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Active Directory Cookbook 3rd Edition

just wrote a short review about active directory cookbook, 3rd edition. this is one of the most useful books in my library.
Originally submitted at O'Reilly

When you need practical hands-on support for Active Directory, the updated edition of this Cookbook provides quick solutions to more than 300 problems you might encounter when deploying, administering, and automating Microsoft's network directory service. You'll find recipes for the Lightwe...


Fan of the Series


5out of 5
Pros: Easy to understand, Well-written, Helpful examples, Accurate, Concise
Best Uses: Intermediate, Expert
Describe Yourself: Sys Admin
I became a fan of the series when Robbie Allen released the very first one. Since then, I've been hooked. It's amazing how the book has developed over time to become the monstrosity that it is today. It's enormous, weighing in at over 1000 pages. Though the true value is in all the "recipes" in the book, I really enjoy all the background material that each section provides.

Each topic has:
  • Problem - the task you need to perform
  • Solution - how to perform it
  • Discussion - additional information about the topic

It's great to have a reference that succinctly defines the task and the solution without having to read gobs of pages. It's not just limited to scripting as the name may imply. Most solutions are defined for scripting (vbscript, powershell, command shell), however, often times you'll find the gui (graphical user interface) equivalent of how to achieve the task.

Laura Hunter is a great author and well-respected MVP in the Active Directory space. All of the contributing authors from the past editions are tops in their field and sources of information I have relied on in the past and will continue to do so for as long as I support Active Directory.

It's time I give up my 2nd Edition Cookbook and make room for this one on my reference shelf. Valuable book!

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