Praise for Microsoft Content Management Server 2002

“This is one of those rare books that you will read to learn about the product and keep re-reading to find those tidbits that you missed before. Need to know how to setup CMS? Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide will tell you. Need to know how the information is being processed before the user views it? Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide will tell you. A great book no matter what your experience level is with Content Management Server.”

—Gary Bushey, SharePoint Portal Server MVP

“A concise and accurate guide to Microsoft’s enterprise development tool for content-centric applications. An invaluable resource for any developer who wants to get the best out of Microsoft Content Management Server.”

—Ed Robinson, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

“Content management is a complex, multifaceted application area, and Microsoft’s CMS Server is a complex product. This book sets out everything you could possibly need or want to know about CMS. The title could easily be The CMS Resource Kit since it will be an essential addition to the library of any IT professional or developer working on content management and Microsoft’s CMS.”

—Thomas Lee, Chief Technologist, QA

Content Management Server (CMS) is fast becoming a vital content-management tool that helps administrators and developers handle the ever-increasing amount of content on their Web sites. However, an authoritative source of product information has been missing . . . until now.

Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide is the first book that explains how to effectively unlock the power of CMS. Administrators and developers alike will learn how to enhance their Web servers’ scalability, flexibility, and extensibility by using CMS features and API to manage content on the Microsoft platform.

This thorough reference explains the product architecture, then shows you how to create and edit content and use the workflow. Topic coverage includes CMS administration and security, the Publishing API, deployment options, site configuration, and template development. A running example is used throughout the book to illustrate how important CMS features are implemented in real-world Web site development. Inside you’ll find answers to such questions as:

• Chapter 6: How do you customize workflow?

• Chapter 10: How do you develop for Microsoft Content Management Server (CMS) 2002 using Visual Studio .NET?

• Chapter 17: How do you establish user rights?

• Chapter 22: How do you best deploy CMS according to your organization’s needs, size, and resources?

• Chapter 32: How do you publish dynamic data?

Books in the Microsoft Windows Server System Series are written and reviewed by the world’s leading technical authorities on Microsoft Windows Technologies, including principal members of Microsoft’s Windows and Server Development Teams. The goal of the series is to provide reliable information that enables administrators, developers, and IT professionals to architect, build, deploy, and manage solutions using the Microsoft Windows Server System. The contents and code of each book are tested against, and comply with, commercially available code. Books published as part of the Microsoft Windows Server System Series are an invaluable resource for any IT professional or student working in today’s Windows environment.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 7 Ratings

Poor Layout. Not for beginners. - 2004-07-20
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book to help my client evaluate CMS 2002. First few weeks with the book was agonising to read through. The author explains in verbose text about something and you have to read through it all coz you dont know what is fluff or where he might say something useful! I read through the documents that came with CMS 2002 last week and there is one called SiteDevl.chm which has a chapter on how to Use VS.net to create a CMS web site. I finished the whole chapter in about an hour creating my site simultaneously. Since I did a web site from scratch I had a better understanding how to use various CMS components! First read this help file before you buy this book.
I went through the first 286 pages of this book and was yet struggling. Then I read through this help file that comes with CMS which has 36 pages now the difference is like day and night! Since there are no other good book available you have to get this book just coz you odnt have a choice.
There is a new book written by Stefan Gossner from MSFT coming out soon. He is a regular contributor on CMS message boards on msdn. Seems very knowledgable. I havent got the book yet, I have reserved a copy when it is out.

Book needs more focus. Maybe OK for a beginner. - 2004-01-13
Reviewer Rating:
First, a note on my background, since it may have increased my frustration with this book. I have been developing (ASP/COM, ASP.NET) for a long time, and have built numerous custom DB-driven content mgmt systems from scratch. So, I was hoping for a quick introduction of the CMS paradigm this product uses, followed by specific guidance on how to implement realistic sites with the product. Not what I got. This material might be more helpful to a traditional "webmaster" role (who knows just a little C#), but if you already understand concepts like templates and publishing workflows the book wastes a lot of your time.

The book does not need to be 1000 pages long:
- Code examples are often repeated throughout a section with only one line changed.
- Entire blocks of text are clearly copied and pasted from one section to another.
- The book spends inordinate time on topics that are not relevant to using the product, for example the material in Chapter 4 on project mgmt.

