Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 (70-410)

Download a Windows Server 2012 trial from Microsoft and install it with an ISO or virtual hard disk for hands-on exam prep; note the 180-day evaluation isn't licensed for production.

Master the Windows Server 2012 hardware requirements: 64-bit only, 1.4 ghz minimum, 512 mb RAM, 2 gb recommended, 32 gb disk, 40 gb install, RAM up to 32 gb.

this two-part lecture traces the evolution from standalone PCs to a centralized server model, explaining why Windows Server 2012 emerged to address shared files, security, backups, and administration challenges.

Explore how Windows Server 2012 supports large-scale networks with role-based design and Active Directory for secure logons and centralized resource management. Secure logons, file management, and monitoring are emphasized.

Plan a server installation by addressing exam questions on graphical user interface versus server core, naming within 63 characters, domain or workgroup decisions, ip types (static or dhcp), and backups.

Understand how Windows Server 2012 organizes services into server roles to match workload. Identify common roles such as domain controller, DNS, WINS, Hyper-V, and web server.

Plan a server upgrade by starting from the currently installed OS to generate a compatibility report. Back up the machine, and note that some roles may not upgrade.

Boot from the installation media to install Windows Server 2012, choose language and GUI installation, enter the product key, accept the license terms, and set the administrator password.

Explore the new Windows Server 2012 interface, navigate the desktop and start menu, and access administrative tools to pin items and shut down via the power menu.

Learn to prevent server manager from starting automatically on Windows Server 2012 by adjusting server manager properties and enabling do not start a server manager automatically.

Delegate administration using Active Directory as the foundation, selecting among centralized, distributed, and mixed models based on organizational units and sites.

Explore Windows Server 2012 file system options, including MBR or GPT partitions, basic or dynamic disks, simple or extended volumes, and FAT32 or NTFS formats for sharing data.

Compare MBR and GPT partitions in Windows Server 2012, highlighting MBR's three primary partitions and the extended partition limit, and GPT's unlimited partitions and suitability for disks over 2 terabytes.

Explore basic and dynamic disks, including partitions and boot options. See how dynamic disks span volumes across disks, enable software RAID, and relate to storage spaces.

Learn about simple and spand volumes in Windows Server 2012, where a simple volume uses a single basic disk partition and a spand volume spans multiple disks as one drive.

Explore storage spaces in Windows Server 2012, forming storage pools from multiple drives and presenting as a logical disk, with resiliency options like two-way mirroring, three-way mirroring, and parity.

Use storage spaces with thin provisioning to allocate more disk space to users than physically available, create multiple pool spaces with different resiliency, and monitor background allocation.

Understand ReFS, the resilient file system in Windows Server 2012, designed for storage spaces with on-the-fly repairs, high capacity, and data protection, not replacing NTFS.

Explore NIC teaming in Windows Server 2012, a cloud-based feature that groups multiple network interface cards to provide fault tolerance and load balancing for multiple IP addresses.

Explore core file system formats, including CDFS, FAT and FAT32, NTFS with security, disk quotas, encryption, and compression, and the newer ReFS, for Windows Server 2012 exam readiness.

Learn how server roles, services, and features work together to enable specific network functions, configure through server manager or Get-WindowsFeature and PowerShell, and balance workloads.

Migrate server roles from older Windows Server versions to Windows Server 2012 using Windows Server Migration Tools. Ensure updated service packs, same subnet, and PowerShell-driven steps with TechNet guides.

Deploy roles on Windows Server 2012 using Server Manager or PowerShell, adding and removing roles and features on local or remote servers, with exam-focused guidance.

Add the server role, then run the DCP post install configuration wizard to set up the service. Use the notification flag to complete post deployment configuration for the DCP server.

Learn features on demand in Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8, storing only needed files, giving administrators control over installation sizes, reducing disk space and security risk for virtual disks.

Explore standard file sharing and public folder sharing on Windows Server 2012, highlighting in-place sharing, access control, and the secure, preferred method for network file access.

Understand how share permissions and NTFS permissions work together on Windows Server 2012, including FAT32 versus NTFS formats, network vs local access, and the most restrictive rule.

NTFS permissions cover full control, modified, read and execute, list folder contents, read, and write, and contrast with share permissions such as read, change, and full control.

