Special Edition Using Microsoft BackOffice, a book written by professionals for professionals, is about the Microsoft BackOffice family of products. This book is authored by a team of senior information system consultants and software engineers, all of whom apply their talents for G. A. Sullivan, a premiere software development consulting company and Microsoft Solution Provider based in St. Louis, Missouri. Special Edition Using Microsoft BackOffice is designed to guide you through the complex implementation and administration issues associated with BackOffice. As such, it primarily focuses on how to prepare for, install, configure, and administer the various BackOffice products.
One of the most alluring features of this book is its up-to-date information. The authors worked hard to produce a time-critical, technically complete "how-to" book that offers in-depth coverage of the more important elements of the BackOffice family, including the following newest products of BackOffice:
This book provides thorough coverage of these BackOffice products and includes sufficient Notes, Tips, and Cautions to ensure that you can implement and administer even the most troublesome features and elements of the individual applications.
Microsoft BackOffice, an integrated suite of server-based products that operates under control of the Windows NT Server operating system, is patterned after the success of Microsoft Office, a suite of client-based personal productivity tools designed for the client side of the client-server environment. BackOffice, designed for the server side of the client-server environment, significantly improves network administrator productivity in much the same way that Microsoft Office improves personal productivity. BackOffice was designed to be portable so that it operates on a variety of hardware platforms, and extensible so that new services can easily be added and existing services easily enhanced. Scalability is also a design feature. BackOffice needed to be stable in a growth environment where expansion of application scope could be offset by increasing the hardware's computing capability through additional processors.
Another design goal of BackOffice is that it comply with major open computer standards. Indeed, the BackOffice products do this, in addition to supporting the most popular network protocols. Consistency is also an important design consideration for BackOffice. The various products of BackOffice have a consistent graphical user interface, a consistent set of administrative tools, and a consistent applications programming interface. BackOffice is also designed to be easily integrated with other information system components, applications, and technologies. As such, BackOffice products integrate well with the Internet, UNIX, NetWare, other networks, and desktop computers.
A critical design goal is that BackOffice address the need to control access to and usage of services and resources. BackOffice does an excellent job of this. Primarily through the use of the Windows NT Server operating systemñunder which the other BackOffice products must operateñabundant security features and tools are available to secure transmissions, control access, and assign authorizations. Attaining a secure BackOffice environment, however, requires not only that these tools and features simply be available, but that they also be applied intelligently, that management of them be disciplined, and that appropriate controls be established.
This book is aimed at administrators (of networks, systems, Web servers, databases, file servers, and so on) who are responsible for deploying the BackOffice suite, information systems managers faced with migration issues, and software developers who develop applications and interfaces used with the BackOffice family. The readers of this book will learn how to install, configure, and use BackOffice family components. This book provides excellent advice for administrators who have the task of implementing the BackOffice suite in a client-server environment. It also provides good advice for managers on how to use BackOffice to improve their business footing and leverage their automated information systems to maximize return on investment. Not only will managers learn what to do with BackOffice, they will also find out how to do it and, most importantly, why they should.
With the variety of material presented in Special Edition Using Microsoft BackOfficeñcoupled with its high quality of content, up-to-date material, level of detail, and easy to follow "how-to" formatñthis will be the all-encompassing book you will quickly come to depend on to supply answers to your BackOffice installation and administration questions. Although each of the products that make up the BackOffice suite is given a separate part within the book, special attention is paid to integration issues and techniques. Additionally, significant portions of the book are devoted to providing background material to enhance your understanding of critical concepts, and advanced topics explain how to really be effective with BackOffice in the enterprise.
This book is organized in a logical sequence starting in Part I and ending in Part V. Each part generally provides an overview of the BackOffice product, presents detailed instructions on how to install and configure the product, and then covers how the server administrator should use the product on a daily basis. Many parts include chapters explaining related technologies or advanced features of the product.
Part I gives an in-depth discussion of BackOffice and how it fits into an enterprise environment.
