Active Directory

Robbie Allen is a Senior Systems Architect in the Advanced Services Technology Group at Cisco Systems. He was instrumental in the deployment and automation of Active Directory, DNS and DHCP at Cisco, and is now working on network automation tools. Robbie enjoys working on both the UNIX and Windows platforms, especially when Perl is installed. He is a firm believer that all system administrators should be proficient in at least one scripting language and most of his writings preach the benefits of automation. Alistair G. Lowe-Norris is an enterprise program manager for Microsoft U.K., although during the writing of this book he worked for Leicester University as the project manager and technical lead of the Rapid Deployment Program for Windows 2000. During his time there, Leicester was part of Microsoft's U.K. and U.S. Rapid Deployment Programs for Windows 2000, and was responsible for rolling out what turned out to be one of the world's largest deployments of Windows 2000 preceding release of the final product. He is the technical editor of the Win32 Scripting Journal, for which he writes a monthly article, as well as the technical consultant for the U.K.-based Windows NT Explorer magazine. He has contributed articles for Windows 2000 Magazine (formerly Windows NT Magazine.) He also writes for the Motley Fool U.K. investment site as TMFAlistair, helping to lay bare the complexities of investing in simple terms. He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and has been using Windows 2000 daily since October 1997.

Preface Part I. Active Directory Basics 1. A Brief Introduction Evolution of the Microsoft NOS Windows NT Versus Active Directory Windows 2000 Versus Windows Server 2003 2. Active Directory Fundamentals How Objects Are Stored and Identified Building Blocks 3. Naming Contexts and Application Partitions Domain Naming Context Configuration Naming Context Schema Naming Context Application Partitions 4. Active Directory Schema Structure of the Schema Attributes (attributeSchema Objects) Attribute Syntax Classes (classSchema Objects) 5. Site Topology and Replication Site Topology Data Replication 6. Active Directory and DNS DNS Fundamentals DC Locator Resource Records Used by Active Directory Delegation Options Active Directory Integrated DNS Using Application Partitions for DNS 7. Profiles and Group Policy Primer A Profile Primer Capabilities of GPOs Summary Part II. Designing an Active Directory Infrastructure 8. Designing the Namespace The Complexities of a Design Where to Start Overview of the Design Process Domain Namespace Design Design of the Internal Domain Structure Other Design Considerations Design Examples Designing for the Real World 9. Creating a Site Topology Intrasite and Intersite Topologies Designing Sites and Links for Replication Examples 10. Designing Organization-Wide Group Policies How GPOs Work Managing Group Policies Using GPOs to Help Design the Organizational Unit Structure Debugging Group Policies 11. Active Directory Security: Permissions and Auditing Using the GUI to Examine Permissions Using the GUI to Examine Auditing Designing Permission Schemes Designing Auditing Schemes Real-World Examples 12. Designing and Implementing Schema Extensions Nominating Responsible People in Your rganization Thinking of Changing the Schema Creating Schema Extensions Wreaking Havoc with Your Schema 13. Backup, Recovery, and Maintenance Backing Up Active Directory Restoring a Domain Controller Restoring Active Directory FSMO Recovery DIT Maintenance 14. Upgrading to Windows Server 2003 New Features in Windows Server 2003 Differences With Windows 2000 Functional Levels Explained Preparing for ADPrep Upgrade Process Post-Upgrade Tasks 15. Migrating from Windows NT The Principles of Upgrading Windows NT Domains 16. Integrating Microsoft Exchange Quick Word about Exchange Server 2003 Preparing Active Directory for Exchange 2000 Exchange 5.5 and the Active Directory Connector 17. Interoperability, Integration, and Future Direction Microsoft's Directory Strategy Interoperating with Other Directories Integrating Applications and Services Part III. Scripting Active Directory with ADSI, ADO, and WMI 18. Scripting with ADSI What Are All These Buzzwords? Writing and Running Scripts ADSI Simple Manipulation of ADSI Objects Further Information 19. IADs and the Property Cache The IADs Properties Manipulating the Property Cache Checking for Errors in VBScript 20. Using ADO for Searching The First Search Other Ways of Connecting and Retrieving Results Understanding Search Filters Optimizing Searches Advanced Search Function-SearchAD 21. Users and Groups Creating a Simple User Account Creating a Full-Featured User Account Creating Many User Accounts Modifying Many User Accounts Account Unlocker Utility Creating a Group Adding Members to a Group Evaluating Group Membership 22. Manipulating Persistent and Dynamic Objects The Interface Methods and Properties Creating and Manipulating Shares with ADSI Enumerating Sessions and Resources Manipulating Print Queues and Print Jobs 23. Permissions and Auditing How to Create an ACE Using ADSI A Simple ADSI Example A Complex ACE Example Creating Security Descriptors Listing ACEs to a File for All Objects in an OU and Below 24. Extending the Schema and the Active Directory Snap-Ins Modifying the Schema with ADSI Customizing the Active Directory Administrative Snap-ins 25. Using ADSI and ADO from ASP or VB VBScript Limitations and Solutions How to Avoid Problems When Using ADSI and ASP Combining VBScript and HTML Binding to Objects Via Authentication Incorporating Searches into ASP Migrating Your ADSI Scripts from VBScript to VB 26. Scripting with WMI Origins of WMI WMI Architecture Getting Started with WMI Scripting WMI Tools Manipulating Services Querying the Event Logs Querying AD with WMI Monitoring Trusts Monitoring Replication 27. Manipulating DNS DNS Provider Overview Manipulating DNS Server Configuration Creating and Manipulating Zones Creating and Manipulating Resource Records 28. Getting Started with VB.NET and System.DirectoryServices The .NET Framework Using VB.NET Overview of System.DirectoryServices DirectoryEntry Basics Searching with DirectorySearcher Manipulating Objects Index