As described in this book, an application administrator’s job is to keep existing computer applications running. For even one computer application, there is a lot involved in doing that job, as this book explains. Fortunately, the author helpfully includes each chapter’s subheadings in the book’s table of contents, and has provided more than 1,500 subject entries in the book’s index. Chapters 1 (“What Does an Application Administrator Do?”), 32 (“Things Every Application Administrator Should Know”), and 34 (“Parting Advice”), if read in sequence, offer the reader a general overview of the application administrator’s job.

The 34 chapters in the book are not grouped into sections. However, a rough grouping seems to underlie the chapters and give a general flow of topic coverage. Chapters 2 through 5 focus on computer applications in terms of some common application characteristics, such as programming languages and error messages. Chapters 6 through 10 cover management concerns, such as installing an application and supporting applications on workstations or on servers. Chapters 11 through 18 discuss recurrent concerns, such as service level agreements, disaster recover, and security. Chapters 19 through 22 focus on people’s involvement with existing applications. Three examples are users of the applications, application vendors, and government agencies. Chapters 23 through 27 cover tools that can sometimes be helpful for the application administrator, such as data backups and tools specific to the operating environment. Chapters 28 through 32 focus on troubleshooting when things do not run as smoothly as the application administrator would like. Chapter 33 discusses educational resources for application administrators.

This book offers good scope, detail, and general readability. The content is reasonably up to date, a characteristic that is hard to achieve in the fast-moving field of computer usage. My main concern with this book is its relatively scant attention to two matters. The first is the lack of emphasis on a key circumstance: that users of computer applications who use and produce data are effectively the customers of what the application administrator is “selling.” Providing and enhancing customer service for users does not get as much attention in this book as real-world situations typically require if the application administrator is to be deemed successful. The second matter is the relatively little coverage (beyond the book’s subtitle) of the application administrator’s role in the maintenance and evolution of the applications. These are topics that are of concern to top-level management in most business and government organizations because they affect the future health of such organizations.