From the book lists at Adware Report:

All information current as of 07:18:17 Pacific Time, Monday, 21 February 2005. Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices    by Harry Brelsford   Paperback:     Hara Publishing     05 December, 2001    US$69.95     Usually ships in 11 to 13 days Click the button below to . . .      (which will add the book to your Amazon U.S.A. "Shopping Cart") . . . or use your browser's Back button to return to the search-list page.

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Editorial description(s):

From Book News, Inc.
This guide to Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 supplies specific instructions for setting up a sample SBS 2000 network. Screen captures and detailed examples illustrate the instructions. The book covers each step in the process, including planning, deployment, administration, and troubleshooting, and gives attention to aspects related to remote connectivity, the Internet, and database use. Brelsford is a consultant and trainer.Copyright © 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Book Description
Finally, the third-party Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 book that everyone has been waiting for. Based on shipping code and written six months after the SBS 2000 release, this book is packed with real world, detailed SBS 2000 topics. The planning and, setup, administration and management topics dominate the first half of the book and include references to KBase articles, hard learned workarounds and in-the-trenches best practices. The text is also current for the latter operating system and application service packs. And not only are the individual applications such as Exchange 2000 Server and ISA Server 2000 covered in-depth, but this discussion is put into context of how these applications are used in the SBS community. The book spends a lot of time on how to extend SBS 2000 with add-ons such as the new XML reporting tool, Exchange Conferencing Server, Digital Dashboard and Outlook Team Folders.

This book speaks to the entire SBS community ranging from the do-it-yourselfer newbie to the hardened SBS guru. A practicing SBS consultant, Brelsford deftly weaves introductory and advanced SBS 2000 discussion, as only he can do with his Texas accent, in a warm and collegial way in to the pages of this book. And when that's not enough, the book includes guest columns from members of the Microsoft SBS development team and other leading SBSers!

So buddy up with Brelsford and enjoy Small Business Server 2000 Best Practices. Not only will this book pay for itself immediately with an hour of your time saved, but it'll return its price back to you many times over by helping you avoid hidden hooks, pitfalls and box canyons along the SBS journey.




Reader review(s):

Might Be Of Some Use To Inexperienced Users, December 18, 2002
I think the value of this book depends on the amount of experience you've had installing and using prior versions of SBS or even with installing and using Windows 2000 Server or NT4 server. If you've had virtually none then you may find this book of some use. Otherwise I think you'll find it of little value.

The author uses his "SSL Methodology" to guide the reader through setting up SBS 2000. What the author is really doing is setting up a sample company called Springer Spaniels Limited (SSL). The text tells you to do this, do that, click here, etc. and gives screen shots of various things along the way. This may give those with little SBS experience the "warm fuzzies" that they are doing things correctly. However, the SBS 2000 set up is pretty intuitive and there is a good amount of help information built into SBS 2000 that is available as you go from step to step through the set up. My complaint is that, since this is true, the book does little more than give you the same information without any more insight. Worse, there is nothing to really help you if you need or want to deviate from the "SSL Methodology" or run into problems.

I encountered some problems trying to connect workstations to a new SBS 2000 server that had previously been connected to an SBS 4.5 server. The book was of no help for this. In another case I had a new XP Pro machine that when setup did not load the firewall client (the successor to WSP Client). Again, the book was of no help in dealing with this. (The solution was easily found on the MS Knowledge Base).

With no real help for doing things differently from the "SSL Methodology" this book is of limited value. Ditto for no real trouble shooting info.

I purchased the book based on nearly unanimous 5 star ratings. Based on those I was hoping for a book that would be more informative and useful (something akin to Manasi's Windows 2000 server book). I was disappointed.

I rate this as pretty much a novice's book. At virtually $... a copy it certainly isn't worth what you get.

As an aside I note the photo the author provides of an SBS 2000 installation. Apparently this is his work and he points to it with apparent pride. I certainly wouldn't hold up this sloppy job as an example of a quality installation and I hope no one follows it as an example.

An absolute must have for SBS administrators & consultants, December 21, 2001
For the first time user, this contains a by the numbers installation that will let you get an actual site up and running, as well as sneaking in the technical reasons for doing things. The language is simple and the real life stories make it easy to remember when you set up your own organization.

For the experienced user, this provides plenty of detail of the pesky quirks that normally require hours of researching. Harry does a great job of alerting you to possible unintended consequences of various settings and interactions of the many powerful servers included in SBS.

He has done an excellent job of providing the "must know" of SQL Server, Exchange and ISA to operate SBS and leaving the hard details to other references. This keeps this book manageable and on track.

Readable, complete and well done, your return on investment is immediate.

Absolutely the best!!, December 21, 2001
This book is absolutely awesome. I've just gotten my copy (after waiting for weeks for the book to get published) and am about half way through. It is one of the most informative books I've read. I've been working with Windows 2000 and the individual server products for quite some time. After reading this book I'm completely sold on the benefits of SBS. Harry really knows his stuff.

Don't leave home without it!, December 6, 2001
This book is, in my opinion, "the" definitive manual for Small Business Server 2000. Its approach is informal in tone - but highly informative. One can find specific information quickly, and it's easily understood (all the things that a typical Microsoft manual wasn't!)

