Windows 2000 Active Directory

The most important change in Windows 2000 is the inclusion of Active Directory, a fully qualified directory service. It's so important that if you're a systems administrator, you're likely to find coming to grips with Active Directory to be one of your biggest headaches. But it doesn't have to be that way, thanks to Windows 2000 Active Directory. Written by a participant in the Windows 2000 Rapid Deployment Program, Windows 2000 Active Directory delivers the practical, hands-on information you need to manage your site. Instead of filling pages with a screen-by-screen description of the graphical user interface, it focuses on the tasks you need to perform to manage your organization's directory effectively. The heavy emphasis on scripting with the ADSI will help you automate tasks to achieve greater reliability and save time. Windows 2000 Active Directory is divided into three sections: The Basics, which provides an overview of the Active Directory technology and a detailed introduction to AD features. Design, which describes mapping your organization's typology into the Active Directory schema; specific topics include the AD namespace and DNS, AD objects such as sites and domains, replication, group policies, and migration issues. Scripting, which covers the powerful capabilities of the Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI), including ADSI's use with ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), Active Server Pages (ASP), and Visual Basic (VB). Windows 2000 Active Directory is a practical guide to the new technology for the overworked system or network administrator. Whether you're working regularly in the Windows 2000 environment or just evaluating Windows 2000 in order to understand the design issues involved, this book builds the solid foundation you need to understand Active Directory and use it effectively.

Table of Contents:
Preface I. The Basics 1. A Brief Introduction Major Features How Objects Are Stored in Active Directory Uniquely Identifying Objects Summary 2. Active Directory Overview A Simple View of How It All Works A More Detailed View of How It All Works Windows NT Versus Windows 2000 Summary 3. Active Directory Schema The Structure of the Schema Attribute Classes (Attribute-Schema Objects) The Syntax of Attributes Object Classes (Class-Schema Objects) Summary 4. Active Directory Replication Sites Data Replication Summary 5. TCP/IP and DDNS How TCP/IP and DDNS Are Used How You Already Use TCP/IP and DNS Integrated DNS How DNS Affects Design Summary II. Designing the Directory Hierarchy 6. Designing the Namespace he Complexities of a Design Where to Start Overview of the Design Process Domain Namespace Design Design of the Internal Domain Structure Other Design Considerations Design Examples Designing for the Real World Summary 7. Sites and Replication Topologies Intrasite and Intersite Topologies Designing Sites and Links for Replication Examples Summary 8. Profiles and Group Policy Primer A Profile Primer Capabilities of GPOs Summary 9. Designing Organization-Wide Policies How Windows 2000 GPOs Work Using the Group Policy Editor Tool Using GPOs to Help Design the Organizational Unit Structure Debugging Group Policies Summary 10. Active Directory Security: Permissions and Auditing Using Windows 2000's GUI to Examine Permissions Using Windows 2000's GUI to Examine Auditing Designing Permission Schemes Designing Auditing Schemes Real-World Examples Summary 11. Designing Schema Changes Nominating Responsible People in Your Organization Thinking of Changing the Schema Managing and Modifying the Schema Wreaking Havoc with Your Schema Summary 12. Windows NT 4.0 Migration Consolidating, Migrating, and Upgrading from NT The Principles of Upgrading Windows NT Domains Summary 13. Directory Interoperability Background to Interoperability with Other Directory Services Solutions for Interoperability with Other Directory Services Exchange and the Active Directory Connector A Word About Windows 2000 and Unix Summary III. Scripting the Active Directory with ADSI 14. Scripting with ADSI What Are All These Buzzwords? Writing and Running ADSI Scripts Under Windows 2000 ADSI Simple Manipulation of ADSI Objects Summary 15. IADs and the Property Cache The IADs Properties Manipulating the Property Cache Checking For Errors in VBScript Summary 16. Users Creating a Standard User Account Creating a Fully Featured User Account Creating Many User Accounts Creating an Account Unlocker Utility Automatically Creating Exchange Mailboxes for Users Summary 17. Manipulating Persistent and Dynamic Objects The Interface Methods and Properties Manipulating Services with ADSI Creating and Manipulating Shares with ADSI Enumerating Sessions and Resources Manipulating Print Queues and Print Jobs Summary 18. Permissions and Auditing How to Create an ACE Using ADSI A Simple ADSI Example A Complex ACE Example Creating Security Descriptors Listing ACEs to a File for All Objects in an OU and Below Adding Many USER Groups to DRUP Groups Summary 19. Extending the Schema and the GUI Modifying the Schema with ADSI Extending Active Directory GUI to Meet Business and Organizational Needs Summary 20. Enhancing ADSI via an ASP or VB Interface VBScript Limitations and Solutions How to Avoid Problems When Using ADSI and ASP Combining VBScript and HTML Binding to Objects via Authentication Migrating Your ADSI Scripts from VBScript to VB Summary 21. Scripting Fast Searches Using ADO The First Search Other Ways of Connecting and Retrieving Results Understanding Search Filters Incorporating Searches into Active Server Pages A Significant Problem A More Advanced Search Function-SearchAD Summary Index

About the Author :
Alistair G. Lowe-Norris is currently an enterprise program manager for Microsoft U.K., although during the writing of this book he worked for Leicester University as the project manager and technical lead of the Rapid Deployment Program for Windows 2000. During his time there, Leicester was part of both MicrosoftUs U.K. and U.S. Rapid Deployment Programs for Windows 2000, and he was responsible for rolling out what turned out to be one of the worldUs largest deployments of Windows 2000 prior to release of the final product. He is the technical editor of the Win32 Scripting Journal, for which he writes a monthly article, as well as the technical consultant for the U.K.-based Windows NT Explorer magazine. He has contributed articles for Windows 2000 Magazine (formerly Windows NT Magazine). He also writes for the Motley Fool U.K. investment site (http://www.fool.co.uk) as TMFAlistair, helping to lay bare the complexities of investing in simple terms. He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and has been using Windows 2000 daily since October 1997.