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In preparing this book, we used three primary sources of information. First, we relied heavily on our combined professional experience in application development, system administration, and IT management. Unlike many books written on theory by technical writers, our recommendations did not emerge from a vacuum but are based on reality and experiences. We hope the knowledge and experience we bring to this book will assist our fellow IT professionals to manage an enterprise as effectively as possible.
Second, we used observations from system administrators in the field to provide "reality checks" to our conclusions. Theoretical understanding of Windows Server 2003 is a nice beginning, but it is no substitute for the actual experience of system administrators. Because Windows Server 2003 is a new product, one of our primary sources was Microsoft's Beta Program and the participants' experiences with final beta and final release versions of the operating system.
Finally, we performed numerous tests and simulated real-world environments in an extensive laboratory environment. The tests centered primarily on the Standard Edition and Enterprise Edition server versions; however, Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, and Windows XP Professional were also tested, and we refer to them periodically as client software within the broader enterprise framework. Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, was not available for testing at the time this book was written, so references to it are based on published Microsoft specifications. Where differences exist in the version levels, we call attention to them.
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