Active Directory: Designing, Deploying, and Running Active Directory, Fourth Edition

To help you take full advantage of Active Directory, this fourth edition of this bestselling book gives you a thorough grounding in Microsoft's network directory service. With Active Directory, you'll learn how to design, manage, and maintain an AD infrastructure, whether it's for a small business network or a multinational enterprise with thousands of resources, services, and users.

This detailed and highly accurate volume covers Active Directory from its origins in Windows 2000 through Windows Server 2008. But unlike typical dry references, Active Directory presents concepts in an easy-to-understand, narrative style. With this book, you will:

• Get a complete review of all the new Windows 2008 features
• Learn how Active Directory works with Exchange and PowerShell
• Take advantage of the updated scripting and programming chapters to automate AD tasks
• Learn how to be more efficient with command-line tools
• Grasp concepts easily with the help of numerous screenshots and diagrams

Ideal for administrators, IT professionals, project managers, and programmers alike, Active Directory is not only for people getting started with AD, it's also for experienced users who need to stay up-to-date with the latest AD features in Windows Server 2008. It is no wonder this guide is the bestselling AD resource available.

Brian Desmond spends his days focused on Active Directory for some of the world's largest companies. A Microsoft MVP since 2004, Brian brings extensive knowledge of how Active Directory works and how to successfully run Active Directory deployments large and small.

Joe Richards is a consultant/admin/tool writer and Microsoft MVP for Windows Server Directory Services. Joe updated the second edition of Active Directory Cookbook for O'Reilly.

Robbie Allen is an author, entrepreneur, web industry veteran, and new father. His day job has been in IT for the last 12 years. He is the coauthor of Active Directory, 2nd Edition and the author of the Active Directory Cookbook.

Alistair G. Lowe-Norris is an Architectural Enterprise Strategy Consultant for Microsoft UK. During the writing of the first version of this book he worked for Leicester University as the project manager and technical lead of the Rapid Deployment Program for Windows 2000. During his time there, Leicester was part of Microsoft's U.K. and U.S. Rapid Deployment Programs for Windows 2000, and was responsible for rolling out what turned out to be one of the world's largest deployments of Windows 2000 preceding release of the final product. Since 1998 he has been the technical editor and a monthly columnist for the Windows Scripting Solutions magazine and a technical editor and author for Windows & .Net Magazine (previously Windows NT Magazine and Windows 2000 Magazine). In addition he is an author and editor for various other publications and online sites worldwide. He holds various Microsoft and other accreditations and has been using Windows 2000 and its descendents daily since October 1997. He lives in Leicester, UK.