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Summary: O'Reilly does it again.
Review: As a departmental administrator in a global multinational system with many servers, I found this book useful to get you off the ground and keep going. The concept of Windows 2000 Active directory is not intuitive and requires the use of this book or similar material to understand and maintain the system properly. IBM can supply sufficient training and training material; there comes a time when you need to see the information from a different perspective. This different perspective is given in this book.
If windows 2000 Active Directory is totally new to you or if you are used to NT, Novell, or Unix systems then you may want to read "Active Directory for Dummies" ISBN: 0764506595 first for the over all changes that use the same vocabulary to mean completely different concepts.
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Summary: Behind the scenes at Active Directory
Review: First off - and this does warrant mentioning - if you're looking for a click-by-click book, look elsewhere. This isn't it.Now if you're looking for a technical reference guide this is it! This book does a wonderful job of explaining the inner workings of Active Directory. This is a must read for anyone looking to get their brain around AD, not just how to administer AD.
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Summary: Great detail, well-presented
Review: I am biased because I also write computer books, including several for O'Reilly & Associates. That makes me even more sensitive to what makes a good book. In this case, it's the level of detail and of technical accuracy that really makes this book shine. Mr. Lowe-Norris clearly knows what he's talking about, and by the time you read the book you will too. The hidden gem is the book's Part III, which is dedicated to teaching you how to script AD using the ADSI interfaces. I frequently recommend this book to students in my classes on the strength of this part alone-- whenever someone asks for a good scripting book, this is my default recommendation. It's that good.
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Summary: Outstanding addition to my AD Library
Review: I had the privilege of meeting Robbie Allen recently at an Active Directory Conference. His experience in designing and maintaining Active Directory at Cisco showed through both in his presentations and this fine new book from O'Reilly. Features new to Windows 2003 are covered in this edition, and the tools and scripts mentioned and listed in the book have most or all been updated. One of the problems with technical books is how fast they become obsolete, especially in the Windows NOS space. Robbie's book keeps pace with those changes and helps administrators plan for Windows 2003 and beyond.
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Summary: Excellent in depth info! Not for the newbie.
Review: I have to agree with the majority of the reviewers that this is a wonderful book. A must read for serious 2000 Admins. In response to the previous two bad reviews... To the one who thought it was too technical. The reading would be hard to get through if you didn't have a solid background in Microsoft networking and Windows 2000 Server. If you don't know what a domain is, this book is not for you. If you don't understand what objects are, this book is not for you. Explaining that stuff would be a waste of time for the targeted audience. This book is not "Active Directory for Dummies" if such a thing even exists. This book assumes, as it should, that you have the base knowledge required to understand the depths of AD. I already had my 2000 MCSE before I even picked up this one. (For AD basics to intermediate skills, I used the Osborne book Windows 2000 Directory Services Administration. Another great book! **EDIT 7/24/02** Amazon has the title of this book mistyped as "Windows 2000 Directory Services Infrastructure". A couple of people have e-mailed me about having problems finding the book. The direct link is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/007212380X/) This is not a beginner's manual. This is an in depth approach to AD, and does a wonderful job. As for the one who said the book was based on RC 3. There were some changes from RC3 to the release version of Active Directory. However, this book has had at least 3 reprints with updates, and this has been mostly corrected in the version I have, dated November 2000 (I believe this is the most recent reprint)... That is a VERY short list for a techinical book. If you're clueless when it comes to Microsoft networking and the basics of Windows 2000, don't pick this one up. If you know Microsoft networking and Windows 2000, this book is a MUST READ!!
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Summary: It doesn't get much better than this.
Review: Like a lot of other O'Reilly books, this one should really cost twice as much. Packed full of helpful information and not afraid to reveal Windows 2000's weakpoints, this book will pay for itself a hundred times over. In addition to being up-to-date, you'll get some information in this book that you'll be hard-pressed to find in any other places. The most obvious example of this is the extensive coverage given to the Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI). O'Reilly's Active Directory book should be made mandatory reading for anyone before deploying Windows 2000 and Active Directory. Put this one on your short list of "Must Reads" for W2K.
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Summary: Mandatory reading for W2K administrators!
Review: Long before the official announcement of Windows 2000 I put on top of my shopping list a 'wish' for a book with extensive coverage of Active Directory that is suitable for intermedidate and experienced network administrator. My second wish on the list was the book that would cover ADSI scripting with windows scripting host. After some research on the web I picked up this book from O'Reilly expecting to be good (as usually the books from this publisher are) . I was wrong, this book is not only good but truly excellent guide to Active Directory and ADSI scripting. Do I need to say that both my wishes come true with this single book!? Technical books like this one are rare, not only that author is an experienced user of technology that he is writing about he also knows how to explain complex topics (and AD is complex, believe me :-) with well-written style and illustrate the subject with relevant real-world examples. You'll not find 'sweet talk' and confusing examples in this book! I know that this book will be on my bookshelf for years to come.
