2008-02-16 Disappointing

Having installed, configured and maintained a reasonably large Operations Manager 2007 environment for the last six months, I was eagerly awaiting the release of this book and had it on pre-order for some time.

Given the scope of Operations Manager 2007, I was expecting a big, weighty tome. Not so. The first surprise was the size of the book: it's so slim that it's obvious just from looking at it that it will be lacking in depth.

My hope was for an in-depth companion that provided detailed insight on the innards of Operations Manager, some real-world advice on installation scenarios, tuning overrides and generating reports, as well as some information on getting the best out of the various management packs. Sadly this book disappoints on all fronts.

Some of the content is useful; if you're looking for step-by-step instructions on how to perform certain tasks, this might be the book for you. However, in many areas it provides little detail above and beyond what can be found in the help guide, and I suspect most administrators who are running Operations Manager 2007 will be looking for more than that.

Given the repeatedly changed release date, I would surmise that this book was rushed out to be the first on the market. That's a shame, as Operations Manager 2007 is a huge and complex product that desperately needs a good companion guide.