Mastering Active Directory: Manage and Optimize The Network

Explain what an operating system is as a mediator between hardware and user, and compare client and server OS with examples such as Windows, Linux, and Android.

Examine Windows server 2022 editions—essential, standard, and data center—covering licensing limits: essential supports a limited user count, standard offers functionality with two VMs, data center enables unlimited users and VMs.

Explore Windows Server 2022 features, emphasizing that it requires a 64‑bit processor to install. Compare 64‑bit versus 32‑bit performance, noting faster 64‑bit input and output.

Leverage Windows Server 2022's advanced multilayer security to deliver in-depth defense against advanced threats, providing robust protection that modern servers need.

Enable cloud backups from on premises deployments and configure a primary on premises with a secondary in the cloud for failover.

Use Azure Arc services to manage Windows and Linux on physical and virtual machines outside Azure. Move storage to Windows Server or Azure with the storage migration service.

Learn how the improved server manager uses a customizable dashboard to install services on local and remote servers, including DNS, DHCP, and file servers, unlike older Windows Server versions.

Explore how Windows Server 2022 standard evaluation offers both cli and desktop experience installation options, enabling you to install either a cli operating system or a gui desktop experience.

The group policy management console provides centralized control of user settings, letting administrators block USB drives, hide control panel, and apply a common wallpaper across devices from a central point.

Learn to back up a full Windows server and selected volumes with Windows Server backup, and recover the server, volumes, or specific files in a disaster.

Discover how the domain name system maps web names to IP addresses, acting as the internet's phone book, and how DNS servers resolve these requests.

Explore how IIS on Windows Server serves as a flexible, secure web server for hosting media streaming and web applications using HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

Explore virtualization and learn how a single physical server can host multiple virtual machines, each running its own operating system to support many applications.

Enable administrators to remotely deploy and install Windows operating systems on network-booted computers, saving time across many PCs by automating the setup process.

Explore how the dynamic host configuration protocol automates IP address assignment on networks using a DHCP server, and configure it to provide addresses, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS to clients.

Centralize user and computer management with Active Directory on Windows Server, granting centralized permissions and access control across devices, plus a recycle bin to restore deleted accounts and groups.

Identify the hardware requirements to install Windows Server 2022, including a 64-bit 1.4 ghz processor with virtualization support, intel or amd compatibility, at least 4 gb ram, and disk space.

Discover multiple methods to install Windows Server, including using a DVD, a bootable USB drive, or an ISO file downloaded from Microsoft, with steps to boot and detect each media.

Review lab computer specifications, including processor speed, virtualization support, RAM, and hard disk space, and verify Windows 10 as the recommended operating system for the Active Directory lab.

Identify software needed for Windows Server 2022 labs, including Windows Server 2022 ISO and VMware Workstation, to create virtual servers that function like physical servers and install operating system.

Learn to download the Windows Server 2022 ISO image, choose the 180-day evaluation, fill required information, select language, and locate the ISO in the desktop folder structure.

Download and install VMware Workstation, accept the license terms, and start the 30-day trial. Use the desktop icon and interface to create a virtual machine or virtual server.

Create a virtual machine in VMware Workstation with typical settings, install Windows Server 2022 later, name it server-01, save to folder, and set 100 GB disk and 2 GB memory.

Install Windows Server 2022 on a virtual machine from an ISO, choose desktop experience, create partitions, install VMware Tools, and add an administrator and a new user via lusrmgr.msc.

Explore how IP addresses serve as logical identifiers for networked devices, enabling communication, with IPv4 and IPv6 as the two addressing schemes.

Explain how IPv4 uses 32-bit addressing across four octets separated by dots, delivering about 4.3 billion addresses, deployed in the 1980s, the rise of IPv6, and decimal-to-binary conversion.

Learn how to assign an IP address to Windows Server by using the control panel, network options, and change adapter settings, including automatic or manual IP configuration.

Learn to assign a server IP address in Windows by navigating control panel network settings, selecting IPv4, and applying a static address with DNS and gateway considerations.

Explore how subnet masks separate network and host portions for class a, b, and c addresses, with default masks 255.0.0.0, 255.255.0.0, and 255.255.255.0.

Explore topology to understand how devices connect in a network and how data flows, distinguishing physical topology from logical topology.

