How Is This Book Organized?

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Microsoft Windows Command Line Administrator’s Pocket Consultant is designed to be used in the daily administration of Windows systems, and as such, the book is organized by job-related tasks rather than by Windows fea tures. If you are reading this book, you should be aware of the relationship between Pocket Consultants and Administrator’s Companions. Both types of books are designed to be a part of an administrator’s library. While Pocket Con sultants are the down-and-dirty, in-the trenches books, Administrator’s Companions are the comprehensive tutorials and references that cover every aspect of deploying a product or technology in the enterprise.

Speed and ease of reference are an essential part of this hands-on guide. The book has an expanded table of contents and an extensive index for finding answers to problems quickly. Many other quick reference features have been added as well. These features include quick step-by-step instructions, lists, tables with fast facts, and extensive cross-references. The book is organized into both parts and chapters. Each part contains an opening paragraph or two about the chapters contained in that part.

Part I, “Windows Command Line Fundamentals,” reviews the fundamental tasks you need for command-line administration. Chapter 1 provides an overview of command-line administration tools, techniques, and concepts. Chapter 2 is designed to help you get the most out of the command shell. It details tech niques for starting up the command shell using parameters, how to control com mand path settings, what redirection techniques are available, and how to use multiple commands in sequences. Chapter 3 discusses the essentials for creating command-line scripts. You’ll learn how to set variables, work with conditional controls, and create procedures. Chapter 4 explains how to automate common administrative tasks using the command line.

Microsoft Windows provides many command-line tools to help in the manage ment of daily operations. Part II, “Windows Systems Administration,” discusses the core tools and techniques you’ll use to manage Windows systems. Chapter 5 discusses many of the key administration tools, including those that help you gather system information, work with the Windows registry, configure Windows services, and shut down systems remotely. Chapter 6 examines tools that help you track information that is written to the Windows event logs, including warn ings and errors. You’ll also learn how to write events to the system and applica tion logs. In Chapter 7, you’ll learn about tools and techniques for monitoring applications, examining processes, and maintaining performance.

The book continues with Part III, “Windows File System and Disk Admin- istration.” Users depend on hard disk drives to store their word-processing documents, spreadsheets, and other types of data. If you’ve worked with Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 for any length of time, you’ve probably used the Disk Management tool. The command-line counterpart of Disk Management is the disk partition utility (DiskPart). You can use DiskPart to handle most disk management tasks as well as to perform some additional tasks that cannot be performed in the GUI. Chapter 8 provides an introduction to DiskPart and also discusses FSUtil, CHKDSK, and CHKNTFS. Chapter 9 discusses partitioning basic disks. Chapter 10 examines dynamic disks and how they are used. The chapter also examines implementing, managing, and troubleshooting RAID.

In Part IV, “Windows Active Directory and Network Administration,” concentrates on the core commands you’ll use for configuring, managing, and troubleshooting Active Directory, print services, and TCP/IP networking. Chapter 11 discusses many of the key directory services administration tools, including tools that help you gather directory information. Chapter 12 examines tools that help you create and manage computer accounts in Active Directory. You’ll also learn how to con figure domain controllers as global catalogs and operations masters. Chapter 13 completes the directory services discussion with a look at creating and managing accounts for users and groups in Active Directory. Chapter 14 examines network printing and print services. Chapter 15 discusses configuring, maintaining, and troubleshooting TCP/IP networking from the command line.

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