Active Directory for Administrators

Overview

Active Directory (AD) is a directory service for Windows domain networks. Active Directory is used to organize users and computers within an organization.

This live training course (online or on-site) is aimed at system administrators who wish to use Microsoft Active Directory to manage data access and secure it.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• configure and deploy the Active Directory service;
• create a domain and define access rights for users and devices;
• manage users and computers using Group Policies;
• control access to file servers;
• configure the certificate service and manage certificates;
• deploy and manage services such as encryption, certificates, and authentication.

Course Format

• Interactive lessons with discussion
• Abundance of exercises and practical tasks
• Real deployments in a live-lab environment

Requirements

• Experience in system administration
• Knowledge of the Windows Server operating system

Target Audience

System Administrators.

1. Introduction

• Introduction to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
• Course objectives and learning outcomes
• The role of Active Directory in an enterprise environment
• Overview of the laboratory environment
• Active Directory terminology and key concepts

2. Active Directory Functionality and Architecture Overview

• Active Directory architecture
• Logical structure vs. physical structure
• Domains, trees, and forests
• Organizational Units (OUs)
• Domain Controllers and the Global Catalog
• FSMO roles (Flexible Single Master Operations)
• Sites and subnets
• Integration with DNS in the context of Active Directory
• Active Directory partitions and database structure

3. Overview of Identity Management Solutions and Concepts

• Fundamental principles of Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Difference between authentication and authorization
• Kerberos authentication
• NTLM authentication
• Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Identity lifecycle management
• Hybrid identity concepts

4. Configuring Active Directory

• Planning an Active Directory deployment
• Installing Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
• Promoting a server to the role of Domain Controller
• Creating a new forest and domain
• Installing and configuring DNS service
• Verifying installation correctness
• Deployment best practices

5. Deploying Active Directory Domain Services

• Creating Organizational Units (OUs)
• Managing users, groups, and computers
• Managing user accounts
• Group scopes and group types
• Delegating administrative control
• Managing service accounts
• Adding computers to the domain

6. Configuring and Managing Replication

• Active Directory replication concepts
• Multimaster replication
• Replication topology
• Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC)
• Replication schedule sets
• Troubleshooting replication issues
• Monitoring replication health

7. Deploying and Managing Group Policies

• Group Policy architecture
• Creating Group Policy Objects (GPOs)
• GPO linking and filtering
• Group Policy inheritance
• Loopback processing
• Administrative templates
• Deploying software using GPOs
• Folder redirection
• Security policies
• Password and account lockout policies
• Troubleshooting Group Policy issues

8. Deploying a Certificate Authority (CA) Hierarchy

• Introduction to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Certificate Services architecture
• Root CA and subordinate CA
• Installing Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
• Designing the CA hierarchy
• Certificate templates
• Automatic enrollment

9. Managing Certificates

• Managing the certificate lifecycle
• Issuing certificates
• Renewing certificates
• Revoking certificates
• Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)
• Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
• Managing certificate templates
• Troubleshooting certificate issues

10. Deploying and Managing Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)

• Introduction to federation services
• AD FS architecture
• Claims-based authentication
• Installing AD FS
• Configuring trust relationships
• Implementing Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Integration with external applications
• Monitoring and troubleshooting AD FS

11. Sharing Data Access

• Access control concepts
• NTFS permissions
• Share permissions
• Effective permissions
• Access-Based Enumeration
• Dynamic access control
• File classification infrastructure dependencies
• File access auditing

12. Securing Active Directory Domain Services

• Active Directory security best practices
• Administrative security model
• Tiered administration
• Privileged Access Management (PAM)
• Securing domain controllers
• Password policies
• Fine-Grained Password Policies
• Account lockout policies
• Auditing and monitoring
• Backup and recovery aspects

13. Deploying and Managing Rights Management Services (RMS)

• Introduction to Active Directory Rights Management Services
• RMS architecture
• Installing AD RMS
• Protecting confidential documents
• Information protection policies
• Integration with Microsoft Office
• Managing user access rights

14. Deploying Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)

• Introduction to Microsoft Entra ID
• Cloud identity concepts
• Hybrid identity architecture
• Microsoft Entra Connect
• Pass-through authentication
• Federation with AD FS
• Conditional access overview
• Identity synchronization
• Managing cloud identities

15. Integrating Active Directory with OpenLDAP

• LDAP fundamentals
• Active Directory LDAP protocol support
• OpenLDAP overview
• Identity synchronization methods
• Authentication integration
• Common interoperability scenarios
• Security implications
• Troubleshooting LDAP connectivity

16. Monitoring Active Directory

• Monitoring tools
• Event Viewer consoles
• Performance Monitor
• Active Directory Administrative Center
• PowerShell in the context of monitoring
• Monitoring replication
• System health checks
• Change auditing
• Performance optimization

17. Troubleshooting

• User login issues
• DNS problems
• Replication failures
• Troubleshooting Group Policy issues
• Authentication issues
• Certificate-related issues
• Domain controller health checks
• Diagnostic tools (dcdiag, repadmin, nltest, gpresult)
• Backup and recovery procedures
• Disaster recovery scenarios

18. Summary and Conclusions

• Review of key concepts
• Best practices in Active Directory administration
• Security recommendations
• Operational maintenance control
• Additional Microsoft resources and documentation
• Q&A
• Summary of practical exercises and labs