ADSI ASP Programmer's Reference (Paperback)

~ Steven Hahn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though it may not sound exciting at first glance, the Microsoft Active Directory Service Interface (ADSI) can let programmers automate the administration of remote resources such as users, files, and printers across the entire corporate intranet. Steven Hahn's ADSI ASP Programmer's Reference provides a short, handy guide to getting started with this very important enterprise technology.

Early sections introduce ADSI, which allows programmers access to a variety of directory services, including Windows NT 4/5 (Windows NT 5 is now known as Windows 2000), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), Netware 3.x/4.x, and Domain Naming System (DNS). (In theory, with a single Windows NT box and IIS, an organization could administer resources remotely on any of these diverse platforms.) Early sample programs look at getting to domain information. Then it's on to querying users, changing passwords, and then managing groups and security. In one sample, the author provides a Web-based, remote user manager to demonstrate the use of the ADSI User object (which gives access to no less than 47 different user properties). Though all samples use VBScript and Active Server Pages (ASPs) for Web-based administration, ADSI objects will also work with C++ and Java.

Later sections look at the remote administration of services and files and provide background material on the LDAP, which is the foundation of ADSI (and the Active Directory in Windows NT 5). Several concise appendices on ADSI objects and error codes round out this efficiently presented guide, which is sure to be valuable to any Windows system programmer considering Web-based administration. --Richard Dragan

Product Description

All distributed applications need to know where resources are to be able to use them. Active Directory is the mechanism for tracking resources (components, applications, users etc.) wherever they are on distributed networks. This is a book for experienced systems developers and programmers who would like to use HTTP (the protocol of the Internet) to deliver sophisticated system level solutions using light-weight client browsers. Described in the book are applications, with code samples, that use Active Directory to manage users and user-groups, system services, file services, and the print queue. Although Active Directory can be used to access and manage different systems (NT 4.0, NT 5.0 (beta), NDS, LDAP Compliant, etc.) all of the code in this book will be using the NT 4.0 Server as a target system

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Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons; 1st edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 186100169X
• ISBN-13: 978-1861001696
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,010,770 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ttired of the tools MS provide for manageing NT server?, August 13, 1999

By A Customer

then get this book! to quote the cover of the book: if your a system admin and have a basic knowlege of web pages , this book is for you" There was no problem with blured images with my copy, maybe then had a bad first run...

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Out of date - but a good secondary tool, February 2, 2001

By	Jase T. Wolfe - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was written when Windows 2000 was still in beta, and is specifically geared towards ADSI 2.0 - not ADSI 2.5, which is what is out and in use today. Given that, this book makes reference to, and shows examples for many commands no longer supported by Microsoft and no longer in use on Windows 2000 (as well as never having been utilized in NT4). The book is a little light, being only about 300 pages, and could use more example code, and fewer background / history lessons. Unlike typical reference books, this book is presented in much more of a mini guide-to-lots-of-stuff, with the true reference-style documentation being primarily in the appendix.

Although I have used this book as a learning tool, it remains a secondary book to me, and I can see it sitting on the shelf neglected as there are better true reference books out there.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction to ADSI programming for NT Admins, February 25, 1999

By A Customer

I was under the mistaken impression that ADSI requires Active Directory Service to run. It doesn't. This book will show you how to do network, IIS, and LDAP admin tasks using the ADSI objects. It is a great, easy to follow introduction to ADSI programming.

Don't let the ASP part throw you off. He uses ASP/VBScript for the sample code, but you can modify the code to work under anything that will instantiate COM components.

One warning: Readers who are not familiar with some form of VB programming should get one of the other WROX books first because this is *not* a tutorial on how to write scripts.