Looking for general purpose AD books

blatini

Hey I'm looking for some general purpose books for active directory. I have the MCSA books, but it is hard to read through them knowing financially I'm not at a place to take the exams nor have the time with my CCNA cert set to expire in the next year. I guess a good way of describing it is how "Network Warrior" is to the CCNA study books. It covers a lot of the same stuff, but doesn't beat in your head the certification requisites. I really just want to get my feet wet and build from there.

Thanks for the help

cruwl

the Mastering Windows server 2012 is a pretty good book.

blatini

I've heard there are quite a few typos in some of the script which has me a little hesitant. Any other good ones?

Slowhand

Back in the 2003 and 2008 days, the big ol' packs of Resource Kit books were the gold-standard for IT professionals that wanted to go beyond what they'd learned during their certification studies. Nowadays, you're looking at hitting up TechNet if you're wanting to do a deep-dive on particular topics, with a smattering of books here and there on different topics:

• Mastering Windows Server 2012 R2
• Active Directory: Designing, Deploying, and Running Active Directory
• Inside Active Directory: A System Administrator's Guide (2nd Edition)
• Active Directory Cookbook
• Group Policy: Fundamentals, Security, and the Managed Desktop

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Of course, there are plenty of free resources out there, particularly if you check the in-house Microsoft blogs:
Largest collection of FREE Microsoft eBooks ever, including: Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Office 2013, Office 365, Office 2010, SharePoint 2013, Dynamics CRM, PowerShell, Exchange Server, Lync 2013, System Center, Azure, Cloud, SQL Server, and

techfiend

Haven't looked at it myself but a lot of praise on this board for Manning: Learn Active Directory Management in a Month of Lunches