Customer Reviews

Windows 2000 Active Directory Design and Deployment

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a terrible book.

The first 92 pages discusses nothing related to the topic, only marketing hype and "ROI" of going to AD. This is supposed to be a design and implementation book not a book on "selling" AD to management, or justifying the decision to yourself.

The author contradicts himself continuously. The author's "notes" that litter the book are a distraction and only cause confusion.

If you know nothing but Microsoft and are used to their publications you may like this.

This book is a joke for those who have used directories for years, NDS, LDAP, X.500.

Maybe if you live in an "Only Microsoft World" then this book may be of some use.

I purchased this book based on the other reviews and was very disappointed. Read the sample pages, they represent the very best the book has to offer.

I found "Mission-Critical Active Directory. . ." from Digital Press, to be far superior. Much easier to read. From the first pages you get real information, not hype. The author understands that there is more to the world of directories than Microsoft. The integration examples do not end with "If you really want this to work, you will need to move to the equivelent Microsoft product."

Read the sample pages!

The title says it all for this book. This is the best book that I have read on the subject of Windows 2000 Active Directory Design and Deployment. So many other books read like Microsoft white papers and nothing more. This one includes a lot of real world advice and examples for designing and implementing Active Directory. In addition it does one thing that other technical books don't generally do... it offers a business reasons in addition to the technical reasons why you would want to implement Active Directory in a particular way. In a world where technical people generally do not understand what a business is trying to accomplish and business people don't understand what the technical people are doing or can do, this is a refreshing breath of fresh air.
The subject is covered thoroughly and the advice is solid and based on real world experiences. No stone is left unturned in providing a concise and detailed path for analyzing the system, looking at business needs and problems, networking traffic issues and every tip and pitfall that you might encounter. An excellent reference book to solve problems as well as a fine cookbook that walks you through the design and deployment process one step at a time.

This book is written very well. It is from a business perspective in the beginning and essential for any project leader or executive contemplating the daunting task of migration to Windows 2000. Gary has linked almost every concept to on-line helps and sample spreadsheets to assist in the planning and successful completion of your migration. As a technician, this book is valuable as a planning resource and more especially as a peek into the mind of business planners. We all know our networks need to be migrated. With the tools in this book, you will be armed with the resources to procure funding for such a migration. I'll be putting this resource to good use on my very next project.

After reviewing many of the titles available for deploying Windows 2000/Active Directory, this book was the first I had come across that did not just regurgitate MSKB Article information or MS Whitepapers. It was well written and had answers to many of the questions you would have when planning a deployment. Along with MS's "Notes from the Field" book, it's one I go to time and again for information.

I first picked up this book because it offered some of the only real information in print on using GPOs effectively. But, the more I dig into the information provided the more I appreciate the treasure trove this book is. The coverage of site design issues is the best I have encountered, and the author's willingness to recognize the limitations of the vendor's early recommendations is very much welcome. This book is well worth your time.

I'm in the process of doing an AD design for our company, and have found the business perspective in this book to be great. There's always tech books on something like AD, but putting it to the business folks in a way that they understand is a real challenge. This book has helped me tremendously.

If you are responsible for client/server systems, like it or not, you'll have to deal with Active Directory sooner or later. This is an excellent reference book. You'll be able to plan your implementation and avoid some common pitfalls. The material is concise and easy to read, the structure flows well and the overall format makes it valuable as both cover-to-cover reading and a reference. It's suicide to throw Win 2k and A.D. into a heterogeneous computing environment without proper planning. This book is a single source that will help insure a smooth transition.

Great job!!!

I went down to the bookstore and looked at all the Active Directory and Windows 2000 books. Most of them seem to be sold by weight, with great big type and hundreds of not very useful screen shots. This one isn't like that... it is a real book, with good coverage, interesting and fresh things to say, and good pointers to other information. There should be more computer books like this.

This book seems like it would be a great practical Active Directory design resource. While it does have some nuggets of useful information, they are obscured by the book's negative aspects.

The illustrations are poorly designed and confusing. Many of them have mistakes. The author repeats himself and makes so many references to other sources of information (Microsoft white papers, the book's website, other books) that it distracts from the information presented. The chapters end with cheezy summaries that belong in a high school textbook. His writing style makes it difficult to understand the topics and the poorly presented "real world" examples don't add much to the explanation of the material.

I wouldn't recommend buying it.

I met Gary Olsen at Techmentor this year and I attended his Active Directory Sessions and learn a lot from his knowledge of AD. This book re-enforces more my knowledge of Active Directory Design in any environments. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in designing and deploying AD in any environment. Keep this book handy when you are planning any migration to AD.