Managing Active Directory for Windows 2000 Server (Syngress) Book

Active Directory (AD) can be extremely complex to implement, especially if you migrate from an existing NT4 domain based network. In Managing Active Directory For Windows 2000 Server, Melissa Craft does her best to explain it.In 480 pages divided into 13 chapters and an appendix she covers migrating from earlier NT versions, naming strategies, domain design and implementation, trees and forests (a forest is a collection of domain trees), modifying the AD database schema, site planning and implementation, Intellimirror (which means user details follow users), publishing (in the context of AD) and Microsoft Metadirectory. Chapter 12 reprises AD for W2K in fewer words, which seems redundant. The final chapter covers disaster recovery, though telling us UPS stands for "universal" rather than "uninterruptible" power supply is a little worrying in a book with two technical editors. The appendix consists of advice which would have been better located in the relevant chapters.Managing Active Directory For Windows 2000 Server provides a good foundation for anyone planning to implement Active Directory. At times, Craft's partisan approach can leave users lacking important decision-making information, such as when she points out you can't merge domains in W2K (or NT) without mentioning competing products which support this feature. Similarly, she implicitly encourages users to migrate from third party directory services such as Novell Directory Services without pointing out the price in reduced functionality and interoperatibility with other systems. Still, despite its unwillingness to criticise Microsoft's implementation or to consider other, perhaps better, alternatives, Managing Active Directory For Windows 2000 Server is a good introduction to Active Directory, which is, after all, only V1.0. --Steve PatientRead More