Understanding Active Directory Services (IT Professional)

Rating:
Summary: Not enough substance
Review: I am finishing this book as I write this review, with only one more chapter left to read. My hope was that I could actually install Active Directory on Win 2000 Advanced Server RC2, and intelligently configure a Windows 2000 LAN. This book did NOT help me to realize this goal. Perhaps my expectations were out of line. If you are looking for hands-on examples and practical advice, as well as a conceptual framework for AD, you will NOT find that information here. You will find high-level discussions of many complex technologies, but no real detail on any of them. The conceptual information is barely acceptable, but may satisfy non-technical practitioners. Another reviewer commented on tiresome and redundant repetition of AD concepts, and I did find this to be the case. O'Reilly has an Active Directory title slated for release in January that looks much more promising, assum

Rating:
Summary: A Good Introduction to the Win2K Directory Initative
Review: Like all of the Strategic Technologies series titles, Understanding Active Directory Services is a good introduction to a complex topic. Daniel Blum does a good job of taking the reader through the Directory services space and explains Microsoft's implementation strategy. It is a good primer for IT decision-makers and MIS managers in the enterprise. While it is not a step-by-step reference for implementing Active Directory, it does give a methodology and best practices explanation to help organize and prepare for such a massive undertaking.

Rating:
Summary: Good for security and replication info, but VERY redundant
Review: To it's credit, this book was helpful to internalize the replication and security principles of AD. And understandably, some people would rather sit down with a book than read online documentation. But like 80% of the books out there, I've read most of Microsoft's white papers on the subject, and unfortunately, I didn't gain much more from this book. While it has many helpful facts, those facts are readily accessible from AD docs. The other problem I have is the fact that certain facts are repeated six, seven, even eight times. The first seven chapters could have been pared down to two. Granted, I'm sure it was a push to get the book done as quickly as possible to keep the info current, but I'm going searching for a better work.