Product Description

Site Server 3.0 is Microsofts attempt to provide a powerful solution for the needs of the business Web Site. It includes a wide range of management and administrative tools designed to make building and maintaining big web sites much easier. For example, it includes tools that map the whole site and details of the hyperlinks that link them, and allows a very fine granularity of administrative control. The main bulk of the package is geared toward providing developers with a framework for building high functionality web sites for a range of purposes. It enables the production of highly personalized content, tailored for individual members, and a fine control of the user experience. It also includes a package called Commerce Server that provides a framework for the rapid development of e-commerce solutions.

Product Details

• Published on: 2000-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 600 pages

From Amazon.com
Lots of people who set out to deploy Microsoft Site Server aren't really big on network and Web site administration, they just want to get a good-looking, reliable site up and running as quickly as possible. Beginning Site Server 3.0 is the perfect companion for such Web entrepreneurs. It's easy to follow, but certainly not dumbed down. The authors (consultants and programmers of various stripes) know that the purpose of Internet commerce is to please customers and make money, not fool with technology for its own sake.

A large part of this book takes the form of storyboard-style procedures, in which the authors explain (with many screen shots) the steps for installing Site Server and use its (rather powerful) site-construction wizards to build a business-to-consumer Web store. It's an effective presentation strategy, leaving little to the imagination during the critical setup stages. The authors then make up for the limited flexibility of the storyboard approach by presenting detail-rich chapters on the databases that back up Site Server, as well as Pipelines, search facilities, and various extensions. The programming information here is good, but you'll probably want to supplement this book with one dedicated to Active Server Pages (ASP) if you have lots of custom work in mind. --David Wall

Topics covered: Site Server 3, Commerce Edition, including its installation, its relationship to Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 and 7, and its design principles. Detailed coverage goes to the Commerce Site Foundation Wizard and Commerce Site Builder Wizard, the database infrastructure of Site Server sites, Pipelines, content searches, and membership databases. On the programming site, there's interesting information on calling ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) from Active Server Pages.

From the Publisher
If you want to know more about e-commerce, and how Site Server and Site Server Commerce Edition can help you get your foot in the door, then this is the book for you. No previous knowledge of Site Server is assumed: if you're a beginner with the Site Server 3.0 product, Beginning Site Server 3.0 will help you get up and running as quickly as possible, but even more advanced Site Server 3.0 professionals will benefit from the technical information included.

About the Author
Tim Huckaby is the Founder and President of InterKnowlogy. InterKnowlegy's core competency is with Internet commerce interchange, business Internet systems and multi-tiered application software design. Previously Tim was the architecture team Developer Lead at Microsoft for the Customizable Starter Sites during MS's Site Server 3.0 product development. Since shipping the Site Server 3.0 product, Tim has been developer and/or lead architect on a number of large and successful e-commerce web sites.

Mike Kendzierski, Director of Internet Services at USWeb/CKS Cornerstone brings extensive experience deploying and developing complex client-server and Internet e-commerce systems. Mike is a regular speaker at technical conferences such as Microsoft Explorer and ASPDevCon on topics ranging from e-commerce systems to systems design and network architecture for high performance web sites. Mike is also a published technical author with titles including Windows NT and BackOffice technologies such as Site Server and Internet Information Server.

Jarrod Marshall is a consultant for G.A. Sullivan, a software development component based out of St. Louis, Missouri.

Brad Sherrell is the manager of E-Business for the Life Division of Pacific Life Insurance Company. He is responsible for the development of Internet applications and specializes in applicaton architecture using Microsoft technologies.

Gopal Sreeraman is a senior consultant with Professional Access Ltd., NY. He is currently involved with architecting and developing Web applications for large organisations.

Customer Reviews

Needs work
They ask you to create a Web Site in one way, and then after a while they say, if you haven't created your site this way, you might not get this result. Page 206 will ask you to create a Web Site under the Default Web Site. But on page 546, they say "For the purposes of this example, I will be using the Interknowlogy site that we have created earlier in this book......Also, this example assumes the site is am isnatnce of the Web Server and not just a virtual directory under Default Web Site". Author spends too much time for the Installation, but the installation instructions from Microsoft site is updated. The title should for this book should be "Teach Yourself Site Server in 3 Days"

Not much beef but worth the money
This title is a little short on content, especially considering approximately 170 pages is dedicated to Site Server installation under different conditions. The author's technique is basically to walk you through the various Site Server wizards, pausing to explain what is really going on behind the scenes. For these reasons, I was tempted to rate it just 3 stars. However, I reminded myself that this is a "beginning" guide with no pretense of claiming to be a comprehensive guide to the various Site Server features. Also, while the installation chapter chews up a lot of space, I found it to be very valuable. For example, during the Commerce Edition installation, a nasty "failure to register DLL" message appears. The author assures you that this is okay as it will be fixed later. I may have spent hours on MSDN researching this issue for fear of having an incomplete installation. I recommend this book for developers looking for an installation guide and/or a fast read describing what Site Server is all about.

Complete, Good for Beginners - Intermediate administrators
I read some other Site Server books before this one, including some in the Professional Series. I have been lightly involved with Site Server for quite some time but never in an extended use of the product.

I wanted to get an heads up on the Version 3 and this book contains it all for administrators. The Installation is the most complete I've ever found (containing 170 pages!) and it goes into all possibilities (i.e.: with/without SQL, NT 4, Win2k, SQL 6.5, SQL 7.0, etc.). Just the TOC for this one is in 4 pages!!! The book is worth it just for this chapter.

Then, the book goes to some extent into Pipelines, Commerce, Search, Personalization, and all the Site Server's components.

Once you will be through this book and need more information, I would strongly recommand the Site Server 3.0 Personalization And Membership, and the Professional Site Server 3.0 Commerce Edition; both from Wrox Press.