The Windows Server is a popular operating system developed by Microsoft Cooperation. It is designed to run a networked infrastructure with numerous applications and services. The latest release is the Windows Server 2025.
This latest release brings nifty features and benefits to the It world. One of the best features is the enhanced security features and capabilities. This helps mitigate cyber security threats and attacks for any organization using it.
The other benefit is the improved performance and scalability. Technologies such as Storage Spaces Direct and ReFS (Resilient File System) have been used to get faster and more reliable storage.
The Windows Server 2022 also has enhanced hybrid capabilities. It integrates with the Azure cloud platform, making it easy for organizations to use hybrid cloud environments. This also makes it so easy to extend the on-prem environment to the cloud, therefore, providing high flexibility.
There are many other benefits associated with Windows Server, but today, our main focus is the recommended Books to Master the Windows Server Administration. These should help you navigate easily when managing the Windows Server systems within your infrastructure.
Below are some of the books you can use to master Windows Server Administration
1. Windows Server 2025 Administration Fundamentals
Windows Server 2025 introduces significant advancements and interesting security features. In this fourth edition, Bekim Dauti, the esteemed author of the previous three editions, brings his extensive experience to provide up-to-date information on these latest enhancements.
You’ll be introduced to network fundamentals and installation procedures, and go through post-installation tasks, directory services, and adding roles. The chapters highlight configuration topics, including group policy, virtualization, and data storage. This updated edition covers the new and enhanced features of Windows Server 2025 extensively, including Active Directory Domain Services enhancements, SMB over QUIC, advanced security features, and hotpatching with Azure Arc. Additionally, the book provides insights into tuning, maintaining, updating, and troubleshooting the server, and concludes with a dedicated section on studying and preparing for the AZ-800 certification exam with the help of practical preparation tips. Numerous questions and answers at the end of each chapter help you test your knowledge of the concepts covered.
By the end of this book, you’ll be well-equipped with the knowledge needed to update, maintain, and troubleshoot servers to ensure business continuity by relying on best practices and using step-by-step graphic-driven examples.
What you will learn
- Manage directory services effectively, including setting up and maintaining AD DS roles
- Add roles to Windows Server 2025 and ensure they integrate seamlessly with the existing infrastructure
- Implement and troubleshoot group policies to enforce consistent configurations across the network
- Utilize virtualization techniques to optimize server resources and enhance scalability
- Secure data storage solutions using encryption, access controls, and backup strategies
- Maintain server uptime and reliability through efficient hotpatching practices for applying updates
2. Mastering Windows Server 2022
This book is authored by a 10-time Microsoft MVP award winner with over 20 years of IT experience, Jordan Krause. It aims to be a daily reference for those who are new and geeks in the server world. It has been updated with a variety of content for Server 2022 administration. It covers all the skills from the Server Manager, and PowerShell, all the way to the Windows Admin Center.
This book will help you understand:
- How to design and implement the Microsoft Server 2022 in an enterprise environment and use it to create secure and efficient networks.
- How to secure the Windows Server 2022 in your infrastructure with modern technologies
- Detailed information on the Windows core infrastructure technologies
- Identify the new ways of integrating Windows Server 2022 in your data centre with Microsoft Azure
- How to deploy Remote Desktop Services in your environment
- All round understanding of the Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, and Group Policy
View the book by following the link below:
3. Windows Server Automation with PowerShell Cookbook
This edition is mainly focused on helping administrators to know how to use PowerShell effectively. Thereafter, you can easily create core roles, features, and services of Windows Server 2022 in an enterprise environment.
This book, authored by Thomas Lee with a heavy foreword from Jeffrey Snover (PowerShell creator) provides over 100 recipes required for day-to-day Windows server administration. It covers all the required steps from installing PowerShell 7.1 to managing the core roles, features, and services of Windows Server.
By reading this book, you will be able to:
- Maintain the organization’s security with JEA, group policies, logs, as well as the Windows Defender
- Spin and configure VMs on Hyper-V, implement storage replication and checkpoints
- Spin VMs, websites, and shared files on Azure
- Perform most of the common admin tasks on the Windows Server
- Install and use the .NET Framework for administrative scripting
- Understand how to manage data and storage on Windows. It provides a detailed understanding of disks, volumes, and filesystems on Windows.
- Obtain single measurements with WMI and report system performance using built-in cmdlets
- Know the required tools required when troubleshooting the Windows server
Get details of this book on the link below:
4. Windows Server 2022 & PowerShell All-in-One For Dummies
If you are looking for the easiest way to install, configure, secure or have a network running on the Windows Server 2022, then you need this book by Sara Perrott. The author puts together a thorough guide to network administration in a single, convenient book. This can be so vital for those who are starting from scratch and need to install a new server or those who want to jump right into more advanced topics like managing security or working in Windows PowerShell.
This book combines 8 in 1 that covers:
- The requirements to install and set up a brand-new Windows server installation
- How to configure Windows Server and customize its settings based on your needs and preferences
- How to install, configure, and run containers on the Windows Server.
This can serve as a perfect reference material for server and system admins for Windows Server operation. To obtain a copy of this book, visit the link below:
5. Mastering Active Directory: Design, deploy
Do you want to become an expert at managing enterprise identity infrastructure with Active Directory Domain Services 2022? The Mastering Active Directory, Third Edition is a detailed guide for IT professionals who want to improve their skills on the MS Windows Active Directory Domain Service. By reading this book, you will be able to use the Active Directory identity service securely in your organization. It also teaches how to use the on-premises identity presence to the cloud using the Azure AD hybrid setup.
