This book was based on the very first release of Small Business Server 2003 that was released in 2003, and so is outdated. Despite its title, it is 'advanced' only when compared to its 'beginner' predecessor. There are no 'advanced' Small Business Server (SBS) books.

Typical of this publisher, the lack of editing is evident from the varying quality of the chapters on substance and spelling and grammar. It could have been published in half as many pages were it not for the redundant Notes boxes and poor page layout. Some authors were very detailed and comprehensive while others left much to be desired. A few chapters remain useful, but there are better and more current titles available today.

This book is much better than the first in the series. It contains much less tedious humour and much more substantive content. Partly this is because this book is a collaboration, with each chapter written by a different author, each experts in their own field. But also, even the couple of chapters written by Mr Brelsford himself are much more tightly written and focused than I was expecting. After being disappointed with the first book I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

This book is great for installing SBS in a real world environment. Most books I looked at gave you the step by step instructions but were no help in the real world. This book gives you advice on real world situation that I couldn't find in any other book. The most if not all of the authors have real world experience with SBS and help point out areas that need to be patched and other things to look for during your install and setup. The chapters are written so you can read the book from cover to cover, but best of all you can skip to the chapter that you really need. This book will give you examples and solutions that you will not find in most books. This book is a great resource to have in any library.

I'm not one to to get back online to specifically do a review, but in this case I just had to. I've always been a great believer in "googling" and in 99.9% of cases, I'm able to find solutions to problems or answers to issues that arise in the normal course of SBS management (thanks mostly to the contributions of the authors of this book in various newsgroups).

SBS2K3 is a new product to me, and I'm in the throes of upgrading from SBS2K.

I made a conscious effort to setup a test server and use the book as a guide towards an optimum installation. The amount of new information that I came across in the book was really quite amazing. And I'm only 30% of the way through the book!

An absolute must for budding SBSers.

This is a very good book on SBS2003 for experienced SBSers.
The only draw back are the built in advertisements for the author's other books and services. You'll come across plenty of paragraphs containing sentences like ....but that doesn't need to be covered here, it's covered in my other book yada yada yada...... Still this is a very good book and highly recommended.