Introduction

Welcome to Windows 2000 Active Directory: Design and Implementation, a book designed to provide you with the information you need to begin preparing for Windows 2000 Active Directory. Your Active Directory project will encompass multiple facets of your organization, bringing together various technologies into a unified directory solution. To what extent Active Directory will play a role in your organization will depend on your business and technical requirements. This book is intended to help you discover those requirements and couple them with functionality provided by Active Directory. After your requirements are identified, the chapters of this book will assist you in designing your Active Directory to meet your defined requirements.

This book is divided in to three parts: Part I, "Introduction and Overview;" Part II, "Planning;" and Part III, "Implementation." Although the book is designed to be read from start to finish, the configuration of the three main sections, as well as each individual chapter, is such that you can pick and chose the material most relevant to your needs.