Anyone who is serious about being competent in the SBS space must keep this book nearby as a reference. It is well written by highly respected authors.

I maintain a small business server for a local company. When we recently upgraded to MS SBS I found I needed some help, so I purchased this book. In just the first use it saved me many hours of time and enabled me to set up the Exchange Server to automatically download mail from POP3 Website accounts and store it in the local mailbox. Users are happy, I'm happy (no storage used on the Web server and I don't have to configure Outlook on every computer in the building for the user's POP3 email), and life is good. After that, I read the rest of the book. (OK, I only skimmed parts of it.) I found several other tips that I have since used, like redirecting the user's "My Documents" to a folder on the server. The book also comes with a CD that contains a PDF copy of the book along with numerous Knowledge Base articles, white papers, and other such support documents. I left the hard copy of the book at my home but put the CD onsite so I would have it there in case I need it. All-in-all, this was a great investment and I recommend it to others using MS SBS.

This book has everything in it. That said, for the neophyte SBS user, it's organization and presentation challenges even the most persistent reader.

Key steps in a procedure are often submerged in the center of paragraphs without any highlighting to indicate the special importance of the content. I would much prefer the use of lead-in paragraphs with bulleted lists of the sequential steps in which a procedure must be accomplished. The action verb in each step should be well high-lighted in bold type.

And, the choice of fonts for the publication makes it difficult to read for those of us with limited vision. Thankfully, the inclusion of the full (PDF) book on CD helps overcome this shortcoming. Still, the only _real_ way to use a book is to flip through it; you can't do that with a PDF.

I think the book's content is remarkably current. Anyone who has used one of these very, very complex software packages knows that the only constant is change. Mr. Russel has helped me understand concepts that persist through the inevitable changes.

It's easy to tell that the preparation of the Administrator's Companion is a labor of love; it will surely become a treasured volume in my library.

This is a great book. Easy to read, full of real world footnotes, that the authors shares with the reader. I like the format, the detail on most topics covered. There are some weaknesses I found, but they are minor complaints when compared to the overall quality of this guide:

1. Very little explanation of Volume Shadow Copy, that its enabled by default is nice, but what partition (or what logic does SBS use when deciding to enable it), no detailed explanation on how it works, how to adjust it, nor how the clients get the Shadow Copy Client.
2. I would have also liked a little more advanced custom installation walk-through, with explanations and justifications for changing pathnames for folders such as "User Shared Folder", "ClientApps", Exchange itself, some SBS compononets..

This is a great book. Easy to read, full of real world footnotes, that the authors shares with the reader. I like the format, the detail on most topics covered. There are some weaknesses I found, but they are minor complaints when compared to the overall quality of this guide:

1. No coverage of the SBS_LOGIN_SCRIPT.BAT, that is injected by default to any and all new users.
2. No coverage of the "ClientApps", which does go hand in hand with the login script.
3. Very little explanation of Volume Shadow Copy, that its enabled by default is nice, but what partition (or what logic does SBS use when deciding to enable it), no detailed explanation on how it works, how to adjust it, nor how the clients get the Shadow Copy Client.

I would have also liked a little more advanced custom installation walk-through, with explanations and justifications for changing pathnames for folders such as "User Shared Folder", "ClientApps", Exchange itself, some SBS compononets..

This guide/manual is extremely detailed and walks you step by step through the process of installing and configuring a server using Windows Small Business Server 2003.

I didn't have experience using Small Business Server and I couldn't have completed a proper installation/setup and configuration of our Server unless I had this book. I tried prior having the book and ran into several issues. I had to restart the process and I'll was well when I had this manual to guide me.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking to install Windows Small Business Server 2003. It makes the process go much quicker and without error. I also learned quite a bit just browsing through the entire book.

This book has everything you need. I've installed SBS 2003 R2 for 3 different companies so far, this book came in handy each time.

