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Published:
August 11, 2008

Active Directory For Dummies

Overview

Your guide to learning Active Directory the quick and easy way

Whether you're new to Active Directory (AD) or a savvy system administrator looking to brush up on your skills, Active Directory for Dummies will steer you in the right direction. Since its original release, Microsoft's implementation of the lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP) for the Windows Server line of networking software has become one of the most popular directory service products in the world. If you're involved with the design and support of Microsoft directory services and/or solutions, you're in the right place.

This comprehensive guide starts by showing you the basics of AD, so you can utilize its structures to simplify your life and secure your digital environment. From there, you'll discover how to exert fine-grained control over groups, assets, security, permissions, and policies on a Windows network and efficiently configure, manage, and update the network. With coverage

of security improvements, significant user interface changes, and updates to the AD scripting engine, password policies, accidental object deletion protection, and more, this plain-English book has everything you need to know. You'll learn how to:

  • Navigate the functions and structures of AD
  • Understand business and technical requirements to determine goals
  • Become familiar with physical components like site links, network services, and site topology
  • Manage and monitor new features, AD replication, and schema management
  • Maintain AD databases
  • Avoid common AD mistakes that can undermine network security

With chapters on the ten most important points about AD design, ten online resources, and ten troubleshooting tips, this user-friendly book really is your one-stop guide to setting up, working with, and making the most of Active Directory. Get your copy of Active Directory For Dummies and get to work.

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About The Author

Steve Clines, MCSE, MCT, has worked as an IT architect and engineer at EDS for over 18 years. He has worked on deployments of more than 100,000 seats for both Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange Server. Steve is the author of MCSE Designing a Windows 2000 Directory Services Infrastructure For Dummies, which is a study guide for the 70-219 MCP exam. He also maintains the Confessions of an IT Geek blog at http://itgeek.steveco.net.

Marcia Loughry, MCSE and MCP+I, is a Senior Infrastructure Specialist with a large IT firm in Dallas, Texas. She is president of the Plano, Texas BackOffice User Group (PBUG) and a member of Women in Technology International. Marcia received her MCSE in NT 3.51 in 1997 and completed requirements for the NT 4.0 track in 1998.
Marcia has extensive experience working with Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0 in enterprises of all sizes. She is assigned to some of her firm’s largest customers in designing NT solutions and integrating UNIX and NetWare environments with NT.

Sample Chapters

active directory for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Whether you're new to Active Directory (AD) or just need a refresher, it'll help you enhance your information technology (IT) environment if you understand how Active Directory has expanded in the Windows 2008 Server, the tasks of the domain controllers, necessary steps to design the logical side of Active Directory, the standard resource records used in the Domain Name Service (DNS), and the hardware required to run the Windows 2008 Server.

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Articles from
the book

The range of Active Directory (AD) has expanded in Windows Server 2008 and has become an essential part of many information technology (IT) environments. Active Directory has become an umbrella for a multitude of technologies surpassing what AD was in Windows Server 2000 and 2003. Check out the new uses for Active Directory: Active Directory Domain Services: An X.
Whether you're new to Active Directory (AD) or just need a refresher, it'll help you enhance your information technology (IT) environment if you understand how Active Directory has expanded in the Windows 2008 Server, the tasks of the domain controllers, necessary steps to design the logical side of Active Directory, the standard resource records used in the Domain Name Service (DNS), and the hardware required to run the Windows 2008 Server.
Active Directory is part of a storage structure you design that provides organization of objects — like users, computers, groups, and an assortment of other objects — in your IT environment. Before you can implement Active Directory, you have to do some planning. Be sure to complete the following steps before creating domains and organizational units (OUs): Using the DNS namespace, identify and name the root domain.
A resource record is the basic data component in the Domain Name Service (DNS). DNS resource records define not only names and IP addresses but domains, servers, zone, and services as well. This list shows you the most common types of resource records: Type Purpose A Address resource records match an IP address to a host name.
Before you arrange and use Active Directory, you need to install the operating system Windows Server 2008. Start by making certain the hardware you plan to use as domain controllers is able to run the operating system. This list shows you the minimum and recommended hardware levels for Windows Server 2008: Component Requirement Processor 1 GHz (x86 CPU) or 1.
Active Directory uses a multiple-master model, and usually, domain controllers (DCs) are equal with each other in reading and writing directory information. However, certain roles cannot be distributed across all the DCs, meaning that changes can't take place on more than one domain controller at a time. Some domain controllers, therefore, do assume a single-master operations role — known as operations masters in Active Directory.
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Frequently Asked Questions

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