Description:
The biggest challenge and opportunity for IS departments approaching Windows 2000 is probably Active Directory (AD), which can reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and simplify administration. For any IS professional or administrator, Windows 2000 Active Directory Survival Guide provides both a high-level introduction and a hands-on guide to transitioning to Windows 2000 successfully. The standout feature here is a thorough discussion of the right way to model organizations using Windows 2000 Active Directory (AD) in terms of domains, trees, forests, and organization units (OUs). More than ever, a proper model of your organization's structure is critical for efficient, maintainable network infrastructure with Windows 2000.This book shows clearly what works and what doesn't. The author also provides the details of underlying standards, like DNS, Dynamic DNS, LDAP, and NDS and their relation to Active Directory. Each chapter includes a "Best Practices" section with many useful tips on planning and implementing your organization's Windows 2000 network and server infrastructure. After the planning stages, the book turns to hands-on examples of upgrading and administering Windows 2000, with plenty of screenshots of the actual tools like the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and Active Directory wizards. Notable material here discusses how to upgrade from Windows NT successfully (and how to let NT 4.0 coexist with Windows 2000 for those who require this option). Besides all the basics, the author shows how to take advantage of group policies and delegation, which can significantly lower costs by standardizing the corporate desktop and spreading administrative responsibilities across the enterprise. In all, with its inside-and-out tour of the Active Directory and solid guide to the nuts and bolts of common administrative tasks, Windows 2000 Active Directory Survival Guide is an excellent resource. --Richard Dragan Topics covered: Active Directory (AD) overview and architecture, LDAP, NDS, X.500 standards, domains and domain controllers, DNS architecture, host names and name resolution, Dynamic DNS, trust relationships, namespaces, organization units (OUs), trees, forests, global catalog servers, replication, security and ACLs, Windows 2000 security, organization models, naming strategies, replication, Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and snap-ins, group policy, ADSI, and upgrading to Windows 2000.
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