Advanced Coverage for Experienced Network Administrators Active Directory Best Practices 24seven is written specifically to build on the practical and conceptual knowledge you′ve already earned. Taking a "just the facts, ma′am" approach this book provides targeted instruction and insider tips to help you quickly implement the best practices established by successful network administrators across a wide range of industries. This is also an excellent way to make a pain–free transition to the latest release of Active Directory. Coverage includes:
- Building a complete Active Directory–based infrastructure
- Understanding migration options, including the role of Organizational Units
- Configuring domain controllers to support Flexible Single Master Operations
- Understanding how Exchange affects Active Directory design
- Using the new backup and restore options
- Troubleshooting and optimizing the Active Directory database, File Replication Service, and Group Policy
- Setting up and maintaining interoperation between Active Directory and DNS
- Migrating and consolidating Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000–based domains
- Managing patches
- Securing the base operating system before promoting a domain controller
- Securing DNS to protect associated domain controllers
- Working with Active Directory security options
Active Directory is a Windows Server technology that stores information about a network's users and directories, making it easier for network administrators to configure, manage, and update their networks. Active Directory matured with the roll-out of Windows Server 2003; it's now more stable and economical, and is much more attractive to administrators who shied away from implementing it in the past. However, along with those improvements comes increased complexity for network administrators. Microsoft is dropping support for NT4 at the end of 2003, forcing holdouts to migrate to Server 2003.