Windows NT4 Administrator's Black Book

by Paul Taylor

     Title: Windows NT4 Administrator's Black Book
    Author: Paul Taylor
 Publisher: Coriolis Group Books
      ISBN: 1-57610-114-2
     Pages: 474
     Price: US$ 39.99
Some time ago, Bob Swart asked me to review this black book. The title and appearance of the book, which is black with silver letters, make it suggest that it would explain NT 4 inside-out. That's not the case, instead it does exactly what it promises on the cover and in the introduction. It's a day-to-day guide for novice and experienced NT 4 administrators when performing administration tasks, designed to get the job done fast and right.

The book is devided in logical chapters covering the issues of administrating a standard NT 4 installation . Each chapter represents a rounded off topic, devided in three parts. First there is technical information on the topic, then a practical guide, ending with a quick reference. The technical information covering the chapters subjects, gives a good feeling about the subjects and doesn't bother the reader with to many details like a NT recourse-kit tends to do.

After reading the introduction and some of the technical parts, I decided to use the book as a reference. So, on an early blue-screen-NT-day, I decide to put the book to the test. I tried to recover the machine with the rescue disk, the described steps where clear, but due to a hardware failure even Bill would have failed. Then I used the book, to make the BDC (Backup Domain Controller) primary, which worked fine and used it to mirror a harddisk. Indead, the guide got the job done fast and right.

As an experienced administrator, you'll find yourself at the bookstore buying other books, because you'll probably have a book like this at home. As a novice administrator, you'll have a good time reading it and you can still use it when you're an experienced-administrator. But, to become that experienced administrator, this book will not be enough.

(Bob Tielen)


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