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Summary: Only for those with strong network backgrounds
Review: Technical books that are written in an understandable fashion for the non-technical or even moderately technical person are very difficult to find. In my opinion, this book unfortunately fits the common mold of hard-to-understand books. The author falls into the same trap most technical authors do. Here is the trap: The author apparently understands the topic very well. Because the topic is so complex, the author organizes it into smaller pieces. So far, so good. The first problem occurs when the author's explanation employs technical terms unfamiliar to the reader. Another problem occurs when the author uses familiar words that may have more than one meaning. Now the reader must wonder, "But how is that information useful to my running of this software?" Or worse yet, "What the heck does that mean?!" I've only read the first nine pages of this book and I find myself reluctant to continue. There is already so much that is meaningless and I don't expect the structure of the book to change. Let me provide you with some examples. The book starts in chapter one with a section titled, Major Features. This looks promising. The beginning of the first paragraph reads like this: "New Domain model Domains in Windows were flat structures limited to about 40,000 objects, and this had some unfortunate consequences. For one thing the assigning of privileges tended to be an all-or-nothing matter at the domain level; there was no delegation or inheritance within the domain." Let's consider that much. I'm familiar with what a domain is, so the title, "New Domain Model" has some meaning to me. But it really doesn't say much. For a person who doesn't know what a domain is, this book is already puzzling. So if you don't know what a domain is, this book is not for you. Next let's consider the phrase, "flat structures." Since I know what an indexed or hierarchical structure is, this has some meaning to me, but it doesn't convey any practical information. In fact, now I must tuck this information away in my short-term memory in the hopes that the author will contribute some information later that gives this some significance. Now we see " limited to about 40,000 objects, and this had some unfortunate consequences." You better know what an object is and at least have a suspicion why having 'only' 40,000 is a problem. In fact there may not be any "unfortunate consequences" if you work for a small company with a small or even moderately sized network. It would be more useful for the reader if the author explained first, in plain English what problem Microsoft was trying to solve. Then the 40,000-object limitation and the Active Directory solution may have some meaning. Now let's look at the next sentence: "For one thing the assigning of privileges tended to be an all-or-nothing matter at the domain level; there was no delegation or inheritance within the domain". Does this have meaning for you? Do you understand what problem resides in this description? I don't. And I know the meaning of every word in this sentence. If you don't understand what the author is saying there, then this book is likely not for you. In the very next section, entitled How Objects are Stored in Active Directory, the author explains the hierarchical structure of the active directory in an abstract fashion. I didn't understand its value. I read this paragraphs to two Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers (MCSE's) in my company and neither of them understood why it was important or useful. Putting this at the end of the book MAY make sense. Putting it on page 5 serves no valuable purpose. Here is the paragraph without further comment: "When you create objects in Active Directory, you create them in a hierarchical structure you have control over. The structure is made up of two types of objects: containers and non-containers, or leaves. A series of containers branch downward from a root container, just as the roots do. Each container may contain noncontainers or further containers. A noncontainer, however, may not contain any other objects." In my opinion you would need a fairly strong technical background in networking before you might find this book useful. It's my belief that technical authors could greatly expand their potential readership if they followed a few simple guidelines when writing about software: 1. In plain English (or as plain as possible), state the problem that the software feature is addressing. 2. In plain English (or as plain as possible), explain what approach the software feature will take to solve the problem 3. If applicable, explain the procedure for the user to follow to implement the software feature. 4. Introduce a technical term only after the term has been explained in plain English 5.Once the reader understands the meaning of the technical terms, THEN explain the relationship that the new technical terms have to each other. Many writers tend to write starting at step 5 - from their own knowledge base. Instead they should be writing from step 1 - from the reader's perspective.
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Summary: Based on Beta 3 ?
Review: this book gives good detail on Active Directory which is a large and potentially confusing subject matter. However, I found it really annoying that the book seemed to be based on Beta 3 - every 10 pages or so there are sentances like "in the final release" , "Microsoft may change this feature in the final release". This is especially important for Windows 2000 as there were some key changes in the Release Candidates I bought my copy a good few months after 2000 was released - If a book is based on a beta version of a product it should say so in fairly large letters on the cover.
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Summary: Well worth your money and time.
Review: This book is an excellent resource on Active Directory. The clear explanation of Data Replication is worth the price alone. Also, the information provided seems to sync up well with the W2k Server Resource Kit - a claim other W2k books I have purchased cannot make.
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