Configuring Windows 2000 Server

This book, at 438 pages long, does not contain the level of detail of other books on the subject, but both the writing and the presentation are extremely clear. The book effectively combines screen shots and text to demonstrate concepts such as WINS and DNS, displaying tabs on the configuration properties sheets along with discussions of how to configure the options. A stellar section on hardware and disk management includes overviews, coverage of tools, and a well-organized discussion of related options and setups.

One quibble users may have is that the book tends to lack those specialized topic areas that may not apply solely to installation but may still be helpful to administrators. For example, terminal services are not addressed, and the relation between LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and the Active Directory Services is summarized in a single line. This doesn't detract from the book overall, unless you need a lot of technical depth in these areas.

Although not necessarily the only reference you should have if you are administering Windows 2000 servers, you'll get the majority of the information you'll need here, and in a format that is far clearer than most. --John Keogh

Topics covered: Overview of new features, installing Windows 2000 server, installing over Windows NT 4, installing on a clean system, hardware and disk management, administrative tools, configuring the server, hardware configuration, plug and play, resource properties, disk management, file systems, basic and dynamic disks, managing dynamic volumes, brief discussion of spanning and RAID, interface and system settings, configuring control panel, configuring options (including Internet, folder, and regional options), Registry and backup operations, structure of the Registry, using Windows 2000 backup features, recovery considerations, remote and removable storage, volume management, using libraries (removable media), different types of removable media, operator requests (remote storage), networking, active directory, overview of Active Directory, Active Directory design, installing Active Directory, Active Directory administrative tools, configuring domains, managing protocols (including a discussion of the types of protocols), quality of service administration, DHCP server, DHCP installation and configuration, scopes, DNS server overview, installing and configuring DNS, using DNS in a mixed WINS/DNS environment, DNS properties, WINS overview, installing and configuring WINS, WINS server properties, configuring routing and remote address, overview of remote access, PPTP, new features of remote access, routing and remote access (RRAS), IP routing, multilink, integrating with Apple and Novell systems, installing services for the Macintosh, configuring AppleTalk, interoperability with Novell NetWare, NWLink, Gateway Services for NetWare Networks, security features in Windows 2000, authentication, Encrypting File System (EFS), security policies, digital certificates and authorities, IP security, configuring IPSec, configuring user, computer and group accounts, overview of user and computer accounts in Windows 2000, account properties, managing user accounts and computer accounts, overview of groups, scopes, configuring groups, profiles and policies, managing profiles, overview of group policies, working with group policies, configuring software settings, group policy objects (GPOs), shared resource management, additional client technologies (including Intellimirror, Remote Installation Services, Synchronization Manager, and Indexing Services), printing overview, setting up printers, setting up client computers to print to network printers, auditing, configuring auditing, audit logs, performance and network monitoring.