For managing and navigating networks, directories are absolutely vital and infamously problematic. A dearth of practical standards and virtually no interoperability among most vendors' directory structures creates big headaches for system support people. But Microsoft Windows NT promises to end the pain, thanks to the new Microsoft Windows NT Directory Services (NTDS). "Understanding Active Directory Services" takes readers on a technical grand tour of this new approach. This book is for technically savvy readers, technical managers, network architects, network planners, network administrators, application developers, analysts, and designers.