If I have time I will come back and share some specific examples, but for now I just wanted to say this book does not deserve a 1 star rating, its 5 stars all the way!

This book contains nothing that a "pro-administrator" could not, easily, work out by installing the software for the first time.

I was expecting information of how to integrate SBS into an existing network but, like the install wizards, this book goes no further than how to set up the server as your first and primary network tool.

I purchased SBS to integrate into an existing linux/unix environment and to try and utilise existing services, eg. DHCP & DNS, while getting the supposed benefits of Active Directory. Non of this is covered, in fact there is pretty much nothing about using AD properly, not even how to configure a BDC.

If you are a first time admin then this may be of use but if you are any more advanced then this book is virtually useless. Look elsewhere, I know I will...

If you are new to SBS like I was, then this is the book you need. I bought one or two others, but this is the one I go to.

Between it and the SBS forums, you will have all you need to get started (except the hardware & software of course)

The first half of chapter 22, Disaster Planning, was so verbose, repetitive, and bureaucratic that even the federal government would be overwhelmed by the recommended methodologies. The authors temporarily forgot the target audience for this book, but regained focus in the second half of the chapter. Now, on to the other 22 chapters and appendices...

Superb!

From the table of contents to the index, the layout of this book is simply superb. It is clear the editors worked as hard as the authors, and the result is a book in proper English that is a joy to read. This is rare for IT books, but not for Microsoft Press.

On substance, this is the most lucid book on Small Business Server and it covers all features of SBS03 R2. Each chapter explains the features and their concepts, then offers clear step-by-step procedures to implement those features. Screen-shots complement the procedures without reducing the book to a photo album. This book imparts the solid foundation necessary to delve deeper into the various features, but above all, you will be ready to deploy SBS by the last page.

Advanced Windows Server 2003 Best Practices and Small Business Server 2003 Unleashed are more detailed in some parts and worth consideration, but I would start with this one because it is well-written and therefore easy to read and understand.

The first half of chapter 22, Disaster Planning, was very verbose, repetitive, and so bureaucratic that not even the federal government would approve of it. The authors temporarily forgot the target audience for this book, but regained focus in the second half of the chapter. Now, on to the other 22 chapters and appendices...

Superb!

From the table of contents to the index, the layout of this book is simply superb. It is clear the editors worked as hard as the authors, and the result is a book in proper English that is a joy to read. This is rare for IT books, but not for Microsoft Press publications, I have noticed.

On substance, this is the clearest book for Small Business Server and it covers all features of SBS03 R2. Each chapter explains the features and their concepts, then offers clear step-by-step procedures to implement those features. Screen-shots complement the procedures without reducing the book to a photo album. This book imparts the solid foundation necessary to delve deeper into the various features, but above all, you will be ready to deploy SBS by the last page.

Well-written and therefore easy to read and understand. Bravo!

This book is the definitive work on the subject. It worked in conjunction with several other resources in my studies for the Microsoft 70-282 exam. Each section take you step by step through all the wizards and prompts to help you setup and manage a SBS 2003 server.

I found this book to be an excellent one volume resource on the variety of features and functionality offered in SBS.

This administrator's reference could be very deep, twice (if not three times) the number of pages and take a good part of a year to decipher. I felt the authors did an excellent job of condensing the information, selecting content that was focused and concise, and expanding (where needed) with some very practical "real world" and "under the hood" advice.

The authors are experienced enough to editorialize their own content and say it like it is. SBS offers functionality galore. Given the full list of included features, that functionality comes with some serious security liabilities. This book breaks it down by delineating the practical versus possible uses for SBS features and suggests to the reader in plain terms... "do this and don't do that!".

If you are looking for a single volume reference on the subject matter of Small Business Server 2003... this is the one. It reads like having an in depth tech talk with someone who's in the know while chatting at your breakfast table.

Thanks to Charlie Russel, Sharon Crawford and all MVP's who may have contributed. Five stars!