Early in my career I bought a lot of training kits to learn about Microsoft products. I’m sure I’m not the only IT pro who has owned a few “MCSE kit” box sets of books that are about 2 feet long and weight around 20kg.
But lately I buy very few books, and almost none of them are of the “training kit” style. I spend more time in TechNet and reading white papers instead.
The simple reason is that I got tired of wading through the novice-level materials in most books to get to the good stuff. I’m not trying to big note myself here, its just a fact that I learn new things differently now than when I first started in IT due to experience and being able to build on prior knowledge.
So when I started looking through Windows Server 2008 R2 Secrets, I realised this is the type of book I would prefer to read these days.
You see I spend most of my days working with Exchange Server and PowerShell, and aside from using some of the management tools on the servers themselves I don’t spend very much time dealing with the other network and infrastructure roles that Windows Server 2008 R2 can perform.
For example, I’m familiar with the process of provisioning SSL certificates for Exchange, but setting up PKI infrastructure from scratch is less familiar to me, as are the more advanced workings of IIS, Group Policy, or Terminal Services.
What I need in those situations is something more like an expert briefing that moves quickly through the fundamentals and then demonstrates some practical examples, without me having to piece it together from scattered sources on TechNet and other websites.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Secrets does exactly that for me. By assuming a level of existing knowledge the author, Orin Thomas, is able to dive quickly into the more interesting parts of the technologies and deliver you a rapidly acquired skill that you can put to use immediately.
Covered in this book (from the Amazon description):
- Choosing the edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 that is right for you
- Knowing how to use new features such as Hyper-V dynamic memory
- Learning how to leverage advanced features including Windows System Resource Manager and File Server Resource Manager
- Securing the network and keeping data private
- Implementing Windows Server 2008 R2 data protection
- Understanding how to optimize the deployment of updates
- Configuring and deploying remote access
If these are topics you want to learn more about, but you don’t have time to waste on novice-level material, then Windows Server 2008 R2 Secrets.
