Active Directory Round Up 1/28/2010

AD and Identity maven Laura Hunter has a book review and recommendation, Understanding Windows Cardspace by Vittorio Bertocci, Caleb Baker and Garrett Serack. I'll admit I'm with Laura in that I haven't delved into cardspace and infocards, but perhaps I should be. The concept of Identity management has come along way, especially once you start considering the Internet and cloud computing. According to Laura Understanding Windows Cardspace explores these concepts in a well-written and enjoyable manner.

Group Policy expert and GPO Guy Darren Mar-Elia is offering a free whitepaper on Group Policy Preferences Overview. This is brief but informative summary of the new Group Policy Preferences (GPP) Microsoft introduced in Windows Server 2008. If you are still relying on logon scripts, policy preferences may be just the ticket to getting rid of them. If GPP is new to you, Darren's whitepaper is an excellent start.

If you are looking for a nice getaway and perhaps learn a new thing or two, you might consider Mark Minasi's 5th Annual Minasi Conference scheduled for May 2-5 in Virginia Beach. This is not a huge conference where you get lost in the crowd. Laura Hunter will be speaking on Active Directory Federation Services, Roger Grimes will be presenting on PKI and Mark Minasi has a session scheduled about Active Directory and the future of IDM. This is in addition to all the other sessions. Check out the full schedule on the conference site.

As always, if you have an AD-related resource you think I should keep tabs on, please let me know.