Server Administration Fundamentals 2017 (Server+ SK0-004)

Explore server fundamentals by defining what a server is, including hardware and non-hardware forms, and tracing its history, categories, common types, and administration tasks.

Define servers as the platform for services, explain physical and virtual deployments, the server versus service distinction, and deployment for capacity and security, with examples like Windows and Linux servers.

Trace the history of servers from room-sized, power-hungry machines to compact systems, highlighting Banyan Vines, Novell NetWare, Lotus Notes, Windows NT, and Active Directory.

Explore server categories, from physical servers (rack-mounted, desktop, appliances, micro appliances) to virtual servers managed by ESX or Hyper-V, and cloud servers with shared storage and security policies.

Explore common server types, including web, application, database, and directory servers. Learn their storage, memory, CPU, and networking needs and related concepts like DNS, HTTP, HTTPS, and caching.

Select hardware, install and configure the operating system, deploy services like Active Directory and DNS, perform security hardening, and plan ongoing maintenance, backups, upgrades, and end-of-life data destruction.

Explore the future of servers as online services grow, with cloud-based storage, databases, data-mining, and online applications. Leverage virtualization on fewer physical machines for improved reliability and lower power.

Explore installing and configuring servers, understand server types, processors and socket terminology, RAM components, bus types, hardware cards, powering, and cooling essentials for server administration.

Explore server form factors such as rackmount, tower, and blade; learn how rack units like 1u and 2u, cable arms, rail kits, shelves, blade backplane concepts enable deployment and maintenance.

Explore server processors, including multiprocessor and multi-core designs, clock speeds, bus speeds, and CPU stepping. Compare architectures and sockets—from x86/x64 to ARM—PGA vs LGA and AMD vs Intel.

Explore bus types that connect the cpu and memory, including pci, pci express, and pci-x, detailing their sizes and throughput for modern server boards.

Explore how the bus types connect the cpu and memory to expansion cards, including pci, pci express, and pci-x, with height variations and throughput differences.

Configure server hardware components such as network interface cards, riser and raid controllers, and hard drives, focusing on speed, redundancy, adapter teaming, and fault tolerance.

Powering servers covers single-phase and three-phase power, voltage levels such as 110/220 and -48 v dc, wattage, plug types nema edison twist lock, and ups with n+1 redundancy.

Evaluate server cooling by examining hot aisle and cold aisle airflow, raised floor and in-ceiling ventilation, and thermal transfer to heat sinks, fans, and liquid cooling.

Explore hardware components and the power and cooling requirements of servers today. Apply this understanding to support effective server administration.

Explore server operating systems by selecting, preparing (including drivers and installation media), installing Windows or Linux, and performing configuration aligned with application needs and policy.

Identify requirements that drive selecting a server operating system, including applications, built-in services like DNS and DHCP, OS features, policies, roles, security, licensing, cost, and support.

Prepare for installation by reviewing firmware updates, BIOS or UEFI settings, boot order, and virtualization support. Also plan RAID configuration, partitioning, formatting, and NTFS and ext4 file system choices.

Install Windows Server 2012 in a virtual machine, selecting language, GUI installation, disk partitioning, and post-install setup. Configure administrator password, install VMware Tools, and adjust screen resolution.

Demonstrates installing ubuntu server in a vm with guided partitioning, grub bootloader, and apt-based setup, then enabling automatic security updates and optional kubuntu desktop.

Master server configuration tasks from local account setup and password policies to network settings, domain joining, services, updates, hardening, and swap file management.

Explore server manager and essential tools to administer Windows Server roles, and configure networking through ipconfig, adapter settings, and static IPv4 addresses.

This demo shows configuring Linux in a KDE server environment using GUI network tools and console commands such as ifconfig, with apt-get for tools and managing services and startup scripts.

Express gratitude to viewers for viewing this course. Apply the value gained to become a better server administrator.

Explore server access methods and essential administration techniques to keep systems running. Understand fault-tolerant methods, asset management, and thorough documentation to ensure availability for mission-critical services.

Explore server access methods, from local serial console and appliance server management to remote kvm over ip, ssh, rdp, and vnc for secure administration.

Implement formal change management to authorize, prioritize, assign, and schedule server changes, and manage patches with testing, documentation, and compatibility checks.

Utilize Sysinternals Process Explorer and Process Monitor to analyze processes, CPU, memory, PID, handles, and registry, and review LEDs, error codes, beep codes, LCD messages for hardware health.

Use LEDs, error codes, beep codes, and LCD messages to monitor system health, and perform preventive maintenance such as clearing dust and maintaining proper airflow through cool and hot aisles.

Explore fault-tolerant methods for servers, including clustering with active/active and active/passive configurations, load balancing with heartbeat checks, and building service level agreements to manage uptime and downtime.