Explore configuring a shared folder on Windows Server 2012 by using the share and security tabs, setting network share permissions (everyone, Bob) and NTFS permissions, and understanding their differences.

Learn offline files and client side caching for mobile users, including folder redirection and group policy to cache and back up documents on a server share.

Configure offline files caching on Windows Server 2012 using server manager and share settings to control per-share offline availability and enforce user-specified files.

Learn how access-based enumeration hides files users can't access on network shares, when it applies, and how to enable or disable it using the Share and Storage Management tool.

Learn to enable and disable access-based enumeration on Windows Server 2012 shares via file and storage services, clarifying the proper steps in server manager and avoiding outdated documentation.

Understand the volume shadow copy service (vss). It creates point-in-time snapshots for backups, enabling read-only copies and recovery, with full or change-based snapshots.

Configure the volume shadow copy service on Windows Server 2012 per volume, enable shadow copies after defragmenting, and schedule two copies daily to preserve prior versions of shared folders.

Explore NTFS disk quotas to monitor and manage user disk space on a per-volume basis. Learn how to enable quotas, set exceptions, and understand their impact on recycle bin storage.

Enable NTFS disk quotas on Windows Server 2012 by turning on quota management, setting a 100 MB per-user limit with an 80 MB warning, and managing per-user quota entries.

Explore enterprise print management with Windows Server 2012, using the print services server role and print management to install printers, monitor queues, and enforce permissions across the organization.

Learn printer pooling on Windows Server 2012: connect logical printer to multiple physical printers via ports and route jobs to the first idle printer, considering driver compatibility and port ordering.

Configure printer pooling in Windows Server 2012 using the print management tool, add printers, enable pooling on a shared port, and understand how jobs route to available printers.

Explore printer priorities in Windows Server 2012, showing how logical printers route to a single physical printer and how prioritizing the sales group puts front desk jobs first.

Configure printer priorities in the print management tool by mapping logical printers to USB or serial ports and setting priority levels so higher priority prints go first.

Configure printer permissions on Windows Server 2012, from default everyone can print to specific groups, with print, manage printers, and manage documents rights, and deny overrides all preceding permissions.

Enable or disable remote management on Windows Server 2012 via Server Manager to allow or restrict WMI and Windows PowerShell remote access, with firewall and permissions considerations.

Learn how winrm enables administrators to run commands remotely on target servers, with authentication and encrypted traffic, configure it via quick config, enable-psremoting for ws-management, and run ipconfig on servers.

Master client-based server management by remotely administering Windows Server 2012 from a Windows 8 client with Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT), including setup steps and exam-focused guidance.

Learn to enable down-level server management from Windows Server 2012 for remote older servers by installing .NET Framework 4.0, Windows Management Framework 3.0, and KB 2682011 hotfix on 2008/2008 R2.

Explore three IP address configuration options: manual static addresses, BOOTP, and DHCP. The lecture compares setup effort, scalability, lease behavior, and risks like address waste and security, guiding exam readiness.

Explore subnetting and supernetting basics, see how borrowing bits to the right creates more networks with fewer hosts, and how left borrowing supports classless internet domain routing.

Compare IPv4 and IPv6, focusing on 32-bit versus 128-bit addresses, built-in IPsec security, QoS, and extensible headers, and note IPv4 and IPv6 coexistence and migration technologies.

Learn ISATAP, an IPv6 transition technology that encapsulates IPv6 in IPv4 to move traffic across an IPv4 network, used in sites or intranets, not the public internet.

Configure Windows Server 2012 as an ISATAP router by advertising the ISATAP interface, setting the IPv6 prefix, enabling forwarding, and publishing routes with netsh.

Configure Teredo on Windows Server 2012 to provide IPv6 connectivity over IPv4, including NAT traversal and tunneling IPv6 packets in UDP, with two consecutive static IPv4 addresses.

Review class a, b, and c address ranges and their subnet masks, highlighting the network–host tradeoff and the reserved 127 for loopback, plus class d multicast.

Master dynamic host configuration protocol fundamentals, including client-server dhcp in Windows Server 2012, IPv4 and IPv6 modes, address pool management and reuse, and failure behavior.

Explore dhcp scopes and the four types—normal scope, multicast scope, super scope, and failover scope—and how they assign IPv4 addresses per subnet, with options, exclusions, and reservations.

