Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro - Administrator's Pocket Consultant) [Paperback]

William Stanek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0735624372 | ISBN-13: 978-0735624375 | Edition: 1

Here s the practical, pocket-sized reference for IT professionals who administer and support Windows Server 2008. Designed for quick referencing, this portable guide covers all the essentials for performing everyday system administration tasks. Written by an award-winning author of more than two dozen computer books, this guide puts expert installation, migration, administration, and troubleshooting advice right at your fingertips. You ll discover how to manage workstations and servers, use Microsoft Active Directory® directory service, create and administer user and group accounts, manage files and directories, back up and recover data, and use TCP/IP, WINS, and DNS for network administration. Featuring quick-reference tables, concise lists, and step-by-step instructions, this handy, one-stop guide provides fast, accurate answers on the spot whether you re at your desk or in the field.

Zeroes in on exactly what the administrator needs to perform day-to-day tasks

Delivers information in concise tables, easy-to-scan lists, and step-by-step instructions

Features a pocket-sized format that puts the right information right at your fingertips

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

William R. Stanek is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional with over 20 years of experience in systems management and advanced programming. He is an award-winning author who s written more than 50 books, including Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Inside Out. He is series editor of the ADMINISTRATOR S POCKET CONSULTANT series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 572 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (January 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735624372
• ISBN-13: 978-0735624375
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,799 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

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent manual for Windows Server 2008, March 20, 2008

By 

Ted Crace (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro - Administrator's Pocket Consultant) (Paperback)

Stanek's books are my go-to resources for learning new technologies. Whenever Microsoft releases a new product I look to see if he has a book on it so when Microsoft finally released Windows Server 2008 I was happy to see he'd written not only one book but two: Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant and Windows Server 2008 Inside Out. I ordered both and have been using the pocket consultant for several weeks now.

Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant zeroes in on core support and administrative tasks. The book is focused and precise, covering in 650 pages more than most books do in 800 or 900 pages. I've learned a lot and every section clears up something or gives expert insights in ways I wouldn't have thought of myself.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone upgrading from previous versions and any current administrators. For day to day work it can't be beat. Great work, William!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All About Windows Server 2008 in only 650 Pages, February 23, 2008

By 

L. Hayes - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro - Administrator's Pocket Consultant) (Paperback)

Pocket Consultants have always proved invaluable, and the Windows Server 2008 Pocket Consultant is no different. It's 650 pages, clearly written and packed with useful information while focussing on the core features of the operating system. This book starts things off right with in-depth information that is easy to find and easy to understand. A must have for administrators. I can't wait to pick up Stanek's Windows Server 2008 Inside Out as well.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jack of all trades, master of none., October 16, 2009

By 

P. Cofrancesco "PaulC" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Windows Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant (Pro - Administrator's Pocket Consultant) (Paperback)

Update: 02-26-2010 I'm brought this book into work and I'm getting ready to read about group policies. I was a little disappointed with DFS since it really glosses over it. But as I wrote - this book gives a lot of basic info. The group policy section has at least 10 pages?

BOTTOM LINE: Don't hesitate to buy this book, but realize you will need TechNet and other resources to learn. Too many tech books are bloated with legacy inforation from previouse versions that have been hastily freshened-up; they are filled with information you can't possibly remember and will probably never use.

Why 3 stars? As another reviewer said its just a collection of cut and paste from TechNet and doesn't not have enough original high quality content or links to more in-depth info so giving it 4 stars trivializes 4 starts

PROS:

Smaller than other books, gives you basic info on many topics. The books best strength is that it recognizes that admins limited time. It provides very light reference - if you need to go beyond just understanding how something works and need to understand how to implement it you will need to visit TechNet. Only books that cover a single set of related topics like Active Directory will provide this kind of depth. Even full sized books will still give you the basics.

Remember, it's one thing to set something up in the lab or in a small network with a few hundred users and quite another to do it in an enterprise with thousands or tens of thousands of users or where you servers must interact over a WAN for centralized management. Also, often we inherit systems that someone else setup and we don't have the time or authorization to correct so we must use them as-is.

CONS:

The reality is that server 2008 does so much that it must be approached in small chunks that are relevant to what you need to accomplish the rest is left on autopilot.

As an aside, one of the strengths of the mainframe and UNIX is that the basic commands never change. There is a steep up front learning curve but the pay off is a fairly static and consistent environment. Server Core 2008 is Ms's way or recognizing the benefits of a stripped down faster and more secure command-line environment.

Microsoft has had to evolve from something with low security to higher security being overly integrated with very complex FAT clients. In order to keep the number of pages to the minimum - you get about as much info as a brief help file pop-up box would provide.

From windows 2000 on I feel that things have become so complex in the enterprise that the server must be split up in to specialities: Storage & backup, ntfs file / user permissions / group policies. Active Directory, security hardening, cluster / farm / high availability / network ip4 /ip6, scripting WMI etc, server and backup device hardware / complex storage arrays, and so on.