often don't give a realistic view of Microsoft products. They often present them as they should work rather than as they actually do. In a sense, this book is no different. Despite this, the book is technically solid and contains much information that is not available anywhere else. You'll definitely want to supplement your studying by picking up other non-Microsoft Windows 2000 texts, but if you don't get this one, then you're simply not serious about Windows 2000.

This book is ahead of its time. Microsoft has a lot of "late-breaking" information that got included in the Resource Kit. Other authors will likely spend countless hours poring over these books for information to include in their own books. The Resource Kit contains more updated material than any other book to date. While the Resource Kit definitely isn't perfect and probably doesn't need to be 7,200-some pages, it still is worth picking up. When you combine it with Microsoft's rebate offer, it actually becomes a pretty good value too.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Distributed Systems Guide is Four Books in One, April 30, 2000

By 

Thomas E. Denham (Alpharetta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Server Resource Kit (It-Resource Kit) (Paperback)

Microsoft was saving us money on this volume. If the Active Directory section had been released alone it would have been a 600 page book. But no, Distributed Security was included with about 300 pages and Enterprise Technologies with about 200 pages, and finally Desktop Configuration Management with about 200 pages. I have a permanent crease in my belly from lying in bed with this book weighing me down. Are all these topics related? Yes. Did I find myself paging into other sections of the book to make sense out of something that I read in another section? No.

There is a significant amount of repetition within sections and only a little between sections as new concepts are introduced that depend upon others already explained but I never found myself tempted to go look at an Active Directory concept again while I was reading about the Distributed File System, for instance. I do not understand how keeping these sections in one book enhanced value. It was hard to carry around too.

The Active Directory book earned 2 stars with me. The explanations were cloudy but the detail was good. It was in reading this section that I realized Microsoft was thinking of third party developers when they wrote the Server Resource Kit (SRK). While many references were made to the Software Developers Kit (SDK) in the SRK an attempt was made to lay out the ground work for understanding what it would take to customize tools to work with Active Directory. Much of this material was irrelevant to a network engineer who has to work with what is available without having the option or budget for customization but it seemed to me that Microsoft was showing helpfulness to third parties with this publication.

Distributed Security was written in a fairly accessible manner. Since the technologies covered in this section are new to many organizations I wondered if a special effort was made here to start from the ground up without expecting too much from the reader. I found it refreshing to get this package laid out neatly. This section earned 4 stars with me. The explanations were good but I thought the details on managing a security infrastructure were a little lean.

Enterprise Technologies made up the smallest section of the book and earned a 3 star rating with me. The explanations of Distributed File System, File Replication Service, and Network Load Balancing were okay but not great. The chapter on interpreting the Cluster Log was pretty obscure but I guess you have to be into your own cluster log before this material can get exciting.

Desktop Configuration Management was the last section and earned 3 stars. I happened to work through some CD based training on Preinstalling and Deploying Windows 2000 Professional while I was reading this section and that gave me a comparison with what is possible. The CD based training earned 5 stars with me. I learned more with it in about 25 pages than here in 200. Of course the CD only hit the high points while obscure details are reviewed here but it seemed to me that if you removed the coverage of obscure details the SRK still would not have been as clear in covering the technology.

I have to admit that in the course of reading this volume I began to question my commitment to reading the whole SRK. These presentations do not measure up in clarity to most other material I have encountered. I will continue for several reasons: 1) There is no more authoritative source of information. 2) The reading is getting easier as I go. Many concepts are related and now that I am over 2500 pages in I can read for new details and confirmation of my previously developed understandings. 3) I am stubborn.

I am starting the TCP/IP volume next. Funny how 1000 page books are looking small now. Check back in about 20 days and see what it was like.