Overview
The Only Windows Server Resource You Need
The single most comprehensive and understandable book on the subject, Mastering Windows Server 2003 continues author Mark Minasi's award-winning tradition of clear and comprehensive coverage of Microsoft's Windows Server products. This book shows you how to plan, configure and install your network, keep it running its best, and fix it if it breaks. And you still get all the coverage you need for the Windows 2000 Server installations that remain part of your environment.
Coverage includes:
* Configuring IP, DHCP, DNS, and WINS to achieve the right foundation for your network
* DNS explained in everyday English, from basics to advanced design
* Designing, running, and maintaining Active Directory-based domains with Server 2003 and 2000 Server
* Running your own Web, FTP, and e-mail server with 2003
* Controlling hundreds, even thousands, of workstations with group policies and security templates
* Tuning and monitoring your network
* Securing your network from split-brain DNS to AD delegation to group policies, logs, IPSec, PKI and more
* Using Windows Server 2003 to share Internet connections
* Complete coverage of all new 2003 features Real Solutions to Real Challenges If improving the real-world performance of your network is the bottom line, this book delivers the goods. It shows you how to design and manage a multiple-platform network, build a Windows-based intranet, find the right data backup strategy, prevent and recover from disasters, and much more. There's no end to what you'll accomplish with practical, step-by-step instruction from the expert who has actually done it all on live networks!
Synopsis
If you're a current or aspiring Windows administrator or consultant, look no further than Mastering Windows Server 2003 for the in-depth, comprehensive, unbiased, and highly readable (some would even say entertaining) coverage readers have come to expect from the leading Windows authority, Mark Minasi. Building on the solid foundation established over years of working with and writing on Windows products, Mark Minasi takes you where few have ventured within Windows Server 2003, Microsoft's flagship network operating system that provides a solution for file and printer sharing, secure Internet connectivity, centralized desktop application deployment, and rich collaboration between businesses, employees, and customers. Anyone evaluating or planning a deployment of .NET Server will benefit immeasurably from Mark Minasi's detailed discussion of Windows Server 2003 installation, configuration, and essential operations. Mark Minasi is a regular keynote speaker at major IT conferences across the country. His training seminars sell out months in advance.
Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble ReviewIn this corner…weighing in at just over seven pounds (and more than 1,750 pages…the defending heavyweight champion of the Windows server universe…Mark Minasi’s Mastering Windows Server 2003.
Since the earliest Windows NT days, admins at every level have depended on Mark Minasi as the source for rock-solid reliable, usable Windows information.
In the early days, frankly, they didn’t have many alternatives. NT was new and challenging to test. Many authors just parroted the “official line” from Redmond. The first Mastering Windows NT was a breath of fresh air. Minasi always ran down the details. When something didn’t work as it was supposed to (which was often), he’d tell you the real deal -- in depth. The books were big but wonderfully readable: Minasi’s writing voice captured the singular humor his thousands of seminar attendees knew well.
Well, a lot’s happened since then. There are several excellent Windows Server books now. We wondered how Mark’s new edition would stand up to them. We’re happy to report that this edition’s better than ever. A lot better.
Recognizing that few companies are going to rip out the Windows 2000 Server investments they’ve only recently made, Minasi has written a book that’s perfect for mixed Win2K/2003 environments.
For example, Minasi’s 200-page chapter on TCP/IP infrastructure adds an outstanding discussion of “split-brain DNS”: presenting one set of DNS names to your private intranet and a different set to the world. For security reasons, this strategy makes sense for over 90 percent of AD deployments. We’ve never seen it explained as clearly -- and this stuff is equally doable under Win2K and Windows Server 2003.
Similarly, Windows Server 2003’s Mac client support hasn’t changed much. But the Mac has. So Minasi brought aboard “Mac geek” C. A. Callahan to completely revamp the book’s Mac chapter for OS X clients.
Of course, in 1,750 pages, there’s plenty of room for the stuff that is new in Windows Server 2003. For instance, the Resultant Set of Policies tool, which lets you troubleshoot group policies before you unleash them on the unwitting masses. Or the solid coverage of the safer, more robust IIS6 (just one example of Microsoft’s -- and Minasi’s -- greater focus on security).
Nor does Minasi scant the implications of all that security. (For example, domain logons from ancient Windows for Workgroups or DOS workstations aren’t supported anymore, unless you deliberately downgrade security -- but there’s a workaround that’ll get folks the data they need without a domain logon.)
Finally, cool 21st-century stuff notwithstanding, you’ve still got to support printers and file sharing. Minasi takes you into every nook and cranny of Windows Server 2003’s file/print support.
As you can probably tell, we admire Minasi’s work -- but we’re not alone. He recently won CertCities’ Readers Choice Award for Favorite Technical Author. That’s doubly impressive because Minasi’s books aren’t even written primarily for the certification candidates that hang out at CertCities.
Though you sure can’t go wrong using this book to prep for your MCSA or MCSE. And if you’re responsible for a Windows network -- 2003, 2000, or both -- you’ve gotta have it. Bill Camarda
Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks for Dummies, Second Edition.