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A Linux Admin's Guide to Windows?
Rexburg asks: "I recently took a job managing an all Windows network. While my knowledge of the OS is enough to perform the functions of my job, I want to have my bases covered. Naturally, I began the hunt for documentation, but all I can find are books to help Windows users/admins understand and use Linux. I need the opposite. Can the Slashdot crowd point a fellow OSS-head in the right direction?"
No
[Just Shut Up and Do What I say]
What, you have to have something marketed directly at you?
I don't think I've seen any of them titled "Windows HowTo: Don't read me if you know anything about Linux"
Face it, if you're going from Linux to Windows, you're in a pretty small minority.
really, i mean if you are a unix/linux admin, then Windows to you should be very clear and straight forward. A few testing(i am sure you can spare the time and hardware, even at work, temporarirly)...The dialogs in Windows are self explanatory...
but just in case you get stuck, the best resource is the MSDN library..
The lunatic is in my head
"I recently took a job managing an all Windows network...."
Run...... run fast!!!
No.... seriously good luck. I went from a pure HP-UX enviroment to a Windows one... It's really fun to try and script mass file renames among other things
BE PATIENT AND YOU'LL LIVE!
Click Start, Help! Look, no man pages or Engrish documentation!
Look at the O'REilly series for NT/2K/XP system admin. They talk about doing the types of things you are used to on Unix (Scripting etc).
Open Source Identity Management: FreeIPA.org
Can't recommend titles of any specific texts. Go fr a rummagein the nearest Border's or B&N. Then check online.
Microsoft does publish large, thick texts on their network platforms. I remember them as being much better than most 3rd-party books.
Also, if you can get your hands on the books used in an MCSE course, you'll at least have something. My boss sent me to an MCSE course a long time ago. I remember the notebooks as being long on "click here" and short on "here's what the code does after you click", but you will get an overview of Microsoft's network model.
-- Slashdot: When Public Access TV Says "No"
Go to MSN.com, and search for "Linux". The third result is how to switch from Linux to Windows.
I'm serious.
I mostly deal with *nix but need to deal with Windoze from time to time. I got the Universal Command Guide: http://www.ucgbook.com
There's plenty to complain about starting with the hubris of the "Every Command Every Operating System Cross-Referenced Together" subtitle Apparently TRON, Plan 9, vxWorks, etc. aren't operating systems (or "Some of the More Common Operating Systems, Many of the Common Commands" didn't get past the marketing department). The selection of commands in the book can sometimes seem odd and at $70 it isn't cheap, either.
Still, when you are used to "w", "ifconfig", "passwd" and the rest but find yourself sitting in front of a Netware/Mac/DOS/Windows machine thinking "there must be an equivalent instruction if I only knew what/where it is", then the cross reference in this book should at least get you pointed in the right direction.
I only pick it up every few months but even at $70 it doesn't take much time and frustration savings to pay for itself.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
http://www.jsiinc.com/
There is an incredable wealth of information on that site.
altp
AND THEY ARE FREE!!!
:) It's very rare if I run into a
And this old white haired guy that has trained the
whole world is selling them and stuff. Strangely,
the shipping is 7 bucks.
Seriously though,
I knew UNIX first. When my buddies were raving about
dos and windows 3.0 being the next big thing, I was
busy with other stuff and kinda ignored them. Next
thing I knew I had NT 3.51 on a DEC workstation
staring me in the face in the form of a new
flight scheduling system. FUN! NOTHING like UNIX
in any way shape or form. So I started with the
basics. Operating systems all do pretty much the
same types of things. The idea is to find out how
to do those things. How do you:
Set up a network card
Install drivers
Configure user accounts
Change passwords
Modify the filesystem
Schedule jobs
and so on and so on.
The way I learned windows was to make a list of
all the things I could think of that I had to do
on a daily basis to admin a UNIX machine, and
do research to find out how to accomplish those
things on windows. After you've done that, you
can fill in the rest of the blanks later. I spent
a lot of time on USENET searching newsgroups for
answers to silly things. The Microsoft Knowlege
Database is an excellent tool. In the end, I
learned something truly valuable. Windows NT 3.51
sucked. Thoroughly. And I threw a party 5 months
later when they scraped the NT Alpha box and
replaced it with a Sparc running SunOS. Still,
that initial exposure to Windows NT has helped
me fix all kinds of things on family and friends
Windows machines for quite some time. You just
have to get used to touching a mouse a lot more
than a UNIX person should. You have to get
comfortable navigating point and click mazes
to find things that aren't always were you'd think
they would be logically. You have to get used to
not always having the blessed log file to look at
for help when something isn't working right, and
being fed error messages that make no sense at all
and give you no clue as to what the actual problem
is. Today, USENET can be searched very easily with
groups.google.com. A short time ago, you used
deja.com.
problem with any OS platform that someone else
hasn't already run into that problem and asked
someone on a newsgroup how to fix it. Hope this
helps.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
Not true. I've read plenty of stories and reports that *nix admins typically have a far better foundation in the fundamentals. My experience has been similar. *nix gurus tend to know what happens under the surface and can often do a much faster/better job of debugging and engineering. I'll wager that if you were to compare *nix admins with Windoze admins, you would find a far higher percentage of *nix admins understand http/smtp/pop well enough to use telnet to access and debug a web/mail/pop server.
Also, as a couple of articles have pointed out, almost all *nix admins have at least some experience with Windows while Windows admins with *nix skills are less common.
If I were the employer, however, I'd be concerned about interest level. If you are dying to learn Windows and increase your overall skill level then go for it. For others, being forced to deal with Windows would be like sitting listening to blackboards being scratched all day. Still, you gotta eat.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
Just pretend that FisherPrice or Hasbro or Mattel rewrote UNIX for 5 year olds. That's all windows is. When you start thinking of it as a pretty, underpowered version of UNIX for "special" people, it's very easy to use.
