Windows Server 2016 Administration

Boot from the installation media, run Windows setup, and perform a clean install of Windows Server 2016 with the desktop experience, then set the administrator password.

Explore the server core operating system, a no-graphics variant of Windows Server 2016, with a smaller footprint and attack surface, supporting AD DS, DHCP, DNS, Hyper-V, failover clustering, and BitLocker.

Discover Nano Server, a 500 MB deployment option, and compare it with Server Core and the Desktop Experience server, including remote management, patching, and deployment environments.

Learn to install nano server with PowerShell using the nano server image generator, build a Hyper-V guest, join it to a domain, and manage remotely.

Explore how PowerShell on Windows Server 2016 handles common commands like ping and ipconfig, including command color cues, switches, and built-in compatibility differences between PowerShell and command prompt.

Explore the PowerShell ISE to view SMB share modules, create and remove shares with New-SmbShare and Remove-SmbShare, copy commands to clipboard, and build PS1 scripts.

Master PowerShell remoting to connect to remote computers with enter-pssession and -computername, run commands remotely, manage multiple sessions via tabs, and enable Windows Remote Management through the firewall.

Install Active Directory domain services and DNS with PowerShell, then promote the server to a domain controller using a local domain name and site, followed by reboot.

Create and manage Active Directory user accounts, assign to groups, enforce must change password at next log on, copy template accounts, and use AD Administrative Center with PowerShell history.

Explore Active Directory groups, comparing distribution and security types, and learn how domain local, global, and universal scopes control permissions, membership, and cross-domain access.

Understand how group policy processing order works across local, site, domain, and organizational unit levels, including local policy objects and domain-joined computers inheriting settings.

Trace how a user resolves a website name from local cache and host files to recursive DNS, cache checks, and root to the .com namespace queries.

Explore how the DNS client cache resolves names to IP addresses, view and purge cache with ipconfig, and manage the hosts file to enforce or block redirects.

Discover how the DNS server maintains a separate cache, how to view or clear it in server manager, and how root hints guide unresolved queries to root servers.

Describe the logon process where a client uses the primary DNS to locate a domain controller via Kerberos, and how incorrect IP configuration can block logon or domain join.

Explore forward and reverse lookup zones in Windows Server 2016 DNS, including Active Directory integrated, primary, secondary, sub zone, and stub zone configurations.

Explore DNS forwarding: how clients check caches and host files, send recursive queries to local DNS, and forward to external DNS like 8.8.8.8; understand internal and perimeter DNS server roles.