The main areas covered in the book are:
- Installing, protecting, and managing Active Directory Domain Services (Windows Server 2022)
- How to setup the hybrid identity by evaluating business and technology requirements
- Automating the administrative tasks in Active Directory using Windows PowerShell 7.x
- The Flexible Single Master Operation (FSMO) roles and their placement
- How to manage the Active directory objects effectively using administrative tools and PowerShell
- How to maintain the state of a user and computer configuration centrally using Group Policies
- Best practices to harden your Active Directory
- Using Azure Information Protection to protect sensitive data in a hybrid setup
To obtain a copy, use the link:
6. Windows Server 2022 Administration Fundamentals
The Windows Server 2022 Administration Fundamentals: A beginner’s guide to managing and administering Windows Server environments, 3rd Edition is authored by Bekim Dauti. This guide will help you set up, the Windows Server 2022, monitor and maintain it. You will also develop the required skills to manage the server in an enterprise environment. In addition to that, you will learn how to implement networking and security best practices in your environment.
The guide provides a detailed understanding of:
- The Fundamentals of Windows Server 2022
- The installation of the Windows Server 2022
- The post-installation tasks for the Windows Server
- How to apply Windows Server 2022 GPOs to your network
- Deep understanding of the virtualization and Hyper-V concepts
- How to add roles to your Windows Server environment
- How to customize, update, and troubleshoot Windows Server 2022
- You will also understand Microsoft’s role-based certifications
This book is available on the link below:
7. PowerShell for Sysadmins: Workflow Automation Made Easy
As a server admin, it is so important to be familiar with Microsoft’s scripting language. This book teaches you how to use PowerShell to manage the server and automate the repetitive tasks that IT professionals and system administrators face in the real world.
Adam Bertram in his book, shows you how to use PowerShell when managing and automating server environments. In this book, you will learn:
- How to combine commands, write and run scripts and handle the errors on PowerShell
- How to parse structured data such as XML and JSON, work with common domains (such as Active Directory, Azure, and Amazon Web Services), and create a real-world server inventory script
- Demonstrating that PowerShell isn’t just about ad-hoc scripts by building a PowerShell module.
- How to create the Active Directory forest from a Hyper-V host with a few ISO files
- Using code to create endless Web and SQL servers
View the book by following the below link:
8. Learn PowerShell in a Month of Lunches
This is designed for server admins, it will help you walk through administration with PowerShell. It covers all required from the basics wit over 25 tutorials to help you understand Powershell in minutes.
This will guide you into performing the admin tasks such as adding users, exporting data, and file management comfortably using PowerShell.
By going through this guide, you will learn:
- Basic scripting to automate admin tasks
- How to manage cloud services from major cloud providers
- How to extend PowerShell functionality using commands.
- The commonly used syntax and cheat sheet for PowerShell.
- Discover more about PowerShell using the Help system.
Grab a copy of this book by following the below link:
9. PowerShell Cookbook
This is also another book to help you manage the Windows server 2022 using the PowerShell. It covers all that is required form the introduction to the Powershell language to the complex operations such as automating tasks. It has over 400 task-oriented recipes to help you face and solve real-world problems. It also provides reference to technologies that are used together with Powershell.
In this book, you will learn:
- The core features of PowerShell, including the command model, object-based pipeline, and ubiquitous scripting
- The fundamentals that include the interactive shell, pipeline, and object concepts
- How to install and use PowerShell on Windows 10, and Windows Server
- Run common tasks such as user interaction, working with files and directories, internet-connected scripts etc.
- How to solve tasks in an enterprise setup fr example, working with AD
Get details on this book using the below link:
10. Mastering Windows Server 2022 with Azure Cloud Services
Winner William Panek is a 5-time Microsoft MVP Winner who delivers a detailed and practical blueprint that can be used to plan, implement, and manage environments that have Azure IaaS-hosted Windows Server-based workloads. This can serve well in hybrid environments where you can learn how to migrate virtual and physical server workloads to Azure IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, and also manage and secure the VMs running Windows Server 2022.
In this book, you will learn:
- The basics of the core Azure capabilities, including IaaS, PaaS and Saas.
- The tools required to implement Azure solutions. This includes the Windows Admin Center, PowerShell etc.
- The Hybrid scenarios where Identity management can be implemented using the Azure AD DS and managed AD DS
Get details of this book by following the link below.
11. Windows Server 2022 Beginners Guide
This book can be used by beginers as it contains content that can build your server administration skills from scratch. Microsoft’s Windows Server stands out when it comes to enterprise-level management and data storage, applications, and communications.
In the past, the primary focus for the Windows Server editions was stability, security, networking, and different file system enhancements, but recently, we have had improvements in deployment methods and hardware support as well.
This book by Howard J. Wall, covers:
- The introduction to Microsoft Windows Server
- The different types of Windows Servers
- Cloud computing concepts, i.e public, private and hybrid clouds.
- The Core-Based Licensing Model
- How to manage the Windows Server
- Introduction to active directory ad how to use it.
- Remote access on Windows Server.
- How to create links to your site.
Get more about this boot on the below link.
Closing Thoughts
In this guide, we have covered the recommended Books To Master Windows Server 2022 Administration. These are some of the books that can be used to improve your Windows Server 2022 administration skills. I hope you found this important.
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