Win2K Design by the Book
The bottom line on Active Directory in fine detail.
Although its audience user level
states, “Intermediate to Advanced,” Windows
2000 Server Architecture and Planning points more towards
network administrators highly knowledgeable in the area
of directory services and protocol evolution. The author
attempts to explain the basics, but this won’t
be a good first stop for enterprise solution newcomers.
Chapter 1 gives a complete financial
look at why AD under Windows 2000 will be implemented
by mainstream companies. Off subject? Not when you begin
to understand what’s involved in setting up your
organization. The amount of time and money required
to establish AD will be tremendous.
Chapters 2 through 5 provide a brief
insight into Win2K features, then describe what a directory
service is all about. You’ll learn how AD uses
the X.500 standard by supporting LDAP (lightweight directory
access protocol) in a forest/tree structure and better
organizes your network by providing a global catalog
of network resources.
Chapter 6 reminds admins that they’ll
be leaving the comfort of a technical zone and entering
into the “hotspot of corporate politics” in
order to implement an organized and approved directory.
Chapter 7 discusses DNS and how Microsoft
has pulled away from the proprietary WINS while still
pushing beyond officially supported Internet protocols
by including DDNS (dynamic DNS), thus creating a proprietary
DNS server with Win2K. This chapter is a must-read for
any IT professional.
Chapters 8 through 12 take us into
the planning stages of the directory service, placement
of users and groups and a logical look into the physical
structure of our networks.
Nielsen keeps his focus away from
how-to information, though there’s some of that
in chapters 13 through 15, the AD sections. These chapters
explain how to implement an AD and what tools are available
in the Resource Kit to assist administrators. Chapter
16 completely breaks down the replication facets of
Win2K and is truly important in considering optimization
for your sites.
The final chapters, 17 through 19,
establish patterns for either upgrading your current
networks (whether Windows NT 4.0 or not) or establishing
a network with NT 4.0 with the thought that you’ll
upgrade in the future.
The appendix gives a recap of the
planning stages as a quick reference guide.
One complaint: The book lacked clear
diagrams and pictures. It had some, but not enough.
If you’re keenly interested
in the finest details and theory behind an AD, if you
need a reference of all materials surrounding this new
directory structure, or you need to strategically plan
out your network for time immemorial, then this book
is the place to start.
About the Author
J. Peter is a Microsoft MVP (Office Servers and Services) and has received this award for 7 consecutive years. He's an internationally published author and technical speaker. J. Peter is a technical journalist for InfoWorld and has cared for the Enterprise Windows column for nearly a decade. He's the co-founder of both ClipTraining and Conversational Geek and a strategic technical consultant for Mimecast. Follow him on Twitter @JPBruzzese