Active Directory for Dummies

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Summary: A note from the author
Review: Are you intimidated by Windows 2000's Active Directory? I admit that for a time I was. I loved NT 3.51, got along well with NT 4.0, and certainly didn't want to deal with the trees and forests of Active Directory.

But with the release of Windows 2000 just around the corner, I had to prepare for Active Directory--and so do you. Active Directory for Dummies is your introductory book. I've attempted to remove the buzz words and lingo and present the basics of Active Directory in a clear and unintimidating manner.

If you're going to be dealing with Active Directory in the future, I hope you'll use this book to ease your transition.

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Summary: A Good, Simple Overview or Refresher
Review: Doing Active Directory right was important to my small technology company, so I bought more than ten books on Active Directory, Windows 2000 Server, and DNS. This Dummies book I took home and planned to skim through it first, thinking it would be a nice quick introduction.

The book got mislaid, and I did not pick it up again until I was nicely up to speed with Active Directory and had done several installations. I read it anyway on a Saturday night as a quick review and was surprised at the clear style, nice organization, and adequacy of its coverage of the subject matter.

If you have just a day or two to get up to speed with this important new Microsoft technology, this book will certainly do. System administrators and architects will want a more technical treatment.

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Summary: Your easy guide to implementing a Windows 2000 network
Review: Harness the power of Active Directory for everything from migration to network management. If you're an IT professional, Active Directory is probably the one feature of Windows 2000 you're most excited about. But because it's so different from NT, it's also a little scary. Relax! With this friendly guide at your side, you'll quickly get a handle on this powerful network management tool - and jumpstart your deployment of Windows 2000.

Discover how to: Customize Active Directory for your network

Build an Active Directory test model

Migrate from NT or Novell to Active Directory

Test bandwidth and optimize sites and replication

Manage security, users, and resources

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Summary: Surprisingly good--I learned from it
Review: I got this book free at the EDS booth at the Windows 2000 launch in San Francisco. I didn't expect it to be this good. It's described as entry-level to Active Directory, but there is a lot of good technical stuff. I recommend it.

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Summary: A great little book
Review: One of my students told me about this book and brought it to class. I hadn't expected so much technical content from a Dummies book. This little book really should be the starting point for anyone interested in Active Directory.

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Summary: Very readable with good technical content
Review: The book Active Directory for Dummies is easy to read without sacrificing technical content. The author gives practical advice on how to implement and use active directory, not just technical description of the product. Worth the money.

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Summary: A decent book of negligible usefulness
Review: The fantastic complexity of Windows 2000 Active Directory almost makes the title of this book an oxymoron. Win2K presents a huge paradigm shift to network administrators, since the Active Directory is a completely new, radically different beast from what Windows NT was. Understanding AD and how it works takes patience...it isn't accidental that there are 1000+ page books out there on setting up and maintaining an AD infrastructure. This book doesn't aim to help you do specific tasks in AD, but what it does very well is explain in basic terms what AD is and does, how it it structured, and give you the frame of reference you need before you delve further in. But I'm not sure how many people need to [pay] for this book when there are other books out there that deal much more extensively in the workings of AD. The bottom line is that computer enthusiasts curious about the central feature of Win2K and newbie administrators of Win2K who have little or no experience with NT4 will find it a useful primer on AD. For anyone else, it's probably better to put the [money] toward one of the more detailed, albeit less plainspoken, AD guides.

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Summary: Greatest thing since sliced bread
Review: When Microsoft took an elegant simple schema from UNIX and redesigned it into a convoluted might mare called "Active Directory" it was time for this book. Turns out that "Active Directory" is not active or a directory; who would have guessed? Well this book starts you off with correcting concepts and even lets you know that with the new terminology that the definition of "domain" has been changed.
A lot of time Dummies books are too busy being cute; this one however is so packed with helpful information that it does not have time to be cute. This book takes you from ground zero to up and running while helping avoid common pit falls.