Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Windows Server(TM) 2003 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft))

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Had this for about a week now... haven't had a chance to read the whole thing but what I've read has been outstanding. This book is probably best for the Windows Server 2003 admin who wants to get the most out of the OS. You probably couldn't go past this book for its great design, excellent writing style and breadth of advice. The book revealed features I had no idea were present in 2003, and told me enough to begin using them. It's incredible how up-to-date this book is especially when it comes to AD. It covers all the latest.

I also have Minasi's book. I have to say this book is in many ways better. The AD section in this is understandable and extremely thorough. Minasi's is all over the place. This book has better Registry, DNS, networking, RIS, DHCP, printer, storage, and terminal services sections. Overall this is a much better book and I gave Minasi's book a 5 so this has got to be a 6! Stanek's Pocket books are well know for being clear, concise and thorough. This is being more of the same and you get a book packed with nearly 1500 pages! In short I think if you are looking for a complete Windows 2003 reference book this is the one. If you're looking for a quick ref as well pick up Stanek's Windows 2003 pocket admin. I use both all the time now.

What impressed me most about this is the attention to detail. Stanek tells you more than how and why it works. He provides expert advice to make Windows run better with less problems and when you have problems there's complete solutions. Nearly every chapter in the book provides troubleshooting, tips for maintaining it over time, tips for making it work better, tips for working around known issues. When it comes to networking every technology is covered with many security, design and implementation options provides.

For anyone studying for MCSE, this book is a must. I have learned more from this than my MCSE course books plus it covers everything those books cover. Another plus for the book is the CD which comes with an e-book version of the book, the Windows 2003 Resource Kit, and a lot of extras. This book has already made me a better administrator (and I am pretty good). I plan to read the book cover to cover to learn even more. I wouldn't be surprised if the Windows bootcamps start handing this out. It's the one I'd want to get if I was starting out and it's pretty darn good for us pros as well.

No Windows server book can cover every subject but Windows Server 2003 Inside Out comes close. Stanek's Inside Out is the second big Windows book I purchased (after Minasi's Mastering). In all honesty Stanek's is a more complete book but both are good.

Inside Out covers many topics not covered in Mastering including upgrades, migration, unattended installs (separate from RIS), clustering, DNS architecture, AD architecture, AD design, AD recovery, AD replication, group policy managment, print server migration, and the list goes on and on. Plus where it counts Inside Out is more detailed, accurate, and easy to understand.

With Inside Out, its details, details, details and it makes all the difference. Like when you are installing a domain controller Stanek remembers to tell you how to prepare, what to expect, and what to watch out for. He tells you how to search your entire system with a single command for encrypted files that will get hosed if you don't watch out and do what he says before installing. Stanek points out all the little tips and tricks.

I've always had a hard time learning things but this book made it so easy for me. Pick any subject, look it up in Stanek's book and read it to find out everything you wanted to know. One area of the os I thought I knew was the file system. It was an eyeopener to read Chapter 20. I didn't know you could do half of that with NTFS. Everything I've looked up has been this way so far.

I can't recommend this book highly enough! Microsoft should use this book in their training courses.

This is better than any other books out there that do nothing more than tell you how things SHOULD work; this tells you how things DO work. Our primary domain controller crashed and resisted all attempts at restores. We continued to have network problems with it out of the chain. I knew pretty much nothing about administering active directory (besides the basics of adding groups, users, etc.) and picked this book up to try to help us. There was a section in it about the first server that gets active directory installed serving as the operations master and how to seize that function to another server. After seizing that and a few others, our domain started behaving itself again. Along the way, I picked up some other useful knowledge and now our domain is actually running faster. The book also showed how to do proper back ups and restores of Active Directory so we never have this problem again.

I would echo what others said that this book will help you with specific problems. I was impressed with the author's use of real-world scenarios and experience as well as the graphics and screen shots to help you.

Highly recommended.

I'm a long time user of Mastering in its various editions (four editions of Mastering Windows 2000 Server alone--why so many revisions?). I bought Stanek's book because I love his other books (especially the WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATOR'S POCKET CONSULTANT). Having (like everyone else) bought the latest edition of Minasi almost robotically, I feel like the content and jokes are stale, and that the book's content has slipped. For example, there's way too much information and advice that fails to recognize changes that Microsoft has made in 2003. This new book by Stanek was the perfect cure for my malaise. It's just the right amount of detail so that I never got lost, it gives me not only grounding in techniques and best practices, but also a real sense of the new things that are possible in 2003, and it's exceptionally well written. THIS IS IMPORTANT NEW WORK! I may still buy Minasi in the future, but this is my new BIBLE! Thanks, Bill Stanek!

I've never written a review about a book before. This is the first one I feel required one because it is that good.

When I was looking for books on Windows Server 2003, I looked at a few other books on the topic and finally decided to get this. This is the best of the books I looked at. The book has a very logical approach to describing the complexities of Windows Server and is very well written.

This book is very in-depth and the author apparently has had a lot of experience as a consultant. This shows in the detailed design strategies presented for DNS, DHCP, Active Directoy and networking in general.

