If you ever tried to code against AD you probably noticed that the MSDN help files are basically non-existent. After reading this book I was coding against our AD in one day. This is the bible on this rather esoteric subject.

This book is pretty good and it has some good examples.

The problem is that the author is all over the place in this book and does not use any of the examples in any way that would be helpful!

The author's writing style leaves much to be desired. I don't know why so many people have given it such high ratings?

I know that this is a tough topic but come on I think if you know a subject you can do better than this.

This is definitively a must have in the bookshelf of all .NET AD Developers. I have been working with ADAM since .NET 1.1 and have always struggle to find answers to simple questions like how to make an LDAP query to run efficiently or how to define complex queries; this book has that and a lot more.

This book is everything I was hoping it would be. I'm working on a project where I need to get computer accounts from AD (TENS of THOUSANDS of them) and move, delete, enable, disable and set account expiration dates. Everything I need to know is in this book. The AD paged search, useraccount properties, etc. Some of the routines I was able to use as-is (the VB versions from their web site download). These guys do a great job of explaining all the stuff I couldn't find anywhere else. Highly reccomended!

This book is great for anyone who does AD programming with .NET it covers everything from the basics to some pretty advanced stuff and even some undocumented stuff.. a must have for AD Programemrs!

If you are or may be in the future, doing directory services programming then this book is a must have. It also suffices a quick reference as it has code sprinkled around so that you can get up to speed quickly.

If anything, it is sort of lacking on other LDAP directories. It does have the history of LDAP and does show where the differences are between AD and the others.

If your primary focus is other directories, this may not be the end all book for you, but should still suffice as a reference.

If AD is your main focus, buy this now, you won't be disappointed.

This is a very good book for[...] developers who wants to program against Active Directory. There are some good examples in this book that can be very handy. Other than examples in pieces, there is not a project or Web Site codes that a beginner could use.

This is a very good book for[...] developers who wants to program against Active Directory. There are some good examples in this book that can be very handy. Other than examples in pieces, there is not a project or Web Site codes that a beginner could use.

Anyone who wants to include access to the Active Directory / ADAM via the ADSI providers (LDAP, WinNT, IIS, etc) and are finding themselves lost or overwhelmed while sorting thru the .NET environment on their own, need this book. Regardless of your previous experience in scripting or programming with ADSI (including none), this title provides the information you need in a relatively compact manner that brings you up to speed and gets you working productively before you even finish.

The book starts off with a quick introduction to ADSI and the .NET framework: light on history, heavy on solidifying the readers understanding of how the .NET framework's Directory Services got where it is. The middle of the book concentrates on explaining the core set of objects needed to bind, read, write, search, etc., spending the right amount of time on each topic with clear language and to-the-point examples. You could actually put the book down at that point with a clear understanding and the ability to perform the needed tasks. The last section of the book takes your skills even further, starting with showing you how to extend the schema, work with security, and manage namespaces. With those sections complete comes complete walk-thrus on practical applications you can develop as well as sections on hints, tips and troubleshooting. Some potential VB readers may be put off by the fact that all the code examples are in C#. As the examples are typically short and dealing with objects, non C# developers shouldn't have any issue translating the code; if all else fails, the author has posted complete VB translations for download.

This title proves itself to be not only an efficient learning resource, but also serves as a reference for Directory Services that you will use again and again. The authors have created a book that truly aims at demystifying the process and demonstrating to the reader that the technology is not as convoluted as other ADSI books make it out to be. Even though at the time of this review there are few books dedicated to .NET Directory Services available, this is a must have and will continue to prove its value for quite some time.

Anyone who wants to include access to the Active Directory / ADAM via the ADSI providers (LDAP, WinNT, IIS, etc) and are finding themselves lost or overwhelmed while sorting thru the .NET environment on their own, need this book. Regardless of your previous experience in scripting or programming with ADSI (including none), this title provides the information you need in a relatively compact manner that brings you up to speed and gets you working productively before you even finish.

The book starts off with a quick introduction to ADSI and the .NET framework: light on history, heavy on solidifying the readers understanding of how the .NET framework's Directory Services got where it is. The middle of the book concentrates on explaining the core set of objects needed to bind, read, write, search, etc., spending the right amount of time on each topic with clear language and to-the-point examples. You could actually put the book down at that point with a clear understanding and the ability to perform the needed tasks. The last section of the book takes your skills even further, starting with showing you how to extend the schema, work with security, and manage namespaces. With those sections complete comes complete walk-thrus on practical applications you can develop as well as sections on hints, tips and troubleshooting. Some potential VB readers may be put off by the fact that all the code examples are in C#. As the examples are typically short and dealing with objects, non C# developers shouldn't have any issue translating the code; if all else fails, the author has posted complete VB translations for download.

