Customer Reviews

Windows 2000: Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror (The Mark Minasi Windows 2000 Series)

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I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer and has been working more or less day and night for three years - in labs, in theory, in real-world and in class - with Windows 2000, Active Directory and Group Policy. Earlier this year I invested in a few books concerning these subjects, and was once more thoroughly disappointed. Every one seems to be meant for beginners, and/or for the publishing business: thick, promising books with nothing in them. Said to my collegue: "Perhaps one knows so much nowadays, that you really can't find anything new in books (as opposed to Internet, real-world, lab)," and I actually decided, somewhat bitterly, not to waste any more money on "computer related" literature.

But then I read Moskowitz' "Windows 2000 Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror" (2001), and is what I hope for every time; here's a writer who's obviously passionate about the subject, who with great theoretical and practical knowledge been working hard to share his knowledge in a clear, no-nonsense fashion.
As you know, these kind of books usually have a common problem: they all tell you the same basics, throw in some pseudo-advanced details, and - most importantly - avoid the tough nuts. What's so liberating with Moskowitz' work, is that he indeed tells you the basics, just to make sure you follow him, then he goes one step further, along the way he throws in some real nuggets for technicians, and cracks them nuts one after another, like it's never been a problem at all. No-nonsense, easy read, nearly fascinating from the first page to the last. I'm very impressed. This book is extremely useful, a real treasure. If you're at Amazon searching for a book about these matters, you've certainly found what you're looking for.

I myself, will keep my eyes open for further works by Jeremy Moskowitz. Aside of being very experienced and knowledgable, he's also a skilled writer, free from that nudge-nudge-humor which some writers grasp at to make their thick nonsense "easy read"; but still he is easy read, has a laid back dry sense of humor, and writes fluidently. I don't think he's written any other books, though he's been writing for magazines, but I will keep my eyes open. This is truly great work! Perhaps the best in a long time.

I was quite impressed at how easy this book makes Group Policies feel. Most books on Group Policy are too confusing but not this one. Chapter One of this book gave a great illustration that used a surf, a landowner and the king to explain how rules can be established and applied. That same illustration was made to fit the OU, Domain and Site relationships for Group Policies.

The book helped me understand inheritance issues better, understand block options and 'No Override' options better and, thanks to the chapter on troubleshooting, I understand how to track down problems with Group Policies, including replication issues.

There are two chapters that cover Intellimirror technology from A to Z and these were great too.

The book was funny, unlike the standard dry tech stuff that take forever to choke down. I was reading it like a novel (which is a little wierd, I know).

I highly recommend it.

So many times you pick up a title like this and as you read, you get the feeling that the authors first exposure to the material was as they were writing the book. Complete opposite feeling as you read this title. The material is presented in a knowledgeable, accurate way, with hints, tips and watch-outs thrown in that only someone who has worked with the product would know about.

The author has extended a considerable amount of information on: -- Group Policy Objects, from in-depth explanation to interacting and troubleshooting; -- IntelliMirror, including interaction with Group Policy Objects and client configurations to software deployment using MSI and ZAP files; -- Working with down-level clients (NT / 9x); and more.

There is a chapter in the book on Remote Installation Services, which will introduce you to the technology, but is light on content and a little beyond the scope of the book. Despite this, it is still informative and in no way detractive from the remaining content.

This is a title that you could pickup, read, and upon completion feel very confident in your ability to manage and implement Group Policies and work with IntelliMirror; an excellent addition for any administrator's Windows 2000 library.

If you what to learn about windows 2000 group policy this book is a MUST HAVE. I had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy at the TechMentor conferance in Orlando and got a small sample of what is in his book. When it comes to group policy this book is the bible. Learn how to create your own Group Policy Admin Templates and much much more. I use this book as a guidline for teaching the other techs in the office windows 2000 Group Policy.

Some books I have read will put you to sleep when talking about Group Policy. Not this one!! The author has a way of making everything clear as well as keeping your interest. Highly recommend this book to anyone who deals with Group Policy and Windows 2000.

Highly recommend this book to any IT professional involved with Group Policy or Active Directory. I knew that Group Policy was a great way to lower TCO in most organizations, but was always struggling to decode the Microsoft documentation. This book covers all aspects of Group Policy, in great detail, with great examples, and with extra muggets that I believe you will not find anywhere else.

I have never reviewed a book in my life, but I must tell you this book is terrific. I have so many books on Active Directory it's ridiculous. I even have all the Microsoft Windows 2000 whitepapers spiral bound. After having read all the aforementioned tomes, I was amazed how much I learned about profiles, group policies, and administrative templates from this book. You can tell Moskowitz has been in the trenches. No diatribes. No lofty digressions. No propeller head mumbo-jumbo. Just good, solid, useful information. Write more books, Jeremy. We need 'em.

In my research, not only did I NOT find many other books out there on the topic of GPO specifically, but when I got the book and read through it, the content was not just meaningless babble. This guy really knows his stuff, gets a lot of rave reviews, and he deserves 'em.
Waiting eagerly for the next books from Jeremy Moskowitz!

Coming from a Novell background, I knew the joys of Directory based software distribution, User Policies and the like; but was in a bit of a lurch when it came to Microsoft's version of NDS and ZENWorks.

Happily, this book didn't let me down and spelled things out very clearly and very simply. This isn't a simple re-hash of the documentation! This is like listening to a pal tell you about the technology.

The only problem was they left the author's picture off the back and instead gave us Minasi's picture instead... hey Mark, share some face space, eh? :-)

I am still working myway through the sections on RIS services, but the group policies and Intellimirror (esp. redirected folders) is good stuff -- it even has some handy VBScript examples and extra-useful sample ADM files to chew on as well.

When they ask who wrote the book on Intellimirror, there's only one answer: Jeremy Moskowitz.

Group Policies Kick Butt and Jeremy is the authority! Windows 2000 and the office suite were deployed to one group - 40 users in about 2 hours! The upgrade to Windows 2000 from Windows98/nt is worth it just to get group policies. Jeremy writes in a concise, easy to read format that has the answers to just about any Policy you can think of. Worth every penny.