USENIX ;login: - Windows NT in a Nutshell (Book Review)

Eric Pearce
Windows NT in a Nutshell
O'Reilly & Associates, 1997. ISBN 1-56592-251-4. Pp. 348 $19.95.

Reviewed by Carolyn J. Sienkiewicz
<cjs@chokey.mo.md.us>

Windows NT in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference for System Administrators can be a life saver. If you are new to administering NT, it can be difficult to remember where to go to configure some esoteric option. Windows NT in a Nutshell is another in a continuing line of fine O'Reilly quick reference books. It provides a concise and clear roadmap to the NT system.

Eric Pearce has written this book in a simple and straightforward style. There is a great appendix that takes the mystery out of which service, protocol, and administrative tool components are workstation and which are server. In one index, there is a table of general tasks you might want to work on, with cross-references for the section of the control panel to access it, the admin tool to configure it, and the command line version as well.

The control panel and administrative tools are covered in a detailed reference format. For each top-level selection (or tool), the author gives you

What it requires (NT server? backup device?)
A summary of the task or topic
A pull-down menu layout of subtasks or subtopics where you can go from the the top-level selection
A short description of each possible selection instance of number 3 above

Between the top-down roadmap offered in the control panel and administrative tools sections and the task index I already mentioned, you should be able to find just about anything.

My favorite section of the book is "Using the Command Line." For one thing, I like it because I like to use the command line. But aside from that, I particularly like this section because the commands are presented in man page style. The author follows the traditional format of:

usage
command definition
options
examples
see also

This approach has worked beautifully for UNIX types for years because of its simplicity and thoroughness, and it is helpful here because it is reassuring to see the NT information presented in a familiar format. It makes it less a foreign universe and more "just some more man pages."

In a departure from pure reference, there is also a substantial section of hints, tips, and general troubleshooting advice. This, in combination with the highly effective reference job Eric Pearce has done, makes this book a highly recommended resource for every NT administrator (or potential administrator). And when you do eventually know NT so well that you no longer need it, the next new admin will be very glad to get the use of your dog-eared copy.