Explore physical topology and describe how devices are physically connected in a network, noting there are multiple types of physical topologies.

Connect devices on a single cable using a TX connector, forming a bus topology with less cable but a single point of failure.

Explain ring topology, where each device connects to two neighbors to form a ring, and how a single workstation failure can affect the entire network.

Star topology uses a central switch; each computer has an independent connection, so a cable fault affects only one pc, not the entire network.

Describe how data flows between devices within a network using a logical topology. Differentiate the two Windows topologies: workgroup (peer-to-peer) and domain (client-server).

Examine the workgroup model, a peer-to-peer setup where every computer holds its own user accounts in a local database. Cross-computer logins require per-machine accounts, creating maintenance challenges for large networks.

Explore the domain model, a client-server architecture with a centralized directory service, where server-created user accounts are authenticated by the domain controller using Kerberos.

Explore how a domain is a logical network for centralized management with a unique name from DNS service, and how domain controllers run AD DS to authenticate users with Kerberos.

Configure a Windows server in a workgroup with network connectivity, set the IP address and preferred DNS, then install Active Directory Domain Services.

Define the terminologies: a domain is a logical network with a unique name provided by the DNS service; a domain controller is the server that controls that domain.

Configure a domain controller by setting the IP address 10.0.0.1, installing DNS and Active Directory services, and promoting the server to a domain controller via server manager.

Verify whether the server is in a workgroup by viewing the computer name in Windows Server 2022, noting the server name (server-01) for IP configuration.

Configure IPv4 on the chosen adapter with IP 10.0.0.1 and DNS 10.0.0.1 through the control panel. Leave the default gateway blank in a no-router environment to prepare DNS setup.

Install and configure Active Directory domain services on the current server using Server Manager, add roles and features, and promote the server to a domain controller.

Learn how to promote a server to a domain controller by creating a forest, configuring forest and domain functional levels, enabling DNS and global catalog, and managing backups and restorations.

Verify whether a server is a domain controller by using Active Directory tools, checking the domain name in system properties, and confirming the primary computer role with net accounts.

Create two virtual machines for a member server and a workstation, install Windows Server 2022 on one and Windows 10 on the other, and boot from ISO images.

Demonstrates configuring a domain with a domain controller, creating two member servers and a workstation, and joining machines to the msn.com domain while explaining member server vs workstation.

Configure local and domain user accounts by using Active Directory and domain controllers, then enforce password policies and account settings via Group Policy.

Configure account lockout policy with three failed attempts, duration, and reset using group policy in Active Directory. Learn to restrict a user to specific computers and set log on hours.

Learn how to assign admin rights to a normal user by adding them to the Domain Admins group in Active Directory, ensuring access to the domain controller.

Define how permissions grant access to files, folders, and drives for users and groups, and distinguish security level and share level permissions on NTFS, including inheritance from parent to child.

Create a data folder on the domain controller, then populate it with file1, file2, and file3, while verifying NTFS security on the F drive in a lab setting.

Learn to remove default permissions by disabling inheritance and removing inherited permissions on a data folder, then grant administrator access via two methods: automatically or manually with full control.

Demonstrates configuring NTFS security to grant a user read-only access to a data folder, testing permissions with administrator and Bill, and then granting Satya read-write access to enable editing.

Explore how share level permissions enable cross-network folder access, contrast with security level limits, and configure read or read-write rights and access paths, including UNC paths.

Understand local user profiles as personal workspaces stored on the local disk under c:\users, with desktop and documents. Compare with roaming profiles to access the same data on multiple computers.

Roaming user profiles store data on a server, load on any domain computer at login, and save at logout, with prerequisites including AD accounts, NTFS drive, and a shared folder.

Learn to configure a home folder as a network drive to back up user data on a server, accessible from any computer via Active Directory and a shared read/write folder.

Explore file server resource manager (FSRM) on Windows Server, detailing storage quota management, file screening management, and storage reports management for auditing and enforcing file extensions.

Learn to manage storage with quota templates, applying five GB and two GB limits to user folders, using hard quotas for enforcement and soft quotas for monitoring.

Enable auditing and create a file screening template to block images except jpg. Apply it to the user folder and verify that jpg is allowed and other images are blocked.

Audit user activity by monitoring attempts to save restricted files with storage reports management. Generate reports in html or formats, set the home folder scope, and review number of attempts.