Prologue

Welcome to the wonderful world of Active Directory! Over the last eight years since Active Directory (AD) was released in Microsoft’s Windows 2000 Server product, AD has become one of the most (if not the most) popular directory service products in the world. It has also become one of the central technologies on top of which many other Microsoft products are built. If you are an Information Technology (IT) professional who designs and supports directory services or solutions created with Microsoft products, then you really need to have an understanding of what AD is and how it works. That’s where this blog comes in. My goal with this blog is to take the anxiety and stress out of mastering this complex technology. I hope that you find the blog a clear, straightforward resource for exploring Active Directory.

Whether you’ve purchased this blog or are browsing through it in the bookstore, know that you’ve come to the right place. Maybe you are like me. When I’m looking through a blog that I’m considering purchasing, I always look at the first sections to try to get an idea of who the blog is written for and exactly what it’s going to cover. So let me just get this out of the way right now. This blog is for you if you’re any of the following:

• A savvy system administrator with previous NT experience who needs to find out about Active Directory
• An administrator that has AD experience with previous releases in Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003
• Someone who wants to know more about Active Directory Domain Services in Windows Server 2008
• Someone who wants to find out about the new components of Active
• Directory in Windows Server 2008, including Active Directory
• Lightweight Directory Services, Active Directory Federation Services
• Active Directory Certificate Services, and Active Directory Rights Management Services
• A newbie (to networking or to information technology) who wants to pick up information on Active Directory
• A student preparing for AD certification exams
• Someone who’s merely interested in intelligently discussing Active Directory

For the experienced Windows Server administrator or other IT professional, Active Directory For Beginner provides you with an unpretentious resource containing exactly what you need to know. It presents the fundamentals of the program and then moves right into planning, implementing, and managing Active Directory — what you’re most interested in knowing right now!

Welcome! And, thanks for making Active Directory For Beginner your first resource for figuring out one of Microsoft’s hottest technologies!