I use this book and also the author's AD cookbook daily to help with supporting our global Active Directory server infrastructure. This is an absolutely indispensable reference.

I use this book and also the author's AD cookbook daily to help with supporting our global Active Directory server infrastructure. This is an absolutely indispensable reference.

We're a software engineering company, and I maintain our internal servers (6-7 servers) as well as provide customer support on our products. A lot of that involves asking for information from the customer - and this book helps in putting together scripts that I can send out that will send back information to us that avoids us asking to exchange 5 emails to get the same result. Anything that saves my time - and our customers time - is worthy of purchasing. Well done, well organised book - and the author returns emails!

This book has a sound foundation for managing a windows 2003 server. The chapters are logically organized. I used some of the examples in the book to migrate some file shares in my network from unix to windows, the book was there for the rescue (the fact that the author has a solid windows/unix experience makes this book even more attractive). The solutions in this book include windows scripting, an area that is seldom talked about in windows literature. If you are serious about managing a windows 2003 server competently then you want to have this book in your arsenal.

This book has a sound foundation for managing a windows 2003 server. The chapters are logically organized. I used some of the examples in the book to migrate some file shares in my network from unix to windows, the book was there for the rescue (the fact that the author has a solid windows/unix experience makes this book even more attractive). The solutions in this book include windows scripting, an area that is seldom talked about in windows literature. If you are serious about managing a windows 2003 server competently then you want to have this book in your arsenal.

This book is a great resource covering a wide variety of interactions with Windows Servers. Whether you are new or experienced, this book is an invaluable tool.

This book is not one for beginners who don't know what they are doing and are looking for detailed explanations of topics. This is made purely for the admin who needs to get a job done, and quickly, and knows already what they are trying to accomplish. I really appreacieate all the scripting examples and also how Rob puts in some great building blocks for scripting (like how to redirect your output to an excel file rather than just the usual Wscript.Echo output that you can redirect to a text file or to stdout). Great Job Robbie!!

This book is a very handy repository to solve a miriad of problems with Windos 2003 (and 2000) server): keep it handy and your effectiveness will jump 200%.
Highly recommended

Do you have to with Windows Server on a day-to-day basis? If you do, this book is for you! Author Robbie Allen, has done an outstanding job of writing a great reference book with many recipes.

Allen begins by setting the stage for the rest of the book, by covering where you can find the tools used in this book. Next, the author covers some basic configuration tasks that most administrators will need to do after installing a server. Then, he delves into disk quotas, converting between disk types, creating drives, mapping drives, and managing volumes. The author continues by discussing file and folder manipulation, creating shortcuts and links, modifying file properties, and managing share points. In addition, the author next provides the primary ways that you can run and schedule tasks on the Windows Server. He also discusses, both basic and advanced process management. Next, the author discusses the starting and stopping of services, running scripts as service, searching for services, and viewing various service properties. Then, he covers how to create and view events, create and manage event logs, and search event logs. The author continues by covering basic registry administration. He also discusses tasks related to configuring network adapters, viewing network configuration, viewing network traffic, and installing IPv6 support. Next, the author walks you through several tasks related to securing Windows Server 2003, including auditing, screensaver locking, creating strong passwords, and disabling unused accounts. Then, he covers basic IIS 6.0 administration, including installing IIS, creating web and FTP sites, enabling SSL, and running executable content. The author continues by discussing the installation and maintenance of the DNS Server, including creating and viewing zones, creating resource records, converting a zone to be AD-integrated, scavenging old resource records, and enabling debug logging. He also covers installing the DHCP Server, authorizing a DHCP Sever, configuring server options, creating scopes, viewing and managing leases, and maintaining a DHCP. Next, the author walks you through the basic Active Directory administration, including creating a forest, raising the functional level, backing up and restoring of Active Directory, searching a domain, creating and modifying objects, importing and exporting objects, finding and managing FSMO role holders, and managing trusts. Then, he covers how to create, modify, and configure user, group, and computer objects in Active Directory. Finally, he covers some basic tasks related to installing and configuring Exchange.

With the preceding in mind, the author has also done an excellent job of writing a book that can be really beneficial to programmers who want to accomplish various tasks in an application. So, for those of you without much of a programming background, the VBScript solutions are straightforward and should be easy to follow and expand on!

This book is an excellent guide to almost anything a system administrator want to script on Windows servers.

Most of us manage heterogeneous networks and need good references when swithcing between Windows and Unix platforms. This book not only provides an excellent compilation of scripts, but also points out many useful tools found in resource kits and support tool packages. The introduction to each chapter outlining the GUI tools, command-line tools, and scripting specifics that are covered in the chapter make the book easy to follow. You might have written or gathered some of these scripts throughout the years, but it is nice to see a good compilation gathered in one place. Very helpful!

Robbie Allen's Windows Server Cookbook For Windows Server 2003 And Windows 2000 teaches advanced users the basics of operating a Windows server system, from common errors experienced from a service to deciphering diagnostic messages and implementing good security practices. Everything from remote administration to users and event logs are covered in a format which clearly defines problems, outlines solutions, and includes the technical code necessary to correct or improve.

This book is a must for any Windows systems administrator. True to the O'Reilly standards, the Windows Server Cookbook is easy to follow and packs a wealth of knowledge. For the novice admin, the short how-tos quickly get your task on target. For the more advanced admin, the script recipies are great for use in Group Policies or home brew management utils.

For larger IT shops, I also recommend Robbie Allen's "Active Directory Cookbook" in conjunction with this title.

The "Windows Server Cookbook" is very useful for new and experienced server administrators. The book shows how to solve administrative tasks in more than just one way. Every task is cut into a problem description, three solutions (GUI, command line and script) and a short discussion (additional information).
Personally for me the book is a great reference in how to automate administrative tasks on multiple systems and therefore solves my time! All examples are good explained and understandable not only for experienced scripters.