Track assets by managing licenses (per user, per seat, or per installation), warranties, labeling, and both manual and automated inventory, using agent-based or agentless methods.

Explore inventory and asset tracking tools on Ubuntu server, including the KDE Infocenter and I-Nex, and generate hardware reports in text and HTML with lshw.

Manage the full lifecycle of hardware and software, from acquisition and procurement through staging, production, non-production use, and decommissioning, with end-of-life disposal procedures.

Master asset management and device documentation, including service manuals, instruction manuals, and specification documents, with local storage to ensure access, and use network, architecture, and dataflow diagrams for troubleshooting.

Create a network diagram in Visio by placing servers, connecting switches and routers, and annotating shape data such as asset numbers and IP addresses, then save as Visio or PDF.

Learn to create and manage miscellaneous and baseline server documentation, including baseline performance, configuration standards, recovery procedures, change management, SLAs, and per-server configs, stored securely with authentication, authorization, and encryption.

Apply server administration practices in your environment to improve processes and prepare for the CompTIA Server+ exam.

Explore virtualization basics, including the definition, importance, and the role of hypervisors and hardware support. Identify virtual resources and learn how to create and manage a virtual machine.

Explore virtualization fundamentals, including hypervisor architecture with host and guest operating systems and virtual machines on virtual hardware. Compare Hyper-V and vSphere features for consolidation and fault tolerance.

Learn how hypervisors virtualize hardware to run guest operating systems, explore type 1 and type 2 architectures, and examine hybrid virtualization with containerized apps.

Identify hardware supported for virtual environments via the vendor compatibility list, enable hardware-assisted virtualization (Intel VT or AMD-V), ensure BIOS/UEFI compatibility, and set per-guest CPU limits for optimal VM performance.

Explore virtual resources in server virtualization: map CPUs and cores, allocate memory, configure virtual disks and direct access storage, and manage networks with virtual switches and NAT.

Create and configure a virtual machine in VMware Workstation, adjusting preferences, input, hotkeys, display, memory, and networking, then customize hardware, I/O, and disk settings.

Configure a Windows Server virtual machine by adjusting memory, processors, disk mappings, and network settings, install the VMware Tools, and add a 10 GB virtual disk, noting hot-swap limitations.

Explore how to manage a virtual machine with power options, create and restore snapshots, and use cleanup disks and cloning to maintain a baseline server configuration.

Thank you for viewing this course; I hope it will help you become a better server and virtual server administrator.

Explore storage systems for servers: hard disks, RAID types, and RAID implementation. Learn to design network storage, SAN, external drives, backup media, and capacity calculations.

Explore how hard disks power server storage, covering RPM, dimensions and form factor, capacity, bus width, IOPS, seek time and latency, hot-swap, and HDD vs SSD tradeoffs.

Explore external storage options for servers, including USB flash and hard drives, compact flash, esata, and storage cabinets, and compare durability, cost per megabyte, and RAID capabilities.

Explain software versus hardware raid, performance, fault tolerance, and capacity considerations; cover hot swap, hot spare, cold spare, and raid controller features like bus type, memory cache, and battery-backed cache.

Explore network storage concepts, comparing NAS and DAS, and examine storage appliances, SMB, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet for file storage and application data workloads.

Explore storage area networks and fibre channel technology, including fabric switches, host bus adapters, and LUNs, to understand how storage is accessed and protected across multiple servers.

Explore external drives for server storage, including USB flash drives, USB hard drives, compact flash, and esata, and consider hubs and storage cabinets for scalable capacity.

Evaluate backup media options, including tapes with libraries, optical discs such as DVD and Blu-ray, and cloud backups, to support archiving, recovery, security, and retention policies.

Calculate capacity for OS, databases, and file servers using base2 and base10 metrics. Apply archiving, quotas, compression, and data deduplication to manage growth and costs.

Develop your skills in storage technologies and server and storage administration to become a more proficient administrator.

Explore storage configuration, including managing partitions and volumes, formatting drives and file systems. Learn to create software RAID, JBOD or spanned volumes, and encrypt, compress, and use external drives.

Verify drive availability and prepare partitions and volumes on Windows Server using Server Manager, Disk Management, and PowerShell cmdlets like Get-PhysicalDisk and Get-Disk, then initialize disks and create NTFS volumes.

Format drives across Windows and PowerShell and compare NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS. Learn about allocation unit sizes, quick vs slow formats, and using volume labels.

Explore how to create software-based raid arrays in Windows Server using disk management, including raid 0, raid 1, and raid 5 with parity and dynamic disks.

Explore creating a JBOD spanned volume in Windows Server with Disk Management, using methods—from empty disks or by extending a volume—on dynamic disks, noting that it's not a stripe set.

