Enterprise Azure Labs: AVD, EntraID and On-Prem ADDS (2025)

Define and configure an Azure VM OS using PowerShell by declaring variables for the resource group, location, and VM, then create public IP, VNet, and NIC.

Script and configure an Azure VM operating system with PowerShell, setting the source image and edition, attaching a network interface, disabling boot diagnostics, and outputting VM details and public IP.

Deploy a multi-region Azure lab by automating resource groups, virtual networks, and six Windows Server 2022 VMs across UK West, East US, and Central India with PowerShell automation.

Explore how Azure Bastion enables secure access to Windows VMs in the Azure portal via TLS over 443, eliminating public IPs and avoiding direct RDP exposure.

Configure six Azure virtual machines across zones, assign static IPs, install Active Directory Domain Services, and promote the first server to the forest root domain controller for learned lessons.

Configure a static ip on the domain controller using PowerShell, setting 10.0.0.5 with prefix 24 and gateway 10.0.0.1, and assign dns servers 10.0.0.5 and 10.0.0.4.

Configure vnet peering between central India and UK West to connect the learned lessons root domain with the moom subdomain, then promote dc1 and dc2 as domain controllers.

Verify and configure DNS settings across multi-region Active Directory, including DNS zones, forwarders to Azure DNS 168.63.129.16, and delegations for AMS and subdomains, with PowerShell validation.

Configure active directory sites across UK West, West Europe, and Central India to optimize domain controller workload and improve replication using ds site.msc.

Configure active directory sites and subnets for a multi-region environment by creating site links, setting replication frequency to 15 minutes, and moving domain controllers via GUI and PowerShell.

Set up a West US resource group with a standardized name, then create a matching virtual network and a pooled host pool with breadth-first load balancer and a two-user limit.

Configure Azure virtual desktop host pools with breadth-first, depth-first, or resource-based load balancing; select session host images such as Windows 10/11 multi-session and Windows Server images, and size VMs.

Explore Microsoft Entra ID as a cloud identity and access management service, and see how it serves as a directory for apps, with SSO, MFA, and hybrid integration.

Explore Microsoft Entra ID tiers, free, basic, and premium, and their Azure integration, including default directory provisioning with new subscriptions. Entra ID is a cloud native service for web-based apps.

Register a custom domain with a registrar, add it to your Azure tenant in the portal, verify ownership with a txt record, and configure dns to map to resources.

Explore how Microsoft Entra tenants relate to Azure subscriptions in a multi-tenant design, where a tenant can host multiple subscriptions and manage domains and permissions.

Compare Microsoft Entra ID and AD DS, contrasting cloud native versus on-premises deployment, flat versus hierarchical structures, REST APIs versus LDAP, and device objects versus computer objects for identity management.

Add a custom domain to the tenant, verify ownership with DNS records, and prepare federation with on-premises Windows Server Active Directory using Microsoft Entra ID.

Create an on-premises domain controller, install Microsoft Entra ID Connect, and synchronize on-prem AD with Azure Entra ID to enable identity integration for the Azure lab.

Explore Microsoft Entra ID as a cloud directory service unifying identity across Microsoft cloud services and external providers, enabling single sign-on and streamlined authentication for custom apps and web apps.

Explore EntraID p1 and p2 plans, comparing premium features such as self-service group management, advanced security reports with ML, MFA for on-prem apps, and conditional access with cloud app discovery.

Explore Microsoft Entra domain services core concepts, including policy management, domain joining, and Kerberos authentication in cloud and hybrid environments, with licensing and use-case considerations.

Compare Microsoft Entra ID with on-prem Active Directory, noting its cloud-based identity, REST APIs instead of LDAP, and reduced on-prem infrastructure, plus risk-based sign-ins with P2 licensing.

Establish on-premises active directory to Azure Active Directory connection with Microsoft Entra ID Connect, configure lab resources, and validate synchronization via a test user.

Assign the global administrator role to John Doe in Entra ID, then disable NLA via VM run command for Azure AD join, reboot, and re-enable NLA.

Test SSO integration with Azure Virtual Desktop Access across on-premises active directory and Entra ID, provisioning hybrid resources and validating seamless sign-in to azure resources.

Learn to manage Azure VMs from PowerShell: connect via RDP using the public IP, resize VMs with Get-Az VM size and Update-Az VM, and check power states with Get-Az VM.

Automate Azure VM management with PowerShell, including stopping, starting, restarting, and removing VMs and resource groups, and verify status with get azure vm status.

Complete a hands-on project to deploy and manage an Azure VM by creating a resource group, deploying a VM with a default configuration, stopping, starting, and deleting resources.

Provision a virtual machine from a disk image by creating a resource group, capturing the OS disk as custom images, deploying a second VM, and deleting resources.

Learn to configure and attach a 128 GB data disk to an Azure virtual machine, update the VM, and initialize, partition, and format the disk as NTFS.

Provision a data disk and attach it to a virtual machine, then initialize and format it for the operating system, and validate by creating a text file on the disk.

Learn to deploy a new virtual machine from an Azure snapshot by capturing a vm disk, configuring snapshot parameters, and provisioning the os disk.

Create an Azure virtual machine from a snapshot by loading snapshot and disk configurations, attaching an OS disk, and configuring network with a public IP.

Create a resource group, deploy a virtual machine, snapshot it, and create a disk from the snapshot. Deploy a second virtual machine from the disk, then remove all resources.

Create and configure azure availability sets to distribute virtual machines across fault and update domains, enabling high availability and reliable load-balanced deployments with PowerShell.

Explore how Azure Load Balancer achieves high availability by distributing traffic across healthy virtual machines, configuring front end and back end pools, health probes, and traffic rules.

Configure a load balancer with a front end IP, back end pool, and health probe, then deploy VMs behind it with NICs attached and place them in an availability set.

Install IIS on two VMs behind an Azure load balancer, use unique default.htm to identify each VM, and manage backend pool membership via NIC updates.