operating systems

This is a no nonsense book that goes into the details of Active Directory Design. I used this as part of my preparation for Windows 2000 Active Directory Admin (70-217) exam. It's for the adventurous sysadmin who is prepared to script and tinker with the AD. Replication, Scripting and GPO's get my top marks. This book is like all O'reilly books, written for enthusiasts by enthusiasts - You'll like it or hate it with a passion !!

Very good nuts and bolts guide to Active Directory. I've looked at a few other books on the topic and this is the best so far. The book takes a very logical approach toward describing all the complex details behind Active Directory. And as a bonus there are a bunch of chapters on scripting. The sample scripts were helpful. Even though AD is a very complicated beast, I think the authors did a good job in making it understandable. If you've never done anything with Windows before and want a very high-level introductory guide to AD, this book will probably have too many details for you. If you have even a little experience with NT4 or AD, then this book is a great reference!

What can I say, I learned more about Active Directory from a scripting book than I did this one. The author beat around the bush and never seemed to get to the point. Too much fluff and not enough "need-to-know" information. Currently reading the Thomson Learning MCSE Active Directory book, and its much better, although still not perfect.
Even if you are looking for a reference, this isn't it. Maybe the Active Directory Cookbook?