The quality of AD admins in even very large orgs varies more than the engineers delivering the RAPs. I've seen "AD administrators" that literally had no clue what DSRM was, how data is transferred between DCs (doesn't FRS replicate users, too? Or, AD replication is broken so SYSVOL isn't replicating), the difference between seizing or transferring a FSMO role, etc. Those aren't even the worse examples of things I've seen. The information shared during the ADRAP is, in my opinion, among the best available today. I not saying it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, has nothing that can be improved, never includes bad/wrong info, or that you couldn't come up with something better. I am saying if you compare it to MOC classes, 3rd party training, etc, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better (besides Dean's class, of course). Most people administering AD environments do not focus on it as their sole job, lack the fundamental understanding of most of the core components that make up AD, and definitely benefit from workshops like the ADRAP. The real world, for whatever reason, typically either doesn't seem to be able to find all those highly qualified AD admins you think they should invest in or has decided to not make those investments. Now you, and several others in this listserv, would definitely be yawning through most of the delivery. However, I'd also say the people I'm referring to are well above average in their AD knowledge.
As to the challenges of contradicting or silo type mentality when comparing the ADRAP and ExRAP I agree with you and effort should definitely be to stop it. However I wouldn't say those are good reasons to avoid the engagements. Although your experiences may differ from mine, I don't see so many instances of dramatic contradictions between the two engagements where Exchange is blaming AD for massive issues and vice versa. Resolving the differences, although a pain and something that shouldn't be necessary, doesn't significantly de-value the engagements. > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of joe > Sent: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 8:00 PM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD Snapshot Tool (ADST) - how useful is it? > > I.E. This is easy money for the company, please don't > distribute the tool that collects the data as that is really > the whole ADRAP for the most part unless the people getting > it really haven't a clue what they are doing with AD at all > at which point you should be looking at spending money on > getting admins who have a clue versus bringing in MSFT for a > one shot peek. > > Until Microsoft puts together a AD and Exchange RAP that > looks at both together and tries to determine the causes of > issues from each other I see the whole RAP thing as having > very limited use in Orgs that use AD and Exchange. If you > just use AD then it is pretty decent. However if you have > both, the Exchange RAP tends to point at AD saying that it > has massive issues and the AD RAP tends to say things are > pretty decent. Or at least that is the results I have seen in > every single case where both RAPs have been performed. > Certainly the analysis was nothing to write home about. > However I expect that entirely depends on who you happen to > get in the drawing of who does your analysis, the skill > levels vary greatly as I have seen some pretty intelligent > things in the analysis and I have seen some absolutely > stinkeroo completely incorrect things where you wonder if the > analyzer had actually every been introduced to AD. > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eric > Fleischman > Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 12:11 PM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD Snapshot Tool (ADST) - how useful is it? > > The tool is not the property of anyone on this list. As such, > making it available on the list would be inappropriate. > > The goal of this tool has never been to be a stand-alone AD > monitoring tool, nor even a snapshot tool. Rather, it was > built specifically around the field offering of an AD risk > assessment. As such, outside of that, the tool likely has > little context, and may or may not be at all helpful. > That said, it is available in this context only, to the best > of my knowledge. > > ~Eric > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > Douglas M. Long > Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 8:20 AM > To: ActiveDir@mail.activedir.org > Subject: RE: [ActiveDir] AD Snapshot Tool (ADST) - how useful is it? > > I missed if anyone was making this tool available to the list? :) > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/activedir%40mail.activedir.org/ > > List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx > List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx > List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx List info : http://www.activedir.org/List.aspx List FAQ : http://www.activedir.org/ListFAQ.aspx List archive: http://www.activedir.org/ml/threads.aspx
