Customer Reviews

Mastering Active Directory for Windows Server 2003

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Mastering Active Directory provides the framework to understand and set up the Active Directory system. However, it covers Active Directory in more general theoretical terms and does not do a thorough job of detailing how to plan and implement the system. If you are unfamiliar with NDS or other Directory Services, the LDAP protocols and similar then this book is a good place to start. If you are already familiar with such things then you will find this book to be lacking in useful information. My recommendation would be to purchase the book if you are new to the whole Directory concept and read it as a foundational text and then graduate to a more detailed text, such as Windows Active Directory Design and Deployment, before actually implementing Active Directory or attempting to resolve problems with it. For someone who already understands the concepts they should just go ahead and move to the above mentioned book and skip this one.

I'm in the process of taking Microsoft's MOC classes for MCSE, including 2154 & 1561, the two classes on Active Directory. They aren't bad, but they totally ignore the simple fact that AD is a database!

This book was great! DHCP, DNS, and AD itself are all explained in view of their being databases. I'm a laid-off Access trainer, and this was JUST what I needed! BTW, it also included the best intro to LDAP I've come across (I'd already seen it in the courses, but it "clicked" for me with King's explanation). This book isn't specifically for the MCP courses, but it sure gave me a great foundation for those classes. I recommended it to the other students in my classes, and I unreservedly recommend it to you!

My only substantive criticism of this book is its reluctance to define its audience, and correspondingly, using a title that misrepresents its content.

This is a book for a party that has former hands-on experience with a similar technology (e.g., X.500, NDS, LDAP) and needs to manage a Microsoft implementation. Or for a hands-on technician who is new to the technology in general.

The author is a former Novell employee and this is the third version of the book, so readers can expect some broad insights and no vendor bigotry. In many sections, one can tell that "Server 2003" was added to the text via "search and replace", but it matters little, and Server 2003 was directly addressed in areas where it matters (i.e., global catalog servers, etc.).

Architects and implementers should pass on this one, but managers and consultants should pick it up.

This is, with no doubt in my mind, the worst book on Active Directory I have seen. I can't believe Sybex decided to publish the second edition (let alone the first) with all errors and such superficial coverage of practically every Active Directory topic. I'm under impression that its author had no practical experience in dealing with any real Active Directory deployment. If you are serious about learning Active Directory from experts, check "Mission Critical Active Directory" by Jan De Clercq and Micky Balladelli (Digital Press) or "Windows 2000 Active Directory" by Alistair Lowe-Norris (O'Reilly).

While I'm pretty new to AD and have database backgrownd, I liked the book for two reasons: 1. AD explained in terms that are clear to me and 2. The author explains WHY's and provides background for features and behaviors

This book came in a set. Like most Sybex books this book is easy to read, however considering all of the possibilities available to the author of a Windows 2000 book, this one falls short its potential.

Significantly lacking in any real world advice though the general coverage of Active Directory is okay, the book doesn't provide nearly enough information about details. In addition, because the book is older it doesn't include a lot of information about enhancments and new utilities.

There's not enough meaty technical information here to make this a good exam study guide. On the other hand, it may be somewhat valuable to someone who is new to Active Directory and specfically to directory services in general.

I have had this book on my shelf for awhile. I wanted to make room so I gave it a read.

Overall, it's an ok book for a primer. I don't know if it's a good choice for the beginner. Especially, if the beginner does not like reading theory.

Normally techno theory does not bother me. But for some reason, the theory chapters bored me. I don't know why they just did.

Keeping in mind the primer vision; I think greater detail could have been given to DNS since it is usually the culprit behind many AD problems.

I liked that the author spent some time on sites and replication as I have seen this cause many problems for new administrators.

There is a section on design but it's pretty small and the chapters on installation and management are ok.

There was little mention of the support tools (dcdiag, netdiag, replmon,...) which I think could be gone over more as they are often overlooked.

The final sections deal with migration of NT and Novell. I haven't come across a Novel conversion but I have performed the NT migration. Overall, it's ok but I would suggest the downloadable cookbook from Microsoft when it comes time to migrate. That is if there are anymore conversions going on.

Again this is an ok book for the noob but an experienced person probably will not like it.

I am not keeping my copy.

Robert writes well and is very entertaining, but I'm here to learn AD for window server 2003, not AD for window 2000 server. I was patient because I thought he was laying the ground work for the practical details for AD window 2003 but not only was it not detailed, but it was about AD window 2000. UNBELIEVABLE!!!

The beginning of the ninth chapter is over 200 pages into the book and it begins like this. "Many people who read reference manuals such as this one often want to start "doing" right away, rather than read through the explanations until a complete understanding is in place before
taking any action." Anyone who reads through the first 8 chapters will have become more than just a little impatient at the repetitive and long winded theoretical concepts that could have been scaled down to 2 chapters. Building on a theoritcal foundation is essential. However, way too much time and energy is focused in this area IMO.

I bought the book because of the word "Mastering" in the title. The first five chapters are on X.500, NDS, and NT Domain background. A few hundred more pages guide you with pictures through simple configurations within the mmc. I was expecting more in the way of sysvol, registry, and AD integration into NT Server. I was also hoping for a more detailed guide to AD design and migration... which is probabaly what 98% of Active Directory book buyers want.

Next time I'll start with the Windows 2000 Resource Kit first. Most of the answers are there.

-=Chris