Introducing Microsoft Windows 2000 Server

INTRODUCING MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 SERVER is the book that IT professionals, managers, developers, system integrators, and consultants will want to read before and after the release of Windows 2000-to evaluate the product's principal enhancements at the server level. Microsoft Windows 2000 is a breakthrough product and INTRODUCING MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 SERVER is sure to be the most authoritative pre-publication book on the topic. Tony Northrup is known and respected both within Microsoft and throughout the industry.

Introducing Microsoft Windows 2000 Server catalogs the new features of Microsoft's newest server software and provides general information about how they work. If you're wondering whether (or when) your organization should deploy the successor to Windows NT 4, this book will provide you with the kind of broad insight you need to make upgrade decisions.

Northrup explains the purpose and operation of each major new feature in Windows 2000 Server. The new management features, including Zero-Administration Windows (ZAW), Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), and the Windows Scripting Host (WSH), receive baseline descriptions. So do the new security features and the enhanced virtual private networking (VPN) features.

The new version of Internet Information Services (IIS 5.0) gets covered briefly, and the distributed file system (DFS) gets some attention, while the much-anticipated Active Directory receives the most in-depth coverage of all. The information on each feature seems cursory--you may even be familiar with Windows 2000 Server at this level from articles that have appeared in technical periodicals.

You won't find the information in Introducing Microsoft Windows 2000 Server helpful in a practical sense--this is a conceptual overview of the new features rather than a guide to implementing useful systems with them. It's also generally pro-Microsoft and not indicative of whatever shortcomings the software may have. --David Wall