I also have Minasi's book. I have to say this book is in many ways better. The AD section in this is understandable and extremely thorough. Minasi's is all over the place. This book has better Registry, DNS, networking, RIS, DHCP, printer, storage, and terminal services sections. Overall this is a much better book and I gave Minasi's book a 5 so this has got to be a 6! Stanek's Pocket books are well know for being clear, concise and thorough. This is being more of the same and you get a book packed with nearly 1500 pages! In short I think if you are looking for a complete Windows 2003 reference book this is the one. If you're looking for a quick ref as well pick up Stanek's Windows 2003 pocket admin. I use both all the time now.

What impressed me most about this is the attention to detail. Stanek tells you more than how and why it works. He provides expert advice to make Windows run better with less problems and when you have problems there's complete solutions. Nearly every chapter in the book provides troubleshooting, tips for maintaining it over time, tips for making it work better, tips for working around known issues. When it comes to networking every technology is covered with many security, design and implementation options provides.

For anyone studying for MCSE, this book is a must. I have learned more from this than my MCSE course books plus it covers everything those books cover. Another plus for the book is the CD which comes with an e-book version of the book, the Windows 2003 Resource Kit, and a lot of extras. This book has already made me a better administrator (and I am pretty good). I plan to read the book cover to cover to learn even more. I wouldn't be surprised if the Windows bootcamps start handing this out. It's the one I'd want to get if I was starting out and it's pretty darn good for us pros as well.


Excellent W2K3 Administrators book   September 15, 2004
Scott Rue (Blue Springs, MO USA)
32 out of 32 found this review helpful

No Windows server book can cover every subject but Windows Server 2003 Inside Out comes close. Stanek's Inside Out is the second big Windows book I purchased (after Minasi's Mastering). In all honesty Stanek's is a more complete book but both are good.

Inside Out covers many topics not covered in Mastering including upgrades, migration, unattended installs (separate from RIS), clustering, DNS architecture, AD architecture, AD design, AD recovery, AD replication, group policy managment, print server migration, and the list goes on and on. Plus where it counts Inside Out is more detailed, accurate, and easy to understand.

With Inside Out, its details, details, details and it makes all the difference. Like when you are installing a domain controller Stanek remembers to tell you how to prepare, what to expect, and what to watch out for. He tells you how to search your entire system with a single command for encrypted files that will get hosed if you don't watch out and do what he says before installing. Stanek points out all the little tips and tricks.

I've always had a hard time learning things but this book made it so easy for me. Pick any subject, look it up in Stanek's book and read it to find out everything you wanted to know. One area of the os I thought I knew was the file system. It was an eyeopener to read Chapter 20. I didn't know you could do half of that with NTFS. Everything I've looked up has been this way so far.

I can't recommend this book highly enough! Microsoft should use this book in their training courses.


Best technical book on Windows 2003...Outstanding   October 5, 2004
Benjamin Foster (Fayetteville, NC USA)
25 out of 26 found this review helpful

This is better than any other books out there that do nothing more than tell you how things SHOULD work; this tells you how things DO work. Our primary domain controller crashed and resisted all attempts at restores. We continued to have network problems with it out of the chain. I knew pretty much nothing about administering active directory (besides the basics of adding groups, users, etc.) and picked this book up to try to help us. There was a section in it about the first server that gets active directory installed serving as the operations master and how to seize that function to another server. After seizing that and a few others, our domain started behaving itself again. Along the way, I picked up some other useful knowledge and now our domain is actually running faster. The book also showed how to do proper back ups and restores of Active Directory so we never have this problem again.

I would echo what others said that this book will help you with specific problems. I was impressed with the author's use of real-world scenarios and experience as well as the graphics and screen shots to help you.

Highly recommended.


Tired of Minasi--Stanek provides a fresh perspective   July 10, 2004
Jason Bascom (Woodinville, WA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I'm a long time user of Mastering in its various editions (four editions of Mastering Windows 2000 Server alone--why so many revisions?). I bought Stanek's book because I love his other books (especially the WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATOR'S POCKET CONSULTANT). Having (like everyone else) bought the latest edition of Minasi almost robotically, I feel like the content and jokes are stale, and that the book's content has slipped. For example, there's way too much information and advice that fails to recognize changes that Microsoft has made in 2003. This new book by Stanek was the perfect cure for my malaise. It's just the right amount of detail so that I never got lost, it gives me not only grounding in techniques and best practices, but also a real sense of the new things that are possible in 2003, and it's exceptionally well written. THIS IS IMPORTANT NEW WORK! I may still buy Minasi in the future, but this is my new BIBLE! Thanks, Bill Stanek!


Well worth your time and money   September 22, 2004
Daniel Mulligan (United States)
20 out of 21 found this review helpful

I've never written a review about a book before. This is the first one I feel required one because it is that good.

When I was looking for books on Windows Server 2003, I looked at a few other books on the topic and finally decided to get this. This is the best of the books I looked at. The book has a very logical approach to describing the complexities of Windows Server and is very well written.

This book is very in-depth and the author apparently has had a lot of experience as a consultant. This shows in the detailed design strategies presented for DNS, DHCP, Active Directoy and networking in general.

In addition to being up-to-date, you'll get some information in this book you probalby won't find any other places. I know I couldn't even after months of readings newsgroups and tracking Windows related sites. The most obvious example is the extensive coverage of Active Directory. Replication, GPO's, sites, implementation gets my top marks.

After buying this book, I can't tell you how much I appreciate the thorough explanations and examples. If there's one book you buy this year, I think this has got to be the one.