As an experiemced SBS consultant, I plan to carry it with me daily, and also recommend it to all of my clients. The first hour I started reading it I found a solution to a vexing problem I was having at a client. How about THAT for "return-on-investment?"

Intmidating Topic...Simplified, September 19, 2002
I had the opportunity to attend a Microsoft Licenced to Sell Event this week where I won a copy of this book as a door prize. I have spent the last couple of days reading this excellent and entertaining book...yes I said entertaining. The book is written as if you are talking directly to Harry...and not in a classroom style setting. It is very easy to read and covers just about every major topic on SBS 2000. The book also contains places for you to make notes because no well used book should be unmarked. Probably the best feature of this book is the best practices. Many books tell you what to do, with these best practice you'll not only what to do but why you need to do it. Keep this book handy whenever you are onsite!!!

A must have for the technology consultant!!, March 12, 2002
Harry has done a great job of presenting the nooks and crannies of SBS 2000. Before reading "Best Practices" I knew very little about SBS 2000... and now I have completed my first SBS 2000 installation and will be starting my next within a week. Thanks to Harry's insights and years of SBS experience I am growing my SBS consulting business!

Harry's writing style appeals to us techies as well as non-technical business owners who want to admin their own installations. I highly recommend this book to all who work with SBS.

Insultingly stupid, July 28, 2003
If you need this book you are probably in the wrong business. I was expecting something more in debth. I have an MCSE, and I can say that the dumbed-down course materials I used to study for my exams back in 2000 put this worthless book to shame. If this is all it takes to be an administrator nowadays I might as well quit my job and let the secretary take over, Im sure that she can click the "next" button just as well as I can. Maybe its just me, but I was hoping for an in debth coverage of SBS as a solution, and how it differs from a traditional domain structure, and maybe an analysis of how the properties of SBS can best be implemented in some environments and interlopability with other products. Instead I get some cowboy comparing Information technology to a ranch with cows and such. I would return the book, but im too embarrassed to draw attention to the fact that I actually bought the thing in the first place.

Oh my god, so horrid., June 12, 2003
Just what the title says. Make no mistake about it, this is a truly awful book. It concentrates mostly on how great Microsoft is for coming out with Small Business Server, and very little on how to set it up. There are GREAT information gaps in the areas of Domains, Active Directory and Troubleshooting in general, to name a few. The walkthrough on the little information that is in the book just assumes that if you follow the author's instructions step by step, the server will just work. Unfortuneately this is not the case. The author leaves out many important details about the setup of SBS and in general seems to be using his new book as his platform to attack the Linux community as a whole. (Hence the subchapter entitled Linux Losers) This is a terrible book. If you're looking to setup a MS SBS, find another book. There HAS to be something better.
Despite the fact that this book contains no useful information at all, it seems to have near 1,000 pages. The information in it is also laid out in a terrible manner, making it near impossible to find anything that might be related to what you're doing with your server. If you're setting up a SBS, find another book, ask people on the internet how to do things, heck ask at 6 year old kid. Any one of these three options would be a better option than reading this book.

Best purchase for SBS Installation, March 18, 2003
I bought all the MCSE books so I could learn how to setup Microsoft 2000 and SBS servers for our company and I couldn't figure much out. They gave me great textbook knowledge but only in a very abstract way.

I went through Harry's book and leaned more in 2 days than 2 months with the MCSE books. This book is worth more than the $ I spent on all the other books combined.

Harry's style is interesting and easy to read. Real life and fictional examples show you what you should and should not do. Actual diagrams of network topology were very helpful as well. I have not run into a situation where he does not cover something I am interested in or that I need to know.

If you are going to setup a SBS you have to get this book no matter how much you know!

A technical how-to guide done right!, May 6, 2002
Harry wrote an incredibly accessible guide to installing, maintaining, and supporting SBS 2000. He takes readers through a step-by-step site evaluation, gives checklists and forms to use before installing, and runs through the process of setting up a server so that it works right the first time.

Even more helpful, he tells you *why* you are doing things a certain way. Most howtos say "do this" and leave you hanging if you encounter something outside the norm; with Harry's explanations and Best Practices tips, you get reasons, guidelines, and tips that help you out when something doesn't follow the game plan (usually due to bad or mismatched hardware).

One feature of Harry's writing that really makes the book work is his willingness to share his embarrassments and goofs he's made along the way. As the old saying goes, "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment." He humorously shares his moments of good and bad judgment with his readers, which lets you avoid quirks and pitfalls that have trapped many, many people (including Harry) over the years.

I'm an MCSE but new to SBS, and found the level of technical detail excellent, ranging from the basics to the advanced tips, and learned a lot of things that you just don't learn from various Resource Kits. As a fellow writer I know how hard it is to carry off this quality of technical writing for an entire book, and Harry makes it look easy.

If you are new to SBS and are installing it for the first time, or you are a Windows 2000 guru looking for a single-box office solution, or an SBS consultant seeking to optimize your time and improve your level of service, you should have this book with you at all times as your first go-to reference.

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