database design

When Microsoft took an elegant simple schema from UNIX and redesigned it into a convoluted might mare called "Active Directory" it was time for this book. Turns out that "Active Directory" is not active or a directory; who would have guessed? Well this book starts you off with correcting concepts and even lets you know that with the new terminology that the definition of "domain" has been changed.
A lot of time Dummies books are too busy being cute; this one however is so packed with helpful information that it does not have time to be cute. This book takes you from ground zero to up and running while helping avoid common pit falls.

One of my students told me about this book and brought it to class. I hadn't expected so much technical content from a Dummies book. This little book really should be the starting point for anyone interested in Active Directory.

The fantastic complexity of Windows 2000 Active Directory almost makes the title of this book an oxymoron. Win2K presents a huge paradigm shift to network administrators, since the Active Directory is a completely new, radically different beast from what Windows NT was. Understanding AD and how it works takes patience...it isn't accidental that there are 1000+ page books out there on setting up and maintaining an AD infrastructure. This book doesn't aim to help you do specific tasks in AD, but what it does very well is explain in basic terms what AD is and does, how it it structured, and give you the frame of reference you need before you delve further in. But I'm not sure how many people need to [pay] for this book when there are other books out there that deal much more extensively in the workings of AD. The bottom line is that computer enthusiasts curious about the central feature of Win2K and newbie administrators of Win2K who have little or no experience with NT4 will find it a useful primer on AD. For anyone else, it's probably better to put the [money] toward one of the more detailed, albeit less plainspoken, AD guides.