Active Directory for Admins Training Course

1. Introduction

• Introduction to Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS).
• Course objectives and learning outcomes.
• Understanding the role of Active Directory in enterprise environments.
• Overview of the training lab environment.
• Active Directory terminology and key concepts.

2. Overview of Active Directory Features and Architecture

• Active Directory architecture.
• Logical vs. physical structure.
• Domains, Trees, and Forests.
• Organizational Units (OUs).
• Domain Controllers and Global Catalog.
• Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles.
• Sites and Subnets.
• DNS integration with Active Directory.
• Active Directory partitions and database structure.

3. Overview of Identity Management Solutions and Concepts

• Identity and Access Management (IAM) fundamentals.
• Authentication vs. Authorization.
• Kerberos authentication.
• NTLM authentication.
• Single Sign-On (SSO).
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
• Identity lifecycle management.
• Hybrid identity concepts.

4. Setting up Active Directory

• Planning an Active Directory deployment.
• Installing Active Directory Domain Services.
• Promoting a server to a Domain Controller.
• Creating a new forest and domain.
• Installing and configuring DNS.
• Verifying installation.
• Best practices for deployment.

5. Implementing Active Directory Domain Services

• Creating Organizational Units.
• Managing users, groups, and computers.
• User account management.
• Group scopes and group types.
• Delegation of administrative control.
• Managing service accounts.
• Joining computers to the domain.

6. Configuring and Managing Replication

• Active Directory replication concepts.
• Multi-master replication.
• Replication topology.
• Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC).
• Sites and replication schedules.
• Replication troubleshooting.
• Monitoring replication health.

7. Implementing and Managing Group Policy

• Group Policy architecture.
• Creating Group Policy Objects (GPOs).
• Linking GPOs.
• Group Policy inheritance.
• Loopback processing.
• Administrative Templates.
• Software deployment using GPO.
• Folder Redirection.
• Security policies.
• Password and account lockout policies.
• Troubleshooting Group Policy.

8. Implementing a Certification Authority (CA) Hierarchy

• Introduction to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
• Certificate Services architecture.
• Root and Subordinate Certification Authorities.
• Installing Active Directory Certificate Services.
• Designing a CA hierarchy.
• Certificate templates.
• Auto-enrollment.

9. Managing Certificates

• Certificate lifecycle management.
• Issuing certificates.
• Certificate renewal.
• Certificate revocation.
• Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs).
• Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP).
• Managing certificate templates.
• Troubleshooting certificate issues.

10. Implementing and Administering Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)

• Introduction to federation services.
• AD FS architecture.
• Claims-based authentication.
• Installing AD FS.
• Configuring trust relationships.
• Single Sign-On implementation.
• Integrating external applications.
• Monitoring and troubleshooting AD FS.

11. Enabling Data Access

• Access control concepts.
• NTFS permissions.
• Shared folder permissions.
• Effective permissions.
• Access-Based Enumeration.
• Dynamic Access Control.
• File Classification Infrastructure.
• Auditing file access.

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 considerations.

13. Implementing and Managing Rights Management Services (RMS)

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

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

• Introduction to Microsoft Entra ID.
• Cloud identity concepts.
• Hybrid identity architecture.
• Microsoft Entra Connect.
• Password Hash Synchronization.
• 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 support.
• OpenLDAP overview.
• Identity synchronization methods.
• Authentication integration.
• Common interoperability scenarios.
• Security considerations.
• Troubleshooting LDAP connectivity.

16. Monitoring Active Directory

• Monitoring tools.
• Event Viewer.
• Performance Monitor.
• Active Directory Administrative Center.
• PowerShell for monitoring.
• Replication monitoring.
• Health checks.
• Auditing changes.
• Performance optimization.

17. Troubleshooting

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

18. Summary and Conclusion

• Review of key concepts.
• Best practices for Active Directory administration.
• Security recommendations.
• Operational maintenance checklist.
• Additional Microsoft resources and documentation.
• Questions and answers.
• Final hands-on review and lab wrap-up.