New book: Windows SBS 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant

The Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant by Craig Zacker is now available. Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 was developed to help the many small businesses that cannot afford to keep full-time IT people on staff, or to purchase some of the more expensive networking software products. Here is Craig’s quick overview of the product and a short description of how to use his book to optimize the Windows SBS 2008 environment.

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Windows SBS 2008 includes Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, several other components, and (optionally) SQL Server 2008, all for an attractive price. Even more attractive to the small business owner, however, is the fact that the product includes a setup program that installs and configures all the software components at once, using a standardized configuration that requires almost no user interaction. In addition to the setup program, Windows SBS 2008 includes Windows SBS Console, a management program that provides simplified access to the most commonly used administrative controls. The result is a sophisticated network environment that can support up to 75 users and that small businesses can afford to purchase, deploy, and maintain without full-time IT staff.

How to Use This Book

Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant is designed to help new and relatively inexperienced network administrators deploy and maintain a Windows SBS 2008 network. However, experienced administrators who are new to Windows SBS 2008 can also benefit. The book takes you through the process of planning a small business network, evaluating and purchasing the required hardware, installing Windows SBS 2008, and performing the required post-installation tasks.

For first-time network administrators, Chapter 2, “A Networking Primer,” and the “An Active Directory Primer” section in Chapter 5, “Working with Users, Computers, and Groups,” provide background information on basic networking and directory service concepts. More experienced administrators can skip these elements or refer back to them as needed.

Once you have planned, assembled, installed, and configured your network, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant takes you through the process of administering the various network applications, using the tools provided with Windows SBS 2008. Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, and SQL Server 2008 are all large and complex products, each of which can support a book of its own. In fact, separate Administrator’s Pocket Consultants for all these products are available from Microsoft Press.

Because it would not be possible to provide comprehensive coverage of all the Windows SBS 2008 components in one book of this size, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant concentrates primarily on the basic administrative tasks you are likely to perform frequently, using the Windows SBS Console and other tools that are exclusive to Windows SBS 2008. For example, the book covers only the process of creating user and computer objects in Active Directory Domain Services using the Windows SBS console, but you can also create them using the Active Directory Users And Computers console.

However, many small businesses cannot afford to keep full-time IT people on staff, or even to purchase some of the more expensive networking software products. Microsoft developed Microsoft Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2008 for this reason. Windows SBS 2008 includes Windows Server 2008, Exchange Server 2007, several other components, and (optionally) SQL Server 2008, all for an attractive price. Even more attractive to the small business owner, however, is the fact that the product includes a setup program that installs and configures all the software components at once, using a standardized configuration that requires almost no user interaction. In addition to the setup program, Windows SBS 2008 includes Windows SBS Console, a management program that provides simplified access to the most commonly used administrative controls. The result is a sophisticated network environment that can support up to 75 users and that small businesses can afford to purchase, deploy, and maintain without full-time IT staff.