Learn how DHCP reservations assign a permanent IP to a specific client using its MAC address, offering centralized management and a static-like behavior with caveats for required static addresses.

Master dhcp options accompanying ip addresses with subnet masks, dns servers, and gateways, and how default global, scope, class, and reserved client options override one another.

Learn how a DHCP relay agent forwards broadcast requests to a DHCP server across a router, enabling clients to obtain IP address configuration.

Explore dhcp failover in windows server 2012, configuring a partner server to enable load balancing or hot standby, with two dhcp servers sharing scope data and clocks within 60 seconds.

Configure the DHCP server by adding the role, creating IPv4 scopes, and setting scope options like router and DNS. Authorize the server in Active Directory and enable dynamic DNS.

Explore how the domain name system resolves hostnames to IP addresses through a client-server DNS architecture, including forward and reverse lookups, recursive queries, a zone, and authoritative servers.

Explore how dns integration with active directory provides automatic replication of primary zones to domain controllers, supports dynamic updates, and distinguishes domain controllers from member servers.

Learn how DNS forwarding directs queries to a designated server using forwarders and conditional forwarders, and how to configure them in the DNS management tool.

Configure root hints to direct your DNS server to internet root name servers, update the cache in system32\DNS\Cache.dns, and optionally point to internal root DNS servers using DNS Manager.

Learn how the DNS cache speeds lookups by storing resolved names, TTL behavior, and how to manage and purge the cache using ipconfig commands and DNSCMD in Windows Server 2012.

Explore Active Directory basics, including domain services, domains, domain controllers, organizational units, group policy, sites, trusts, and forests, and understand how these components secure and manage users across a network.

Install Active Directory Domain Services via Server Manager and promote the server to a domain controller to create a domain or forest, including adding domain controllers and creating a forest.

Learn how to demote and remove domain controllers in Active Directory. Explore multi-master replication, domain versus member servers, and the fate of the last domain controller becoming a standalone server.

Explore organizational units in Active Directory as domain-contained containers, the smallest scope for group policy, used to delegate administration and organize objects, distinct from groups for permissions.

Understand how security and distribution groups secure resources in Windows Server and Active Directory, using machine local, domain local, global, and universal scopes.

Convert groups in Windows Server 2012 by changing group type and scope (domain local, global, universal) via Active Directory Users and Computers. Learn how permissions may be affected.

Learn how IFM domain controller installations deploy remote domain controllers using specially prepared media. Copy Active Directory objects to media to reduce replication over unreliable networks.

Learn to create installation media on a domain controller and promote a remote server to a domain controller, detailing media creation, promotion steps, and cleanup to prevent replication delays.

Learn how the global catalog server in Active Directory maintains a complete copy of all objects, provides partial copies for other domains, and supports searches, authentication, and group membership.

Create Active Directory user accounts with the Active Directory Users and Computers tool, configuring options like must change password at log on, password never expires, and smart card log on.

Use a user template in Active Directory to quickly create multiple accounts with identical settings. Copy the disabled template, rename the new account, set a password, and enable it.

Explore bulk Active Directory operations with CSVDE, LDIFDE, and ADSI VBScript, including export, import, and modify options, plus practical notes on Excel-friendly CSVs and admin requirements.

Discover how offline domain join allows a computer to join an Active Directory domain without network connectivity by preloading necessary files on a reference computer.

Discover how group policy centralizes security and desktop settings via GPO objects, linked to sites, domains, and organizational units, and managed with the Group Policy Management Console.

Create a central store as a centralized domain location for managing group policy administrative templates, ensuring all templates are available, up-to-date, and easy to manage across the network.

Explore starter GPOs, predefined templates to prepopulate new GPOs, disabled by default, enable to install templates, and test in non-production environments.

Create a GPO and link it to a site or domain using the group policy management console, then configure scope and settings, including password policy.

Explore multiple local group policies, LGPL, and how they improve management on non-domain computers, including disabling local group policy processing on domain joined machines using the Group Policy Management tool.

Learn to configure multiple local group policy objects on non domain joined computers, including local computer policy, administrators, non administrators, and user specific policies, in a defined processing order.

Apply security filtering to control which users or groups receive a group policy object by adjusting scope and permissions, replacing authenticated users with targeted groups or individuals.

Learn about three base security templates in Windows Server 2012 and how to import/export them via Group Policy Editor to standardize security settings.