Mission-Critical Active Directory™

Learn techniques and best practices for creating a scalable network foundation for Windows 2000 and Exchange 2000 from Compaq's own Active Directory experts.

Mission-Critical Active Directory gives system designers and administrators within growing and large organizations the techniques and insights into Active Directory that they'll need to build a large, enterprise-wide Windows 2000 network. Micky Balladelli and Jan de Clerq, Compaq's own resident authorities, share their knowledge of Active Directory design, operation, and security to enable you to build a truly secure, stable, and scalable Windows 2000 system,

• Unique treatment of Active Directory as a true enterprise networking foundation
• Special focus on Active Directory security and scalability
• A technically sophisticated, intermediate book — does for Active Directory what Tony Redmond does for Exchange Server

1. Introduction to Active Directory
1. Introduction
2. Directory Services
3. What is the Active Directory?
4. Active Directory namespaces
5. Domains
6. Organizational units and objects
7. Active Directory schema
8. Linking domains to form trees and forests
9. Trust relationships
10. Naming contexts
11. Global Catalog
12. Groups
13. Domain modes
14. Sites
15. Protocols and APIs
16. Naming conventions
17. Administration tools
18. Summary
2. Understanding and Designing the Windows 2000 Domain Name System
1. An introduction to the domain name system
2. The power of Windows 2000 DNS
3. Planning and designing Windows 2000 DNS
4. Administering and troubleshooting Windows 2000 DNS
5. Summary
3. Site Topology Design
1. Introduction
2. Replication basics
3. Understanding propagation dampening
4. Replication topologies
5. Network topologies and the site design
6. Replication challenges
7. SMTP replication process
8. File Replication Services
9. Replication registry settings
10. Replication tools
11. Summary
4. Database Sizing and Design
1. Introduction
2. Active Directory storage architecture
3. I/O fundamentals
4. Building a very large Active Directory
5. Searching the Active Directory database
6. Summary of test data
5. Fundamentals of Windows 2000 Security
1. Introduction to Windows 2000 security headlines
2. Security basics
3. Windows 2000 communications security
4. Windows 2000 operating system security
5. Summary
6. Windows 2000 Authentication
1. Introduction
2. Windows 2000 Authetication Architecture
3. Introducing Kerberos
4. Kerberos: the basic protocol
5. Logging on to Windows 2000 using Kerberos
6. Advanced Kerberos topics
7. Kerberos configuration
8. Kerberos and authentication troubleshooting
9. Kerberos interoperability
10. Summary
7. Group Policy and OU Design
1. Group policy
2. Organizational unit design
3. Summary
8. Windows 2000 Public Key Infrastructure
1. An introduction to public key infrastructure
2. Windows 2000 PKI basics
3. Summary
9. Building a Windows 2000 PKI
1. Introduction to running a Windows 2000 PKI project
2. Building and using applications on top of Windows 2000 PKI
3. PKI case study
4. Summary
10. Migrating to Windows 2000
1. Introduction
2. Windows NT 4.0 access validation
3. Preparing for a migration
4. Migration strategies
5. Migration tools
6. Summary

I am ashamed of owning this book, but what the hell…

It is a good introduction to AD, but they blatantly lie and pretend that interoperability with a standard LDAP directory is possible (anyone that knows LDAPv3 knows that this is not the case, due to MS redefinitions) and that interoperability between Windows 2000 Kerberos and "standard" Kerberos is ensured (which is pure bullshitting, as MS extended the Kerberos protocol, which makes it impossible to interoperate in both directions).

After reading it, I must question if these morons have really worked with AD in a non-MS homogenous environment?

Why must MS litterature be so bloody false? This could be a good book, but the mis-statements and falsehoods makes it wastebasket material.