TechNet
If you're admining a winblows system you need to check for security releases daily and run every single piece of shit software they offer to harden your system.
Good luck, you'll need it.
BTW I admin about 10 windows machines, 8 linux machines, 1 solaris machine and 2 os x servers. By far I spend most of my time admining the Windows boxes. I would venture to guess around 90-95% of the time. Windows sucks but until it no longer pays the bills, I'm stuck.
Yup. I do all my posting on a web enabled phone. :). You are the first AC that actually figured it
out in 3 years. I'm not even kidding.
For every annoying gentoo user, are three even more annoying anti-gentoo crybabies. Take Yosh from #Gimp for example.
You need to learn how windows authentication and permissions work. The NT model is more robust than most default Unix implementations, and difficult for many Unix-people to grasp.
If you are using active directory, you need to understand ldap.
If you are a good Linux admin, you'll be a good Windows admin too. Remember that groups.google.com is your friend.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
A slightly longer summary would have a subtitle "How to run for your life in order to stand still" and an overview like this:
The actual content will say:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Except for learning and using the MS tools (Active Directory, IIS, ACLs etc.), making yourself a home is the best thing you can do.
Most *nix Software has been ported either directly by the developers (Emacs, Vim, nmap etc.), MinGW or CygWin. Insecure.org's tool list gives a nice overview over the essential networking programs and ActiveState has Ports of your three favourite scripting languages already.
After installing all these tools, Win2k becomes a pretty usable OS.To everyone who has had something useful to say, thank you. Your suggestions are what I was looking for. I have found a few resources in my own searching's, but felt that having the eyes and minds of the /. crowd helping would yield far greater results.
As for the rest of you: I have long wondered how many /.'ers were real sysadmins and hackers and who wasn't. Thank you for removing all doubt I may have had about your status.
Several of you have tried to make an argument that I am under qualified for the job I've taken. I read over my submission again, and at no point do I say "I've never seen one of these new-fangled Windows machines before". My specialty has been with implementing Linux solutions to Windows networks via Samba. I have a fair grasp of Windows technologies and am quite comfortable in said environment. However, it would be foolhardy to assume that I know all there is to know about Redmond's offering.
It is made clear to me by your statements that either you are wishful thinkers straining to install Corel's distro or that you haven't the self motivation necessary to stay competitive in this field. To the later, I look forward to cleaning up your network once you've been dismissed.
I realize this is a bit off topic, but I felt that it would be unfair to those in similar straits watching if I didn't address these comments. Now, as promised, the links which I have found most useful.
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Launch all sig
All it took was one look at the headline and I could imagine all of the jokes . However, let's look at reality. If you're a real bonafide sysadmin, you're probably going to have to deal with Windows.
I remember at one point I was having to write some VB code. It was during the dot com boom. There where certainly jobs for C++/Java people. However, there was a real demand for VB COM programmers. So I figured, I should at least take a look and try to figure out how the dark side works. Of course my first idea was to go around the office and ask if anyone had ever heard of a VB book for C++/Java programmers. (Actually I did run across a VB for COBOL programmers.) The immediate response was chuckles and outright laughter. Of course, my smart ass smirk probably didn't help. Anyway, there was a book that dove that deeply into VB. It was "Hardcore Visual Basic". There where a couple of good O'Reilly books as well. (As an ironic side note, the author stopped updating the book because he got so sick of microsoft abusing a perfectly good RAD tool).
Yes, programming a glorified GUI sucks. Yes, you're ultimately going to cut and paste and cleverly misuse the IDE when you write code. Yes, VB is a painful. It like trying to ride a tricycle when you've got a Harley in the garage. However, most of the world runs Microsoft products and from time to time I have to work with Windows. So I getting sick of the snide comments. The submitter is definitely NOT A TROLL! I don't claim to be a hacker or an ubergeek but I'm kind of sick of the unprofessional nature of the Slashdot crowd.
So, my best advice is that you take a look at some of the O'Reilly books and stroll through some of the reviews at Amazon. Let their data miners do the work for you.
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
The best (IMHO) Windows administration book is Mastering Windows 2000 Server by Mark Minasi. The writing style is informal and Minasi has experience with other OSes and doesn't automatically take the view that Windows is the best for everything. The book doesn't cover how to use the GUI like some do, but does provide an overview of stuff like remote installation services, Active Directory, policies etc.
Ignore what some other posts say - knowing UNIX will not automatically mean you know everything about Windows. To be a *good* Windows admin takes time and effort in the same way being a *good* UNIX admin takes time and effort.
My perspective is as a primarily UNIX based consultant / administrator who needs to know about Windows. This book gets five stars for providing the info I need to understand the basics.
Mod me up - this was informative.
Not true. I've read plenty of stories and reports that *nix admins typically have a far better foundation in the fundamentals. My experience has been similar. *nix gurus tend to know what happens under the surface and can often do a much faster/better job of debugging and engineering
Yes and no. Yes, *nix people do tend to know a lot more about computers. On the other hand, they expect things to make sense and to behave deterministically, and on Windows, sometimes they don't.
I develop for and occasionally admin both 'Doze and Linux boxes. I find that maybe 80% of the time, the knowledge I've gained from *nix and *nix-friendly tools (most of which are available via Cygwin, thank God!) is a lifesaver. On the other hand, maybe 20% of the time, it screws me up. I don't want to just "Reboot, Reinstall, Reformat" because then next time I won't know what caused the problem, how I fixed it, or how to fix it again. But sometimes on Windows that is exactly what is necessary. It is sometimes the fastest way to solve a problem. It is sometimes the only way.
Nonaggression works!