Active Directory Cookbook, 3rd Edition at Dominant Systems Book Store

When you need practical hands-on support for Active Directory, the updated edition of this extremely popular Cookbook provides quick solutions to more than 300 common (and uncommon) problems you might encounter when deploying, administering, and automating Microsoft's network directory service.

For the third edition, Active Directory expert Laura E. Hunter offers troubleshooting recipes based on valuable input from Windows administrators, in addition to her own experience. You'll find solutions for the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode), multi-master replication, Domain Name System (DNS), Group Policy, the Active Directory Schema, and many other features. The Active Directory Cookbook will help you:

Perform Active Directory tasks from the command line
Use scripting technologies to automate Active Directory tasks
Manage new Active Directory features, such as Read-Only Domain Controllers, fine-grained password policies, and more
Create domains and trusts
Locate users whose passwords are about to expire
Apply a security filter to group policy objects
Check for potential replication problems
Restrict hosts from performing LDAP queries
View DNS server performance statistics

Each recipe includes a discussion explaining how and why the solution works, so you can adapt the problem-solving techniques to similar situations. Active Directory Cookbook is ideal for any IT professional using Windows Server 2008, Exchange 2007, and Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007, including Active Directory administrators looking to automate task-based solutions.

"It is rare for me to visit a customer site and not see a copy of Active Directory Cookbook on a shelf somewhere, which is a testament to its usefulness. The Cookbook takes the pain out of everyday AD tasks by providing concise, clear and relevant recipes. The fact that the recipes are provided using different methods (graphical user interface, command line and scripting) means that the book is suitable for anyone working with AD on a day-to-day basis. The introduction of PowerShell examples in this latest edition will be of particular interest for those looking to transition from VBScript. Laura has also done a great job in extending the Cookbook in this edition to encompass the broad range of changes to AD in Windows Server 2008."

--Tony Murray, Founder of Activedir.org and Directory Services MVP

"If you already understand Active Directory fundamentals and are looking for a quick solution to common Active Directory related tasks, look no further, you have found the book that you need."

--joe Richards, Directory Services MVP

"The Active Directory Cookbook is the real deal a soup-to-nuts catalog of every administrative task an Active Directory administrator needs to perform. If you administer an Active Directory installation, this is the very first book you have to put on your shelf."

--Gil Kirkpatrick, Chief Architect, Active Directory and Identity Management, Quest Software and Directory Services MVP

Customer Reviews & Comments
This book is like cheating!! -- I know that is an odd way to start off a review but please let me explain. I had this new Active Directory Cookbook 3rd edition on my desk and a co-worker came and started looking through it. After about five minutes he says "man this book is like cheating". Of course what he meant is that there are so many great recipes here and the book shows you so many different ways to complete a bunch of tasks in relation to Active Directory that you feel like you have an edge on everyone else. Here is a perfect example: Recipe/Task 2.6 "Finding the Domains in a Forest". You may know one or two ways to do this but how about six different ways! They have examples using the GUI, ntdsutil, dsquery, adfind, VBScript, and PowerShell. Not only is it great for the task at hand but you also become very proficient with all those methods because each recipe has multiple ways to complete a task. In addition to showing you multiple ways to complete a task there is a discussion section associated with each task so that you understand the background of the task. Anyone can type commands but understanding the commands and learning active directory is another thing this book will do for you The last section of most recipes/tasks contains a "See Also" section which will point you to related recipes and Microsoft articles which are very helpful. Here is a quick overview of some of the chapters, they include * Forests/Domains and Trusts * Domain Controllers/Global Catalogs, FSMOs, * Searching and Manipulating Objects * Organizational Units * Users * Groups * Computer Objects * Group Policy * Schema * Site Topology * Replication * DNS and DHCP * Logging, Monitoring, and Quotas, * Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance * Application Partitions * ADAM/ADLDS * ADFS * ILM ...If you are wondering the book comes in at 1060 pages - that is a lot of great info. Laura Hunter is the author of this book and she is recognized as being one of the top Active Directory MVPs around. You may have seen her on TechNet Edge, heard her on RunAs radio, or seen her posts at Experts-Exchange and Activedir.org. She is accessible and always willing to help which is great. Joe Richards reviewed this book. Joe is another top Active Directory MVP. Joe runs the site joeware.net and that is where you will find his tools like adfind, admod, oldcmp, and many others. So when you learn how to use these tools you will know that the creator reviewed all the recipes/entries. Joe can also be found blogging and posting to the Activedir.org list and he is also someone who will help you offline if you have a question. I think it is clear that I've really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend that it be on the bookshelf of every person that works with Active Directory. That includes help desk techs, system admins, and engineers.

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