Workshop: Intro to Active Directory with Dale Hobbs

This introductory course offers IT professionals, system administrators, and aspiring network engineers a thorough understanding of Active Directory’s key concepts, architecture, and practical uses.

Through hands-on exercises and real-world scenarios, participants will learn to:

• Understand the purpose and core components of Active Directory.
• Navigate and manage the Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) console.
• Design and implement organizational units, users, groups, and permissions.
• Explore group policies and their role in centralized management.
• Ensure Active Directory security and best practices.

By the end of this course, you will have the skills to set up and manage a basic Active Directory environment.

Syllabus

• Overview of Active Directory
  • Core Features
  • Benefits
• Key Concepts and Architecture
  • Components of Active Directory
  • Logical and Physical Structure
  • Common Terminology
• Setting Up and Administering AD
  • AD Installation Process
  • Creating and Managing Objects
  • Delegating Administrative Tasks
• Authentication and Security in AD
  • Authentication Protocols
  • Group Policies and Permissions
  • Monitoring and Auditing
• Active Directory Certificate Services
  • What is Active Directory Certificate Services (AD CS)
  • Components of AD CS
  • Setting up a Certification Authority (CA)
  • Managing Certificates and Templates
• Troubleshooting and Best Practices
  • Troubleshooting Tools and Techniques
  • Best Practices

Prerequisites

There are no pre-reqs in terms of knowledge level as this is an introductory course

Hardware Requirements

• 64-bit Intel i5 or i7 2.0 GHz processor or higher.
• 16 GB RAM is highly recommended for the best experience.
• 100 GB of FREE space on the hard drive is critical to host the VMs (SSD drives are also highly recommended, as they allow virtual machines to run much faster than mechanical hard drives.)
• Windows 10, macOS 10.15.x or later, or Linux that also can install and run VMware virtualization products described below.

CRITICAL NOTE: Apple systems using the M1/M2 processor line cannot perform the necessary virtualization functionality and therefore cannot be used for this course.

Software Requirements

• VMware Player 16, VMware Fusion 12, or VMware Workstation 16. (you can download a free 30-day trial copy from VMware. VMware Workstation Player is a free download)

NOTE: Hyper-V and VirtualBox are not supported and may not work with the course material.