Re: Looking for a step by step guide on setting up AD


"Fernando Ronci" <fernandoronci@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23C9AxAkmIHA.2304@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks all who responded.

Herb Martin wrote:
But do realize that ANY such "step by step" or "checklist" is going to be
for an "average" or "typical" setup and that learning just a little bit
about AD, but learning that little bit really correctly and well, is in
most cases
much easier and more effective since it allows you to tailor the methods
to
your own environment and needs.

You nailed it !
In all honesty, I had already stumbled across Microsoft's top-level sites
for Active Directory, namely
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/directory/activedirectory/
and its counterpart at TechNet:
http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/technologies/featured/ad/default.mspx
and the corresponding Step-by-Step Guides.
Now the real question is: Where do I begin ? Where? (That was the aim of
my original post.)


I'm not sure how well served are freelance IT consultants (like me) with
this enormous amount of information in the shape of loosely coupled
publications on a single technology, AD in this case.

If I had a class scheduled (we probably did our last 2003 MCSE program
this past month) I would suggest that but I am expensive -- and I don't use
this list to solicit business.


I would be better served if there existed a highly digestible, low
signal-to-noise ratio, single document with a balanced amount of
conceptual, theoretical and practical content that guides the implementer
through a satisfactory deployment of the technology.

The Built-In help is really pretty close to this but you also have to
install AD
and work with it to know what you don't get "automatically".

AD is EASY (for simple setups), but most people don't know the basics and
so make it much harder than it needs to be.

Think of something in the order of 150 - 200 pages with the famous 80/20
rule at its core, that is, with 20% of the technology you cover 80% of the
scenarios. That would be more in line with how many independent
consultants do business today. When a client calls, you cannot say "well,
wait until I'm done reading this 900+ pages book on Active Directory".

<GRIN>
Actually I can and do, but then I STRONGLY recommend that IT people
learn Speed Reading because that is the only way that most of us are ever
going to read those 1000 page books, much less a bunch of those books.
</GRIN>

Speaking of books, take a look at the top hits for "Active Directory" on
Amazon. The titles range from 500 - 900 pages. Even "Active Directory for
Dummies" from 1999 is 400+ pages long. Of course, there must be room for
specialization, but the entry barrier for getting things done should be
low.

I actually like the Windows Server 2003 DELTA guide (key word DELTA) --
it was written as a delta or difference between 2000 and 2003 but ended up
being a better quick start for Server (it's main inaccuracies are things it
claimed
to be different in 2003 which really were not).

In any case the Delta book is shorter than most and focused only on the key
elements in most chapters.

Sometimes I think less is more.

I definitely believe in this -- as long as the "less" is the KEY and
critical
distinctions. This is both the way that I learn personally and the way
that I teach accelerated classes. We do the basics perfectly and then
make sure we can generalize from those correct and simple key elements.

How many installs of AD have you done? If you haven't done some, then
you really shouldn't sell yourself to clients as being able to build or
troubleshoot
their AD systems.


Thanks,
Fernando

"Herb Martin" <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OwQmcrgmIHA.4712@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Fernando Ronci" <fernandoronci@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ejxX5NfmIHA.536@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

Can anyone please recommend me a step by step walkthrough on setting up
a Domain Controller and Active Directory on Windows Server 2003 ?

Yes, search the built-in help for these:

checklist DNS
checklist active directory

Or just simple: checklist and select either the (single) Active
Directory checklist
link, or the many AD related KB articles.

I've found lots of articles, white papers and blog posts on AD, but not
the kind of thorough, one-stop, step-by-step guide that explains how to
carry out a professional setup of Active Directory in a corporate
environment. Does that document exist ?

Yes. This Google search also works quite nicely for the actual
"step-by-step"
Microsoft guides:

"active directory" "step-by-step" site:microsoft.com

The first entry is this one (when I do the search):

Active Directory Step-by-Step Guides
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003/technologies/directory/activedirectory/stepbystep/default.mspx

But do realize that ANY such "step by step" or "checklist" is going to be
for an "average" or "typical" setup and that learning just a little bit
about
AD, but learning that little bit really correctly and well, is in most
cases
much easier and more effective since it allows you to tailor the methods
to
your own environment and needs.

Setting up AD itself is trivial in most cases -- you have actually tried
this on
a test machine, right?

Setting it up effectively for a real domain is somewhere between trivial
(also)
and very complex depending on the requirements and environment.

Tell us what you are having trouble understanding or tell us about your
environment and what you plan to actually do. We can help if you give
us specifics... either by giving your direct advice or sending you to
more
specific papers and guides in some cases.

Thanks.
Fernando




.

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