Learn how to encrypt data on Windows Server using the Encrypting File System with NTFS and BitLocker, encrypting files, folders, and entire drives, with key backup and recovery practices.

Learn how to compress data on ntfs by files, folders, and drives, weighing cpu overhead against space savings, especially with text versus binary data.

Explore how to mount, manage, and secure external USB drives in server environments, including virtual machine pass-through, formatting, and encrypting with BitLocker for removable drives.

Explore storage management basics and the steps to configure and utilize storage, empowering you to become a more effective administrator.

Introduce server security essentials, covering physical security, server hardening, network security, access control, data security, and environmental controls to prevent downtime and data loss.

Explore physical security for server environments, including multi-factor authentication (something you have, know, or are), biometrics, RFID, keypads, man traps, access lists, cameras, and secure locations.

Hardening the server balances usability and security by disabling unneeded services, closing ports, applying updates, and installing only required software while using tools like nmap to detect vulnerabilities.

Demonstrates server hardening by evaluating Windows services, configuring updates, and using Nmap/zenmap to assess base filtering engine and open ports.

Enhance server and application security by applying patches, disabling unused components and roles, and hardening applications; implement endpoint security with host intrusion detection and anti-malware.

Explore server anti-malware with Malwarebytes, run scans, review protection history and real-time status, and customize updates, notifications, and event logs while configuring threat learning and scanning options.

Disable unneeded hardware and drivers, set a BIOS password, disable wake on LAN, lock the boot order to prevent USB boots, and enable chassis intrusion detection.

Remediate security issues by running a vulnerability scan with the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer for Windows products, review the generated report, and apply the missing security updates and patches.

Learn how traffic filtering and firewalls protect networks, and review port security, network access control, and key authentication protocols like LDAP, RADIUS, TACACS, with PKI and SSL/TLS.

Explore security zones and the DMZ, and how public, private, intranet, and extranet networks shape access and protection, plus VPNs, IPsec, L2TP, and VLANs.

Explore access control lists that grant permissions to users, groups, and roles for resources like files, folders, printers, and network devices, and understand read, write, execute, delete, and full control.

Demonstrate creating and managing access control lists on a Windows server by configuring file and folder permissions, ownership, inheritance, and share permissions to control access.

Secure data by implementing storage encryption, including file level, disc level, and tape encryption for backups. Apply soft wipe, hard wipe, and remote wipe to ensure disposal and loss protection.

Demonstrates hard wiping for data security with the hardwipe tool, selecting speed and overwrite algorithms (zero, random, DoD 5220.22-M) for a three-pass wipe that requires formatting.

explore environmental controls for server rooms, covering power, ups batteries, pdus, redundant circuits, and safe shutdown procedures to prevent failure, while examining hvac, remote management, monitoring, and safety practices.

Thank you for watching this course and exploring security components for securing your servers. Let these insights help you become a more effective server security administrator.

Learn IP addressing basics, including IPv4 and IPv6, and explore essential network services, ports and protocols, then scan for open ports with Nmap and select Ethernet or fiber cables.

Explore IPv4 and IPv6 addressing concepts, including dotted decimal and hex notation, subnet masks, CIDR notation, private vs public addresses, and DHCP configuration.

Configure ip addressing on Windows Server using graphical user interface and netsh, setting ipv4 addresses, subnets, gateways, and dns; verify with ipconfig and switch between dhcp and static as needed.

Examine dhcp, dns, fqdn concepts, default domain suffix, and search domains that locate and configure hosts. Discover nat and pat for internet address translation and explore legacy wins and netbios.

Configure DHCP pools and IPv4 scopes on Windows, including address ranges, leases, exclusions, and scope options such as gateway and DNS settings; manage DNS host records, PTR records, and forwarding.

Explore the transport layer protocols tcp and udp, contrasting connection-oriented and connectionless communications for real-time use, and map service and application protocols to their ports.

Learn to use nmap from the command line to scan open ports on Linux hosts with tcp syn, udp, os detection, and version probes to identify services on localhost ips.

Choose the right copper or fiber cable for your network, including twisted-pair copper, cat5/5e/6, single- and multimode fiber, end connectors like RJ45 and RJ11, and proper cable management.

Learn to test network cables using led indicators, software tools, and sounding testers, and verify each cable with devices like the Link Sprinter 300 before use.

Explore wired and wireless cable testing with basic to advanced tools, from CYBA’s simple RJ45 tester to NETSCOUT’s link sprinter and AirCheck G2, validating PoE, DHCP, DNS, and network performance.

Learn essential server network administration management skills to connect servers to the network and ensure they function properly, helping you become a better server administrator.