This title proves itself to be not only an efficient learning resource, but also serves as a reference for Directory Services that you will use again and again. The authors have created a book that truly aims at demystifying the process and demonstrating to the reader that the technology is not as convoluted as other ADSI books make it out to be. Even though at the time of this review there are few books dedicated to .NET Directory Services available, this is a must have and will continue to prove its value for quite some time.

As other reviewers have noted, programming directory services is a complicated niche. This book provided a light and compass to a developer passing through this territory containing some rather strange-looking flora and fauna.

My company's .NET-based application makes limited use of directory services. When migrating it to .NET 2.0, tens of warnings were generated when referencing the ActiveDs COM library, such as "could not convert the signature" and "At least one of the arguments for 'IPrivateDispatch.ADSIGetIDsOfNames' can not be marshaled". While the warnings did not affect application behavior, ignoring warnings encourages a mindset that could cause a developer to disregard real danger.

This book provided two different ideas to fix the warnings. Both avoided the need to reference the entire ActiveDs.dll library. One idea was to use the enhanced .NET 2.0 classes directly to determine a user's group memberships (my particular need, addressed in Chapter 10). The other was to declare COM Interops for the subset of ActiveDs functionality actually needed (Appendix A). I ended up using the second alternative. The authors provided an example and a reference to a free third-party tool that generated the needed declarations.

Other applications will use directory services more extensively, so their voyage may be more intricate. This book is a guidebook that will help you understand your choices before you set out. I commend the authors for their knowledge of this arcane area and their enthusiasm and ability to understandably share their knowledge.

As other reviewers have noted, programming directory services is a complicated niche. This book provided a light and compass to a developer passing through this territory containing some rather strange-looking flora and fauna.

My company's .NET-based application makes limited use of directory services. When migrating it to .NET 2.0, tens of warnings were generated when referencing the ActiveDs COM library, such as "could not convert the signature" and "At least one of the arguments for 'IPrivateDispatch.ADSIGetIDsOfNames' can not be marshaled". While the warnings did not affect application behavior, ignoring warnings encourages a mindset that could cause a developer to disregard real danger.

This book provided two different ideas to fix the warnings. Both avoided the need to reference the entire ActiveDs.dll library. One idea was to use the enhanced .NET 2.0 classes directly to determine a user's group memberships (my particular need, addressed in Chapter 10). The other was to declare COM Interops for the subset of ActiveDs functionality actually needed (Appendix A). I ended up using the second alternative. The authors provided an example and a reference to a free third-party tool that generated the needed declarations.

Other applications will use directory services more extensively, so their voyage may be more intricate. This book is a guidebook that will help you understand your choices before you set out. I commend the authors for their knowledge of this arcane area and their enthusiasm and ability to understandably share their knowledge.

This is one book that you need if you are writing code for Active Directory. The author understands what issues developers face and what details are important when implementing solutions. It is not a reindexing of manufacturer's manual. You can take code out of this book and use it with understanding.
I have used this book extensively and repeatedly.

Tauqir

This is one book that you need if you are writing code for Active Directory. The author understands what issues developers face and what details are important when implementing solutions. It is not a reindexing of manufacturer's manual. You can take code out of this book and use it with understanding.
I have used this book extensively and repeatedly.

Tauqir

If you're looking to write AD or ADAM code in .Net, this is the book to get. Joe and Ryan do a great job of covering this topic, balancing a light writing style with deep coverage of the material and practical advice about writing directory-enabled code in real-world environments. For me, the ideal technical reference is one that I can read cover-to-cover as well as jump to a particular topic as-need to get immediate help. This book serves both those needs extremely well; easily one of the best programming references I've read in a while and literally the only decent source for practical System.DirectoryServices advice.

If you're looking to write AD or ADAM code in .Net, this is the book to get. Joe and Ryan do a great job of covering this topic, balancing a light writing style with deep coverage of the material and practical advice about writing directory-enabled code in real-world environments. For me, the ideal technical reference is one that I can read cover-to-cover as well as jump to a particular topic as-need to get immediate help. This book serves both those needs extremely well; easily one of the best programming references I've read in a while and literally the only decent source for practical System.DirectoryServices advice.

The .NET Developer's Guide to Directory Services Programming provides valuable insight in how to properly write .NET applications that use Active Directory or ADAM. It covers pretty much everything you need to know, to be effective in programming against a Directory Service using both .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0.



The book is very well written and provides sample code around any topic that it touches upon (download here: http://directoryprogramming.net/ ). Both the samples from the book (raw format) and a complete .NET Solution are provided that a developer can leverage to develop their own applications. The site also provides an active forum where you can post questions and problems around the topic. The level of support Ryan and Joe provide is remarkable. In fact, for most searches on Active Directory problems on google, you would find that in many cases, one of the authors is involved in the thread working towards a solution.



