Active Directory, 3rd Edition

Contents of the Book

This book is split into three parts.

Part I, Active Directory Basics

Chapter 1, A Brief Introduction

Reviews the evolution of the Microsoft NOS and some of the major features and benefits of Active Directory.

Chapter 2, Active Directory Fundamentals

Provides a high-level look at how objects are stored in Active Directory and explains some of the internal structures and concepts that it relies on.

Chapter 3, Naming Contexts and Application Partitions

Reviews the predefined Naming Contexts within Active Directory, what is contained within each, and the purpose of Application Partitions.

Chapter 4, Active Directory Schema

Gives you information on how the blueprint for each object and each object's attributes are stored in Active Directory.

Chapter 5, Site Topology and Replication

Details how the actual replication process for data takes place between domain controllers.

Chapter 6, Active Directory and DNS

Describes the importance of the Domain Name System (DNS) and what it is used for within Active Directory.

Chapter 7, Profiles and Group Policy Primer

Gives you a detailed introduction to the capabilities of both user profiles and Group Policy Objects.

Part II, Designing an Active Directory Infrastructure

Chapter 8, Designing the Namespace

Introduces the steps and techniques involved in properly preparing a design that reduces the number of domains and increases administrative control through the use of Organizational Units.

Chapter 9, Creating a Site Topology

Shows you how to design a representation of your physical infrastructure within Active Directory to gain very fine-grained control over intrasite and intersite replication.

Chapter 10, Designing Organization-Wide Group Policies

Explains how Group Policy Objects function in Active Directory and how you can properly design an Active Directory structure to make the most effective use of these functions.

Chapter 11, Active Directory Security: Permissions and Auditing

Describes how you can design effective security for all areas of your Active Directory, in terms of both access to objects and their properties; it includes information on how to design effective security access logging in any areas you choose.

Chapter 12, Designing and Implementing Schema Extensions

Covers procedures for extending the classes and attributes in the Active Directory schema.

Chapter 13, Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance

Describes how you can back up and restore Active Directory down to the object level or the entire directory.

Chapter 14, Upgrading to Windows Server 2003

Outlines how you can upgrade your existing Active Directory infrastructure to Windows Server 2003.

Chapter 15, Upgrading to Windows Server 2003 R2

Outlines the process to upgrade your existing Active Directory to Windows Server 2003 R2.

Chapter 16, Migrating from Windows NT

Gives very basic guidelines on areas to think about when conducting a Windows NT 4.0 migration. This is only an introduction to the subject; readers looking for step-by-step guides or detailed studies of migration will need to look elsewhere.

Chapter 17, Integrating Microsoft Exchange

Covers some of the important Active Directory-related issues when implementing Microsoft Exchange.

Chapter 18, Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM)

Introduces Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM), now included with Windows Server 2003 R2, along with information on some of the upgrades from the RTW version of ADAM.

Chapter 19, Interoperability, Integration, and Future Direction

Looks into what methods exist now and will exist in the future for integrating Active Directory with other directories and data stores.

Part III, Scripting Active Directory with ADSI, ADO, and WMI

Chapter 20, Scripting with ADSI

Introduces ADSI scripting by leading you through a series of step-by-step examples.

Chapter 21, IADs and the Property Cache

Delves into the concept of the property cache used extensively by ADSI and shows you how to properly manipulate any attribute of any object within it.

Chapter 22, Using ADO for Searching

Demonstrates how to make use of a technology normally reserved for databases and now extended to allow rapid searching for objects in Active Directory.

Chapter 23, Users and Groups

Gives you the lowdown on how to rapidly create users and groups, giving them whatever attributes you desire.

Chapter 24, Basic Exchange Tasks

Tackles common Active Directory related user and group management tasks for Microsoft Exchange 2000/2003.

Chapter 25, Shares and Print Queues

Explains how other persistent objects such as services, shares, and printers may be manipulated; it also looks at dynamic objects, such as print jobs, user sessions, and resources.

Chapter 26, Permissions and Auditing

Describes how each object contains its own list of permissions and auditing entries that governs how it can be accessed and how access is logged. The chapter then details how you can create and manipulate permission and auditing entries as you choose. It closes with a complete script to enumerate the entire security descriptor for any Active Directory object including proper constant names for all values, perfect for anyone looking to script Active Directory delegation and wanting to know what values should be set.

Chapter 27, Extending the Schema and the Active Directory Snap-ins

Covers creation of new classes and attributes programmatically in the schema, and modification of the existing Active Directory snap-ins to perform additional customized functions.

Chapter 28, Using ADSI and ADO from ASP or VB

Goes into how you can extend the scripts that have been written by incorporating them into web pages or even converting them to simple VB programs.

Chapter 29, Scripting with WMI

Gives a quick overview of WMI and goes through several examples for managing a system, including services, the registry, and the event log. Accessing AD with WMI is also covered, along with the new TrustMon and Replication WMI Providers.

Chapter 30, Manipulating DNS

Describes how to manipulate DNS server configuration, zones, and resource records with the WMI DNS Provider.

Chapter 31, Getting Started with VB.NET and System.Directory Services

Starts off by providing some background information on the .NET Framework and then dives into several examples using the System.DirectoryServices namespace with VB.NET.