In addition to being up-to-date, you'll get some information in this book you probalby won't find any other places. I know I couldn't even after months of readings newsgroups and tracking Windows related sites. The most obvious example is the extensive coverage of Active Directory. Replication, GPO's, sites, implementation gets my top marks.

After buying this book, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the thorough explanations and examples. If there's one book you buy this year, I think this has got to be the one.

William Stanek is one of the world's most respected Windows authors. His expertise shows in Windows Server 2003 Inside Out. Windows Server 2003 Inside Out has everything you need to deploy, maintain, and troubleshoot a Windows network as efficiently as possible.

Let me start by saying I've read all 3 of Stanek's Windows pocket books prior to this one (NT4, 2000 & 2003). I've been an admin for 7 years. This book is a one of a kind in the ocean of Windows Server books available these days. It is targetted specifically at windows admins and network engineers (and anybody else) who wants or needs to know Windows Server 2003 and it is written with the kind of insider knowledge you can only get by from many years of experience writing, teaching and consulting on Windows Server which Stanek has.

It is a massive book (almost 1500 pages). The CD-ROM includes the full Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, lots of tools and the System Architecture documentation. In my opinion it is the most complete, up-to-date resource available. What it will show you is how Windows Server 2003 can be installed, configured, and maintained.

As with Stanek's pocket consultants, the writing style is very clear and consice. It is easy to find answers. It provides a solid foundation for correct DHCP, DNS, and WINS deployment and configuration. The architecture details are very comprehensive. It has excellent details on IP including subnetting (I finally understand it).

However, the best part of this book, in my opinion, is part 7: "Managing Active Directory and Security". It teaches you step by step how to implement it and use it to manage Windows networks. If you ever wanted to know how Active Directory really works this is a must read. It is better than the books dedicated to Active Directory I've read.

If you are new to Windows Server, I recommend starting with Stanek's Windows Server 2003 Pocket book first to learn as much as possible. Once you think you know everything about it, buy Windows Server 2003 Inside Out to see how much you still have to learn. This is the *Windows Server* bible.

This book wasn't what I expected it to be. I was expecting something from the point of view of being an Administrator and being shown what I needed to do, why I needed to do it, and how I would use Microsoft Windows Server 2003 to do it. Instead, this book is written from the point of view of being an Administrator and being shown what Microsoft Windows Server 2003 can do and exactly how to do it. For the most part, the book is descriptive instead of prescriptive. Given that, the book does a very good job. It's extremely detailed and covers a huge spectrum of what Microsoft Windows Server 2003 can do. One odd thing is that even though the author assumes in-depth knowledge of the terminology and concepts of server administration, he also seems to assume that the reader has never seen a Microsoft Windows XP desktop. He spends a good chunk of the book describing (in detail) things that anyone who has ever worked with XP already knows.

So, ignoring the fact that this book wasn't what I expected, overall, if you know what you're doing as an Administrator and just need to know how Microsoft Windows Server 2003 does the things you need to do, then I highly recommend this book. I give it a rating of four stars out of five.

As a side note, this book is used in Florida State University's (FSU's) CIS 4407: "Computer and Network System Administration" course.

I needed a comprehensive book on Windows Server 2003 and this is the one I picked after reading through all the others at the bookstore. Stanek has the most comprehensive coverage I've ever seen in a single book on security, filesystems/availability, Active Directory, and most anything else you'd want to know about Windows Server. I've been an admin for 12 years and there's things I learned that I'll admit I didn't even know Windows Server could do. As an example, this book has TWO performance monitoring and tuning chapters. These chapters cover remote monitoring, command-line monitoring, performance logging, etc. Chapter 19 covers both MBR and GPT disks as well as SANs, RAIDs. Chapter 20 covers everything you'd ever want to know about NTFS including hard links, data streams, journaling, reparse points, sparse files, disk quotas, etc. Chapter 22 is covers shadow copy from its internals to everything about how it works. Chapter 24 covers everything you need to know about IP addressing and subnetting. There are two chapters on DNS with everything from setup to troubleshooting. Some of the best coverage is on Active Directory. There's eight chapters and the 300 pages covers more than some other entire books on the subject. Get this book jump straight to Chapter 12 and keep reading until you get to Chapter 41. You'll learn a lifetime's worth of knowledge and get more expert advice than in any other book. Thank you Mr. Stanek for such an excellent book.

If you are comparing Manisi's and this one, this is the one you should get. It is more detailed and frankly a better manual. As far as this not having anything on NLB and clustering, there's two chapters: Planning for HA and Deploying Server Clusters, together about 80 pages. Minasi's book has 5 pages on NLB that's it. Get this book, you won't regret it.

Whenever I need a computer book, I look first to see if William Stanek has written a book on the subject. His books are always excellent and have never let me down.

Windows Server 2003 Inside Out is the one book to have if you are looking for a comprehensive reference for Windows Server 03. Excellent for the experienced Windows admin updating to WS03, the new WS03 admin, and current WS03 admins. I never dogeared so many pages of a book and did so much highlighting.