Rating: 

The new 2nd edition of this book has been completely updated for Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 and release R2, and information on administration using command-line utilities has been added to each chapter.

This book is an extremely clear, concise, yet comprehensive guide to the server-specific features of Windows Server 2003 -- particularly features that are new or enhanced compared with Windows Server 2000. Coverage of topics like DNS and clustering, Active Directory and LDAP, Group Policy (with the new Group Policy Management Console) & the IntelliMirror application distribution system, volume shadow copy for automatic backup file versioning, offline files and folders (an improvement on the Windows briefcase), file indexing services, permission levels & security analysis with the new Security Configuration Wizard, IISv6, the .NET framework, VPNs, Radius & IPSec, is extremely good. The main focus is on deployment, administration & management tools.

This book seems far more useful than the MS Administrator's Pocket Consultant, and the only topics that seem to be omitted are mention of WSH (to go with the added information on command-line utilities), service recovery, and WINS for systems with pre-Windows 2000 legacy clients. Windows SharePoint Services get only brief mention. The appendix on features likely to be in Longhorn is a good bonus.

I would highly recommend this book.