Chapter 1, "An Inside Look at BackOffice," describes the products that make up BackOffice and provides an overview of various process models, including the I-net process model. It also describes the role of BackOffice in this Internet-enabled, client-server world; how BackOffice moves you beyond client-server; and discusses the added value BackOffice offers to your computing enterprise.
Chapter 2, "Characteristics of BackOffice," details the BackOffice design goals, the role of BackOffice as a network operating system, and the services provided by BackOffice. The chapter concludes with a discussion of why BackOffice is a solid platform for the future and why it is important to you as an administrator, manager, developer, or user.
Chapter 3, "Planning for BackOffice," describes the various steps you should take prior to installing BackOffice. Some of these actions include building the network, establishing the administration team, analyzing the organizational requirements, preparing the facility, establishing policies and procedures, and licensing BackOffice.
Chapter 4, "Enterprise Planning and Implementation," discusses the most important considerations facing an administrator who is involved in creating an enterprise network and setting up servers to operate in such an environment. The chapter attempts to enhance your understanding of how computers on a large network are organized, the basics of network protocols, and Windows NT security.
Part II focuses on the base operating system, Windows NT Server, upon which all the other BackOffice products must run. The Windows NT Server part establishes a logical progression of chapters that is paralleled throughout the other parts of the book.
Chapter 5, "Implementing Windows NT Server," covers the installation and use of Windows NT Server. It includes a detailed, step-by-step procedure for installing Windows NT Server. This chapter also describes such related activities as partitioning hard disk space, exploiting the last known good feature, creating the Emergency Repair Disk, logging on and off the server, shutting down and restarting the server, connecting to the network from client workstations, and using Windows NT security.
Chapter 6, "Advanced Windows NT Server Configuration," provides details on using advanced capabilities and features of the operating system such as drive mirroring, and the use of RAID technology to build large disk arrays supporting error detection and recovery.
Chapter 7, "Administering Windows NT Server," outlines the network administrator's server management tasks. It includes a survey of the tools that come with Windows NT Server and discusses typical administrative tasks such as creating user accounts, sharing resources, and changing permissions.
Chapter 8, "Windows NT Server Directory Services," describes the directory services provided by Windows NT including the creation and management of domains, and the major domain models used to organize servers and networks. It also discusses the future of Windows NT directory services.
Part III continues with advanced coverage of Windows NT Server. It includes information on using TCP/IP protocols, how to configure and use the remote dial-up component of Windows NTñthe Remote Access Service (RAS), and how to integrate Windows NT with NetWare and UNIX. It also details the protocols and products used to create Wide Area Networks (WANs) and support dial-up connectivity to the network.
Chapter 9, "Using TCP/IP with Windows NT Server," describes the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, a network protocol and related applications that have gained wide acceptance and use on the Internet as well as on private networks. The chapter includes a brief tutorial on TCP/IP to help you understand some of the terminology and why things are done the way they are. The use of the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) to create Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) is discussed.
Chapter 10, "Name Resolution With TCP/IP," examines the mechanisms used to convert a friendly computer name into a computer's machine address. This basic network service is provided by both Domain Name System (DNS) and Windows Internet Naming System (WINS). The operation of these systems is described.
Chapter 11, "An Inside Look at Remote Access Service (RAS)," examines the basic capabilities of RAS, how to select hardware for dial-up access, and how RAS security is implemented.
Chapter 12, "Implementing Remote Access Service (RAS)," describes how to install and configure RAS using the various protocols available, and how to use the Remote Access administration tool.
Chapter 13, "Implementing Dial-Up Networking Clients," describes how to use RAS with different client configurations. It also shows how to use multilink channel aggregation to combine more than one modem or leased line for greater bandwidth and improved throughput.
Chapter 14, "Windows Integration with NetWare and UNIX," examines the use of Windows NT Server in heterogenous networks with several different operating systems. Novell NetWare issues (including NDS integration) and UNIX interoperability are both given particular attention.
Chapter 15, "Wide Area Network Technologies," describes WANs in more detail, including the strategies required for building WANs, the communication services used to provide WAN connectivity, and protocols.