My other major complaint is that it is written more in the style of a manual (e.g. Now we are going to list all the properties and methods of a channel. Next, we do the same for a template.) rather than following a flow of how a site actually gets built and the types of pages one really needs to develop. Why is it not until page 853 that the topic of "what about content that is already in SQL Server somewhere" comes up? That is something one deals with all the time on real development projects!

Admittedly, some of my disappointment is more with the product itself rather than just the book. MS-CMS is apparently intended as a replacement for sites that just add new HTML pages whenever they add content. I thought the age of sites like that, where the data was not part of the overall enterprise systems, had ended several years ago.

Worthless for beginers and experts alike. - 2005-07-05
Reviewer Rating:
This book has too many flaws to count. It has no focus. It contradicts itself in many places (sometimes within the same paragraph!). The organization of the chapters is completely alien and ensures a beginner will be confused. The rambling, repetitive prose and authors' habit of inventing and making extended use of non-standard terminology renders the book useless to developers. The authors' complete lack of common sense makes it a poor choice for admins. I really can't imagine who this book is for. EVERY chapter I got frustrated with text about half way through and looked up the information in MCMS's online help instead. In EVERY instance, the MS documentation was more clear and helpful.

Here's a sample paragraph from Chapter 2, Installing Microsoft Content Management Server:

"Creating the Necessary Windows User Accounts"

"The system account will need read/write permissions on the SQL database. In addition, ensure that this account is not the same as the local administrator account and that it is not the IIS anonymous account. In reality, you'll need to create two accounts, not one. The first will be the CMS system account. The other will be the CMS administrator account. The system account will be used to read and write data to the database. The administrator account will need to be the first administrator to access the CMS Web application."

If you don't find that painful to read, and you think that provides all the information you need to "Create the Necessary Windows User Accounts", then you might like this book. Otherwise, you'll be better off with the online docs.

Keep a copy handy to every employee who uses MCMS - 2004-01-12
Reviewer Rating:
Microsoft Content Management Server 2002: A Complete Guide is a good enough title for this book, but given the thorough coverage, accessible writing style and excellent organization, it could just as easily been have been called the Content Management Server 2002 Encyclopedia.

The value in this book is it's breadth of coverage and succinctness of the explanation of the topic. The general approach of the book is to give a general explanation of a topic and then to provide specific instructions with examples. It is possible to reference a particular topic and use the information in it without having to read a large part of the book.

The level of technical expertise required of the reader varies depending on the topic being covered. Hence it's possible for users at varying technical levels to make use of the same book, depending on what information they need. It's a remarkable accomplishment and I'd recommend having copies available to all employees who work on your MCMS 2002 site in any capacity.

Authoritative Reference for Content Mgmt. Server - 2004-06-14
Reviewer Rating:
What drew me to this book was Bill English's name. I've known Bill for a few years (I'm a Windows Server MVP, Bill is an MVP on the Exchange side), and am usually quite impressed with his writing, his teaching, and his work. Yet, there were a number of other names that are associated with this book. I don't know who was responsible for which parts, but this is truly an all-star cast of technical experts on Microsoft Content Management Server.

Content Management Server can be a tantalizingly ominous program. On the surface, it appears so simple, however - under the covers is a very complex and detailed series of modules for managing content on web servers. Essentially, it covers birth to retirement of the content of web publishing. And, diferent from many other programs of this type - it is aimed at all levels of content creators. It's aimed at the Pro Web Master, but also provides the capacity to allow the typical Business or Marketing type to create and submit content - and to allow it to be reviewed before it is published out to the web site by defining 'roles', and assigning responsibilities and rights to these roles. This flexibility and control is what makes Content Server special.

*This* is what makes this book special. English (Microsoft MVP), Londer (of QA - a training firm in the UK), Bleeker (CTO/ Consulting firm to Fortune 100), Shell (Dell Pro Services), Cawood (MCMS Product Team - Microsoft) are some of the brightest folks working with this product, and they know it well. The thickness of the book is because of depth. Specific sections of the book deal with any portion of CMS that you might encounter, from deployment, to management, to security, and to optimization. It also educates you on how you can use code (your choices are open to any .Net language) to modify some behaviors, enhance and further control the functions of the server.

My experience with CMS is that it can either be the very worst of nightmares, or the best thing for managing your web servers / farms. This book can definitely put you on the track of productive suite rather than uncontrollable mess of code and tags. In conjunction with Application Center Server, Content Management Server provides a complete toolset for staging, deploying, proofing, controlling and validating your web servers.

Your chances of success with this software are greatly enhanced with the written knowledge of these technologists.

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