Acknowledgments

Thanks again Nicola. You should get some kind of Wife of the Year award as you deal with me writing these darn books or working around the clock to meet some insane deadline. I never understood how you did it and now you also manage to take care of our new son Grant as well. Just crazy if you ask me. I love both of you more than you can imagine.

I wasn’t going to call out the dogs, Tyson and Pugsley, but since they are staring at me right now I feel I have to. Thanks boys! You have kept my feet warm all of the long nights it took to get this book out the door.

A big shout out goes to my friends at Microsoft. There are far too many to name but all of you have been part of my 2010 learning curve and I couldn’t have written this book without each of you being along for my journey. I look forward to working with all of you for years to come.

To my fellow authors Todd and Steve: When do we write the next one? HA. Every time we finish one of these things you promise me never again. I will say it now: You guys are liars. So let’s get to work. Next one we will blame on Steve.

I want everyone who reads this to know I think Jennifer Mason is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She was the primary tech editor on this book and also a contributing author. How she managed to make heads or tails of all the details of SharePoint 2010 we threw at her I will never know. Of course, I still haven’t figured out how she ate donkey meat either, so I guess I will live unknowing. If she ever runs for president be sure to vote for her. Thanks Jen.

To all of the contributors along the way: I owe you a debt of gratitude. Your additions, ideas, reviews, etc. are a huge part of this book and I am guessing it is impossible for me to express my thanks, so I will not even try. You guys were amazing. Jeff, you get a little extra thank you for getting those tech edits done overnight during the final push. You must have had a time machine or something; I couldn’t have done it.

Normally I would also thank all of the employees of SharePoint911 for their help, but each of them ended up pitching in to get this book out the door so they got thanked in the previous paragraph. Cannot give them too much praise, it might go to their heads.

To the entire team at Wiley: Thanks for letting me be part of another successful book project.

Last but not least is Sara. You should be nominated for sainthood after seeing this book through. The frantic pace at the end, translating our chapters from rubbish into English, and being patient with our childlike attention spans are your three miracles. Where do I sign you up? Thanks Sara.

I love you little Sparky!

—Shane

What can I say that Shane already hasn’t? There was a large cast of people who came together to make possible the book you’re holding in your hand, or the e-book that’s on your screen. While Steve, Shane, and I are the pretty faces of the book, the other folks are the show ponies. None of this could have been possible without them.

First I want to thank some friends who helped write chapters. Darrin Bishop was the brains behind the PowerShell chapter. He’s not that bad, for a developer. I also want to send a shout out to Bill Baer for helping with the chapter on high availability. Bill knows more about keeping SharePoint running than I know period. I can only imagine his hat is the secret to his powers.

My fellow SharePoint911ers deserve a round of applause as well. They helped tremendously, picking up the slack when we needed help. Thanks everyone.

Once the chapters were written, the tech editors, Jen and Jeff, had to try to sort out the mess that was sent to them, which was no small feat. Thanks for keeping us honest.

At some point I probably should acknowledge those other jokers whose names follow mine on the cover, Shane and Steve. I can’t believe after having written one book together already we convinced ourselves to do it again. If I’m going to write a book, I want it to be with those yahoos. They’re great to bounce ideas off of, and when my motivation is low, one of them is always ready and willing to mock me until I get back into action. Thanks guys. Couldn’t have done it without you. You ready to start our next one yet?

And finally, Sara. Every word Shane wrote about Sara is true. If I get to vote for sainthood, Saint Sara will be a reality. Thanks for your guidance, Sara.

—Todd

Well, I guess we (Todd, Shane and I) didn’t learn our lesson, and we wrote another book together. Working with these guys is like herding cats, excepts cats are easier. Having said that, I would do it again, but this time I would ask Todd and Shane to actually write something. It’s been great guys; let’s do it again.

Besides these two jokers, our technical editors, Jen and Jeff, deserve a lot of credit for keeping us honest. And a very special thanks to Sara, our editor; she is the person that brought it all together. Suffice it to say that without her this book wouldn’t have happened. Putting up with Shane and Todd is extremely difficult, and Sara handled it well. Needless to say that we were behind schedule most of the time but Sara always provided the encouragement and kick in the pants when we needed it, and in a way that wasn’t as painful as it might have been. So Sara, thank you so much for all your help.

Finally, how can I possibly thank enough the most important person in my life, my wife Rosemary. She always stands beside me, even when I overextend myself and end up being really grumpy. Being together for 33 years seems like only yesterday; I hope she will put up with me for at least 33 more.

—Steve