After the base operating systemÄWindows NT ServerÄis covered, Part IV focuses on the newest additions to the BackOffice product suite, the Internet related products. You learn how this group of products can be used to build servers that allow your organization to have a presence on the Internet, or to create intranets that use Internet tools to deliver information internally.
Chapter 16, "The BackOffice I-Net Toolbox," describes the features of Internet Information Server (IIS) and Microsoft's overall strategy for Internet products. It also discusses third-party add-on products from other vendors.
Chapter 17, "I-Net Tools and Techniques," provides a brief introduction to the Internet and how it has changed the way people think of information technology. It also provides a basic understanding of what it means to your organization to embrace the Internet, and surveys how BackOffice can make your excursion into the Internet world a success.
Chapter 18, "Building a Web with Internet Information Server (IIS)," covers installing and configuring IIS. The use of the Internet Service Manager to control I-net servers is described in detail.
Chapter 19, "Web Browsers," provides an overview of the client-side of the Webñthe browser. The two most widely used browsers, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer, are both described.
Chapter 20, "Using FrontPage 97," provides a detailed guide to creating and publishing Web pages with Microsoft's user-friendly Web editiorñFrontPage 97. Web server administration and management are also discussed.
Part V covers advanced Internet and intranet (I-net) technologies and products including how to build Web sites that incorporate database information to provide dynamic updates, and a survey of Internet security techniques.
Chapter 21, "Implementing Index Server and the Content Replication System," describes two new BackOffice components that can play an important role in Web server management. Index Server provides powerful search capabilities to users who visit your Web site. CRS allows you to quickly and securely move Web content from server to server, across the Internet or within your own site, at prescheduled times.
Chapter 22, "Implementing Microsoft Proxy Server," details the steps required to set up and manage a proxy server to control access to the Internet and provide enhanced access to your user community.
Chapter 23, "Using Active Platform to Enhance Your Web Site," discusses the very latest Microsoft tools to build state-of-the-art Web sites. The components of Active Platform, and its use of ActiveX technology, is described in detail.
Chapter 24, "Dynamic Content with IIS Using dbWeb and IDC," describes two tools that can be used to include database information in your Web pages. The products discussed allow you to build dynamic pages that provide the specific information your Web users want.
Chapter 25, "Implementing Internet Security," outlines the rapidly changing field of Internet security. Several major technologies and tools are discussed, including Microsoft's Internet Security Framework.
This book assumes that you are already familiar with the graphical user interface used in Windows-based applications. As such, no attempt has been made to describe "how" to select or choose various options in the dialog boxes discussed throughout this book. Instead, the terms click, select, choose, highlight, activate, disable, and turn off/on have been used to describe the process of positioning the cursor over a dialog box element (radio button, check box, command button, drop-down list arrow, and so on) and clicking a mouse button.
Those familiar with using the keyboard to select various dialog box options may relate this selection process to keystrokes instead of mouse clicks. Either method is equally acceptable.
Several type and font conventions are used in this book to help make reading it easier:
At times, you may be required to press keyboard keys in selected combinations to activate a command or cause a selected display window to appear. When these situations occur, you see the key combinations described in a couple of different ways. When two or more keys need to be depressed simultaneously, a plus sign (+) is used to combine the keys. For example, if the Alt and Tab keys need to be pressed simultaneously, you would see the annotation Alt+Tab. Likewise, if the Ctrl and Y keys needs to be pressed simultaneously, it would be annotated Ctrl+Y. When keys need to be depressed in a certain sequence with no intervening actions, a comma (,) is used as a separator.
TIP: Tips present short advice on a quick or often overlooked procedure.
NOTE: Notes provide additional information that may help you avoid problems, or offer advice that relates to the topic.
CAUTION: Cautions warn you about potential problems that a procedure may cause, unexpected results, and mistakes to avoid.
See these cross-references for more information on a particular topic.
Sidebar
Longer discussions not integral to the flow of the chapter are set aside as sidebars. Look for these sidebars to find out even more information.
Troubleshooting: What is a troubleshooting section? Troubleshooting sections anticipate common problems in the form of a question. The response provides you with practical suggestions for solving these problems.
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