Those of you who run networks on Windows 2000 know the benefits of using Active Directory for managing user information and permissions. You also know what a bear it can be. The newer version included with Windows Server 2003 has over 100 new and updated features to simplify deployment, but once it's in place many system administrators still find Active Directory challenging. If you're among those looking for practical hands-on support, help is here with our new Active Directory Cookbook for Windows Server 2003 & Windows 2000, a unique problem-solving guide that offers quick answers for both versions of the directory. The book contains hundreds of step-by-step solutions for both common and uncommon problems that you might encounter with Active Directory on a daily basis--including recipes to deal with the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), multi-master replication, Domain Name System (DNS), Group Policy, the Active Directory Schema, and many other features. Author Robbie Allen, a Senior Systems Architect at Cisco Systems and co-author of our Active Directory tutorial, based this collection of troubleshooting recipes on his own experience, along with input from Windows administrators throughout the industry. Each recipe includes a discussion to explain how and why the solution works, so you can adapt the problem-solving techniques to similar situations.

Bug Patterns in Java presents a methodology for diagnosing and debugging computer programs. The act of debugging will be presented as an ideal application of the scientific method. Skill in this area is entirely independent of other programming skills, such as designing for extensibility and reuse. Nevertheless, it is seldom taught explicitly. Eric Allen lays out a theory of debugging, and how it relates to the rest of the development cycle. In particular, he stresses the critical role of unit testing in effective debugging. At the same time, he argues that testing and debugging, while often conflated, are properly considered to be distinct tasks. Upon laying this groundwork, Allen then discusses various "bug patterns" (recurring relationships between signaled errors and underlying bugs in a program) that occur frequently in computer programs. For each pattern, the book discusses how to identify them, how to treat them, and how to prevent them.

This practical reference guide offers hundreds of useful tasks for managing Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003, Microsoft's latest server. These concise, on-the-job solutions to common problems are certain to save you many hours of time searching through Microsoft documentation. Topics include files, event logs, security, DHCP, DNS, backup/restore, and more.

Windows XP users and administrators need a quick and easy way to find answers. Plenty of books go into detail about the theory behind a particular technology or application, but few go straight to the essentials for getting the job done. Windows XP Cookbook does just that, tackling the most common tasks needed to install, manage, and support Windows XP.