Creating Active Directory Infrastructures

This book is clearly written, well edited, and covers planning as well as installation (complete with numerous screen shots). It is written for network architects and administrators who are planning to do an actual Active Directory installation. The book becomes an installation tutorial after the first 100 pages. The author is an experienced writer and consultant and expert in the subject matter.I used this book together with "Configuring Windows 2000 Server" by the same author for planning and installing Windows 2000 and Active Directory for a small but sophisticated network that includes web servers and many remote users. (My network has one forest with three trees.)Active Directory Services (ADS) is the defining new feature in Windows 2000. It provides a coordinated database across the entire enterprise for all network objects including workstations, servers, printers, users, and security and configuration policies. ADS is closely integrated with DNS, and all users and applications resort to ADS for locating and accessing resources. Well planned, users will be able to unlock all permitted resources, located anywhere in the enterprise, with a single logon. Mastering it before attempting a full-scale installation is imperative since you may have to tear down and reinstall if you make major changes to your network topology.With that in mind, I gathered a library of six Active Directory books and read through most of each one before doing my first installation. At only 300 pages, this is not the most complete reference in my library, but I found it the most readable and nicely balanced between planning and installation.The companion volume on Windows 2000 Server, mentioned above, devotes half of its 448 pages to network issues including ADS and will be sufficient for those who want to be network administrators but not network architects.

I was fortunate to be able to participate with Curt in the role of Technical Editor for the book. You'll find Curt's information to be up-to-date and not crammed together in long chapters that will lull you to sleep. For those of you wanting to get a grip on this new animal (in the Windows world), grab the book and enjoy it. (I've also been technical editor for other books written by Curt and his writing style is great-- check out some of his other Windows 2000 subjects that will be coming out).