Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) administration course

Set up a practice lab to explore virtual machines, Active Directory, and Microsoft Entra Connect in the cloud, with most of the course doable via simulations and a web browser.

Download the Windows Server 2022 ISO from the provided Microsoft link, then right-click and save as to your desktop. Confirm the ISO download is complete.

Enable Hyper-V in control panel, reboot, then open Hyper-V manager to create virtual machines if hardware virtualization is supported.

Discover how to set up an external virtual switch in Hyper-V to provide internet access for a virtual machine, including selecting your network adapter and understanding Windows edition requirements.

Install Windows Server 2022 in a Hyper-V virtual machine, configure memory and storage, install from an ISO with desktop experience, and sign in to Server Manager.

Fix a rare Hyper-V networking issue causing internet slowdown or loss by disabling large send offload version 2 on the Hyper-V virtual Ethernet adapter through device manager.

Learn how to download the Windows 11 ISO for a virtual machine, including navigating the official download page, filling the form, and selecting the English United States 64 bit edition.

Learn to install Windows 11 in a Hyper-V virtual machine by creating a generation two VM, configuring RAM and TPM, attaching an ISO, and installing Windows 11 enterprise evaluation.

Install Active Directory Domain Services, promote the server to a new forest with root domain exam lab practice.com, configure DNS and NetBIOS, and verify AD and DNS functionality.

Configure Windows 11 to join the exam lab practice domain by pointing to the NYC DC1 DNS server, rename the computer, and log in as administrator to access domain resources.

Understand Microsoft's IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS offerings, from Azure infrastructure with virtual machines and pay-as-you-go to platform tools like Kubernetes and databases, to software like Microsoft 365 and Office 365.

Recognize the first concept of Microsoft's cloud: things are constantly changing, so you must stay agile, hunting for changes as menus shift and buttons rename.

Navigate and manage Microsoft Entra ID across the Azure portal and the newer Entra portal, including users, groups, devices, roles, identity protection, and identity governance.

Identify available Microsoft Entra ID versions and licenses, from free to premium P1 and P2, and learn to view, compare, and assign licenses in the portal and admin center.

Understand how Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) powers Azure and Microsoft 365 by unifying user identities and groups across portals, with licenses managed in the Microsoft 365 portal.

Explore how Microsoft Entra ID serves as the central repository for identities, cloud or on-premises. Learn identity types such as user, guest, service principal, and device identities.

Learn how to create user identities across the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra ID, and admin.microsoft.com by configuring user principal names, display names, passwords, licenses, roles, and group associations.

Learn how to invite external guests to your environment using Microsoft Entra ID for B2B scenarios, including sending guest invites to consultants via emails and granting access to Azure resources.

License user identities in Azure and Microsoft 365 using the Microsoft Entra ID licenses blade, and assign Microsoft 365 E5 licenses to users via the Microsoft 365 admin center.

Create multiple users in Entra ID via bulk operations by downloading a csv template, filling data, and importing it through the portal.

Learn to easily redo simulations after completing an assignment by navigating to summary, returning to the assignment, and opening the instructions to access the simulation link.

Understand the four group types in Entra ID and Microsoft 365—Microsoft 365 groups, distribution groups, mail-enabled security groups, and security groups—and how assigned or dynamic membership (and devices) govern access.

Learn to create and manage Microsoft 365 groups in admin center, assign owners and members, set a private group, configure group email, and note that dynamic groups aren’t available here.

Create and manage Azure AD groups in the portal, using Microsoft 365 and security types with dynamic rules. Build dynamic user groups and dynamic device groups.

Compare registered devices and joined devices in Entra ID, noting BYOD personal credentials and organizational accounts, and understand hybrid join for cloud and on-prem resources.

Shows joining a Windows 11 device to Microsoft Entra ID during the out-of-box experience. Sign in with an organization account to complete the joined device in portal.azure.com.

Learn to register a personal device to Microsoft Entra ID and distinguish it from a joined device, view how policies apply, and see the registered status in portal.azure.com.

Build a foundation in PowerShell by learning verb-noun commands, intellisense, parameters, and remoting to automate bulk administration across servers and cloud services.

Microsoft Graph unifies APIs for Microsoft 365 and Azure into a single endpoint for cross-platform, token-based automation, guiding future-proof workloads over traditional PowerShell.

connect to graph with PowerShell, view and create Entra ID users, bulk-import users from CSV, assign licenses, and create groups for Microsoft 365.

Explore how Azure RBAC and Entra ID roles control access and management of Azure resources, Microsoft 365 apps, with least privilege and just-in-time access via PIM.

Configure role based access control in Entra ID by selecting roles, assignments, and privileged identity management settings to grant read or admin privileges with optional MFA.

Explore how to view, search, and assign roles in the Microsoft 365 admin center, including SharePoint, Exchange, Intune, Defender, and Purview roles linked to Entra ID.

Learn to manage Azure resource permissions using roles, create a resource group, and build a custom role with specific compute permissions in the IAM blade.

Inspect effective Azure permissions by checking access, viewing role assignments (owner, user access administrator, VM management), and using the IAM blade with PIM to see deny and eligible assignments.

Explore Microsoft Entra ID privileged identity management (PIM) within a zero-trust, least-privilege framework, featuring just-in-time access, approvals, MFA, access reviews, and audit history.

Learn how to configure privileged identity management in Microsoft Entra ID to grant temporary access to roles, set scope and duration, require MFA, and activate user creation rights.

Explore administrative units in Microsoft Entra ID as containers to group users and devices for delegated, scoped admin control and understand use cases like departmental, regional, and school separation.

Create and manage administrative units in Entra ID across portal.azure.com, admin.microsoft.com, and the Entra portal, including restricted management units and dynamic membership for scoped admin roles.

Compare intra connect sync and intra cloud sync for hybrid environments: full on premises to cloud authentication versus lightweight cloud managed password hash synchronization.

Visualize intra connect sync and intra cloud sync as hybrid solutions that synchronize on-premises directory data with Entra ID, enabling password writeback, delta sync, and seamless cloud authentication.

Learn to fix on-premises active directory naming issues before syncing to Microsoft Entra ID using the IdFix tool, including running a test user with a space and applying fixes.

Deploy directory synchronization with Microsoft Entra Cloud Sync by linking an on-premises Active Directory domain to Entra ID, using a provisioning agent and scoping filters.

Learn practical steps to troubleshoot Entra Connect Sync and Entra Cloud Sync, including checking health dashboards, reviewing event logs, verifying services, and analyzing provisioning and audit logs.