The book starts out with a general explanation of LDAP and Active Directory. This is a high level overview of the concepts and terminology around Directory Services, LDAP, Domains etc. It also explains what different approaches to interacting with Directories are available to the programmer. Once the concepts have been explained, the book continues with CRUD operations. As you read this chapter, you will find the true value of the book. Not only does it contain all the information you'll need to program against a Directory Service, but it also points out many of the common pitfalls that a developer runs into when writing an application. The book also goes beyond what the .NET Framework provides to reveal what is actually happening under the hood, when this is appropriate. By doing that, the authors shed some light on why certain logic should be implemented in a particular way.



The book subsequently covers the area of Directory Searches (basics and advanced) and how to read and write properties. Again, best practices and details on why one should implement logic a certain way are described in great detail. After that, the book provides insight in AD Schemas and Security. The last chapter of the first part goes into the .NET Active Directory namespace.



Then, there is a second part, devoted to Practical Applications. This is where everything that was described earlier is put in perspective by using `real world' examples. Especially the chapter on authentication is very valuable.



So overall, I believe this is an outstanding book that you cannot do without if you're serious about Directory Services programming. Together with the provided sample code and the forum, it will make you a better programmer and provide you with a fundamental understanding of Directory Services programming.

Active Directory is an important offering by Microsoft, primarily for use within its .NET Framework. What Kaplan and Dunn suggest here is that the programmer-level documentation for Active Directory being furnished by Microsoft is somewhat awkward to use and understand. So this book is offered. The context is how to code LDAP in the namespace of System.DirectoryServices.

The code examples are from both .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0. Though the reader should probably migrate to 2.0 anyway, as this is significantly improved over 1.1. Also, the examples are given in C#. If you are an experienced VB coder, you should still be able to easily follow the C# logic. The code examples are brief enough to enable that, and C# is a very clean language, notationally.

Part 2 of the book is probably the key section for most readers. You might be trying to integrate a corporate-wide directory with other applications. Perhaps to authorise those applications, depending on a valid user, as given by Active Directory, say. So Part 2 delves heavily into user and group management. For the latter, its definition and populating it with users is shown to be straightforward. From which you can build higher level logic.

This book is for all of you who need to write Active Directory based programs for .NET and ASP.NET.

The voice of bitter experience: As anyone who has tried to learn how to program against Active Directory or ADAM knows, the on-line information at MSDN is extraordinarily confusing, not least because Microsoft has introduced several different technologies to access Active Directory--Native LDAP, System.DirectoryServices, System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory, System.DirectoryServices.Protocols, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), ADSI, and the Net* and Ds* APIs. MSDN's sample code, once you get beyond the basics, is mostly written in C++ and/or VB script. Trust me, you don't want to go there without a knowledgeable mentor at your side. This book can be your guide.

Both of the authors have a welcome presence on Active Directory forums and in the blogosphere. They are well-known as the go-to guys for Active Directory questions. The book reflects their practical experience responding to programmers' reasonable but difficult questions, such as "What's the best way to determine a user's effective group memberships, taking group nesting into account". I couldn't find this answer on MSDN.

The book's first two chapters sort out the confusion about the many layers of Active directory programming in lucid, well-organized prose.

Then, chapter-by-chapter, the book explains how to do just about anything a sane .NET programmer would want to do: CRUD operations, searching, schema, user and group management, authentication, and COM interop. Each sub-topic is succinct, explains advantages and disadvantages of various techniques, and contains code snippets that are valuable and easy to drop into your own code.

The book is not padded with copy-and-paste material from MSDN. Nor is the book cast in the form of a sample application--my own pet peeve of how to hide useful information. The material is original and directly useful. The technique chapters are reasonably stand-alone. You don't have to read all that has gone before to get your question answered.

The authors have a website for the book that contains downloadable code and a few free utilities. [...]
Pros and cons:
1) If you are a sysadmin this probably isn't for you. The book is addressed strictly to programmers.
2) All of the examples are in C#. VB code is promised on the website but it's not there as of this writing. In any event, the Active Directory code examples are really agnostic under the .NET CLR. It should be easy enough for a programmer at the level of this book's intended audience to make the C# to VB translation.
3) There are some typos in the printed examples. The ones I have noticed are corrected in the on-line code.

Excerpt from C# Online.NET Review (wiki.CSharp-Online.NET):
"The style of the book is pure pragmatism, focusing on applications of the technology in practical, useful source code and lots of it. All source code examples are in the C# language. After dispatching directory services programmer basic training, the book moves quickly into advanced topics and real-world scenarios encountered on the job by the authors....The .NET Developer's Guide to Directory Services Programming is a critical resource for .NET enterprise application developers."

Excerpt from C# Online.NET Review:
"The style of the book is pure pragmatism, focusing on applications of the technology in practical, useful source code and lots of it. All source code examples are in the C# language. After dispatching directory services programmer basic training, the book moves quickly into advanced topics and real-world scenarios encountered on the job by the authors....The .NET Developer's Guide to Directory Services Programming is a critical resource for .NET enterprise application developers."