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Essential Microsoft Operations Manager

Format: Paperback
Author: Chris Fox
ReleaseDate: 03 February, 2006
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Rating:

Give the essentials book a break
I have to give it 5 stars to make it fair. I just don't understand how can anyone rate an "essentials" book not good enough for not having enough details or "beef" in it. This book is great if you are absolutely new to MOM, it will get you there to install it and customize it at a basic level. I believe that the author gives you enough detail to let you drive on your own after this test drive. It really made my implementation easier, I gave the book to a coworker and he had about my same views. Just remember, if you are not new to MOM look somewhere else.

Where's the beef?
. I had now purchased both of the available MOM books, both seem to cover roughly the same material, but neither really has any meat to it! I would have given this 3 stars, but unfortunately, the author makes a boring topic even more boring.

Excellent book for the Microsoft Ops Manager Newbie
However - right up front I WILL STATE - if you are an EXPERIENCED MOM Admin - you will not find a lot of value here, unless of course, you want a different viewpoint. If you are looking to get your feet wet with Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, this IS the book for you.

As a little bit of background, Chris has worked as a Consultant with a major Microsoft Gold Partner as an Exchange Consultant, he has worked for a major food company as a multi-application administrator, and is now with Microsoft as a Product Specialist in the SharePoint product line. So, how does that qualify him as a MOM Expert - enough so to write this book? Chris simply excels at anything he decides to be involved with. He was (and likely still is to some degree) the pre-eminent Exchange expert in the Midwest during the time he was doing Exchange. He excels in his understanding and ability to provide pre-sales guidance on why SharePoint is important and how it can solve business problems.

When he worked actively with MOM (2000 and 2005)he implemented the platform and transitioned the day-to-day maintenance and management to another team. .

Essential MOM delivers exactly what it promises - the essential information on how to get started with setting up MOM, configuring MOM, and how to get started with operational management with MOM. It touches on the essentials of database configuration, management pack work, and essentials of how to interact with reports and consoles for administrators and those you want to give view-only to.

Some of the crticism for this book is clearly due to expectations that were not met. However, I don't put that blame on Chris - he delivered what he intended. I would ask the critics to do this - If you are very experienced WITH MOM, get ahold of O'Reilly. I suspect that a MOM Cookbook or more advanced treatment or MOM for experienended Admins would interest them greatly. But, please - don't put this book down because it delivered essentials - not advanced MOM techniques. It is, of course, called "Essential Microsoft Operations Manager" for a reason.