Inside Active Directory: A System Administrator's Guide - Softcover

Kouti, Sakari; Seitsonen, Mika

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201616211 ISBN 13: 9780201616217

Publisher: Addison-Wesley, 2001

Synopsis

This administrator's guide outlines strategies for managing Active Directory within Windows 2000 distributed networks. It covers design, architecture, topology, deployment, and management issues. And it provides instructions for administering the entire network operating environment. The book begins with an overview, covers core features, and then explains specialized skills. Diagrams, charts, and screen captures illustrate the text. Kouti and Seitsonen are trainers and consultants. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

About the Author

Sakari Kouti, M.S. (Tech), is a senior trainer and consultant for Sovelto, the leading training company in Finland. He started working with networks in 1986 and his articles have appeared in Windows NT Magazine (now Windows and .NET Magazine). Sakari was one of the first MCSEs in the world back in 1994.

Mika Seitsonen is a senior trainer at Sovelto. His network experience spans more than ten years, and he was one of the first MCSE: Security on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 certified persons in the world. Mika was awarded MVP—Directory Services in 2004 and holds an M.S. (Tech) from University of Nottingham (U.K.) and Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland).

From the Back Cover

Detailed and thorough, this administrator's guide provides practical strategies for managing Active Directory, the cornerstone technology within Windows 2000 distributed networks. This book covers design, architecture, topology, deployment, and management issues, and provides thorough instructions for efficiently administering the entire network operating environment.

Inside Active Directory: A System Administrator's Guide begins with an overview and covers Active Directory's core features before moving on to document more advanced, specialized skills. This book provides a solid understanding of Active Directory fundamentals, demonstrating how it is used to store and access data, and how it uses industry standards, such as LDAP and other directory protocols. Numerous diagrams and tables appear throughout the book to help readers better comprehend the sometimes-complex technologies involved in migrating to Windows 2000 from Windows NT or other platforms.

This practical guide documents Active Directory extensively, with detailed coverage of the following:

The big picture - background, building blocks, hierarchies, DNS integration, security, architecture, and other features.

How to efficiently install Active Directory, and how to automate and troubleshoot the process.

Planning and management of OUs, users, and groups.

Security features, including permission architecture and management, as well as permission usage scenarios.

Sites and replication - concepts, planning, management, topologies, processes, and diagnostics.

How to plan and manage domains and forests, and how to perform various LDAP searches.

Group Policy features, including architecture, planning, management, and diagnostics.

A detailed drill-down to the schema, and practical strategies and examples for extending it.

Administration scripts - from concepts and basic techniques to advanced script management of Active Directory, including more than fifty sample scripts.

Anyone working with Active Directory will find this book indispensable. Readers new to Windows network administration will gain a solid grasp of the fundamentals. Administrators experienced in NT, UNIX, Netware, and other systems will learn how to adapt their skills to Active Directory. Experienced Windows 2000 professionals will pick up advanced techniques, and developers will benefit from the architectural explanations.

Inside Active Directory is the most practical and comprehensive resource available for planning, implementing, and managing an Active Directory network.

0201616211B11272001

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

During the seven years that Windows NT was sold, before Windows 2000 shipped, administrators had no need to learn anything new, at least about the core operating system features. User and group management, domains and domain models, as well as resource management, were the same in all Windows NT versions.

With the introduction of Windows 2000 and Active Directory, all that has changed. There is a huge difference between managing Windows networks and working with the old NT administration model. Therefore, Active Directory will require quite a leap in the learning process of existing NT professionals. Despite some administrative wizards in the user interface and the new Microsoft Management Console (MMC) administration interface, implementing and administering Active Directory probably requires more learning, testing, piloting, and planning than Windows NT needed.

This book is an implementer's and administrator's guide to Active Directory. By reading it, you will discover the workings, architecture, administration, and planning of Active Directory. Your level of experience will dictate whether you read this book cover-to-cover, or select only the chapters and sections appropriate to your needs. The following list evaluates the appropriateness of the book for each target audience:

Current NT professionals
You are the foremost target audience for this book. You may not need the introductory notes that preface each chapter, but will use the majority of the content to make the leap from the Windows NT environment to Active Directory.

Current NetWare or UNIX professionals
Prior knowledge of Windows NT is not required to successfully learn from this book. Your existing networking skills will help you to pick up each topic quickly.

Novices in network operating systems
Since each chapter starts with the very basics, you should be able to use this book to effectively learn Active Directory. You will need to do a more thorough reading than an experienced IT professional, and you should also have a test PC, which you can use to try out the different things that the book describes.

Current Windows 2000 professionals
Even if you are already familiar with Active Directory, we trust that you will learn more than a few new things in this book.

Developer
This book is an administrator's guide, not a programmer's guide. However, there is an emphasis on architectural topics, which other administrator-oriented books lack. Therefore, this book may be valuable as a compliment to your programmer's guide.

We believe that this book has the following strengths: Thorough and accurate information Step-by-step directions for using Active Directory . Detailed diagrams Extensive reference tables

This book is divided into three parts:

Part 1
Background Skills (Chapters 1 & 2) gives a thorough overview of Active Directory to help you successfully plan and implement an Active Directory network. This part also discusses the installation of Windows 2000 and Active Directory.

Part 2
Core Skills (Chapters 3 - 7) describes the concepts, planning, and administration of both the physical and logical structure of Active Directory. The topics include user and group management, access control, and group policy. Related advanced topics are discussed at the end of each chapter.

Part 3
Advanced Skills (Chapters 8 - 11) looks at advanced techniques, including the schema, scripting, and Active Directory architecture.

--Sakari Kouti
Espoo, Finland

--Mika Seitsonen
Helsinki, Finland

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0201616211
• ISBN 13: 9780201616217
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 927