Active Directory for Admins Training Course

1. Introduction

• Foundations of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
• Course goals and expected learning outcomes
• The role of Active Directory in enterprise infrastructures
• Overview of the training lab environment
• Essential Active Directory terminology and core concepts

2. Overview of Active Directory Features and Architecture

• Architectural components of Active Directory
• Distinguishing logical versus physical structures
• Concepts of Domains, Trees, and Forests
• Utilizing Organizational Units (OUs)
• Role of Domain Controllers and Global Catalog
• Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles
• Sites and Subnets configuration
• DNS integration within Active Directory
• Active Directory partitions and underlying database structure

3. Overview of Identity Management Solutions and Concepts

• Basics of Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Differentiating Authentication and Authorization
• Implementing Kerberos authentication
• Understanding NTLM authentication
• Single Sign-On (SSO) mechanisms
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) models
• Managing the identity lifecycle
• Concepts in hybrid identity management

4. Setting up Active Directory

• Planning strategies for Active Directory deployment
• Installation of Active Directory Domain Services
• Promoting a server to become a Domain Controller
• Creating new forests and domains
• Installation and configuration of DNS
• Verifying successful installation
• Adhering to deployment best practices

5. Implementing Active Directory Domain Services

• Creation of Organizational Units
• Management of users, groups, and computer objects
• Administering user accounts
• Understanding Group scopes and types
• Delegating administrative controls
• Managing service accounts
• Joining computers to the domain

6. Configuring and Managing Replication

• Core concepts of Active Directory replication
• Multi-master replication models
• Understanding replication topology
• Utilizing the Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC)
• Configuring Sites and replication schedules
• Diagnosing replication issues
• Monitoring replication health

7. Implementing and Managing Group Policy

• Group Policy architectural components
• Creation of Group Policy Objects (GPOs)
• Linking GPOs to containers
• Group Policy inheritance rules
• Implementing Loopback processing
• Use of Administrative Templates
• Deploying software via GPO
• Configuring Folder Redirection
• Applying security policies
• Defining Password and account lockout policies
• Troubleshooting Group Policy issues

8. Implementing a Certification Authority (CA) Hierarchy

• Introduction to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Architecture of Certificate Services
• Roles of Root and Subordinate Certification Authorities
• Installation of Active Directory Certificate Services
• Designing an effective CA hierarchy
• Managing Certificate templates
• Configuring Auto-enrollment

9. Managing Certificates

• Managing the certificate lifecycle
• Process of issuing certificates
• Certificate renewal procedures
• Handling Certificate revocation
• Understanding Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)
• Utilizing Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
• Administering certificate templates
• Troubleshooting certificate-related issues

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

• Introduction to federation services
• AD FS architectural components
• Implementing Claims-based authentication
• Installation of AD FS
• Configuring trust relationships
• Implementing Single Sign-On
• Integrating external applications
• Monitoring and troubleshooting AD FS

11. Enabling Data Access

• Core concepts of access control
• Configuring NTFS permissions
• Managing Shared folder permissions
• Reviewing Effective permissions
• Implementing Access-Based Enumeration
• Using Dynamic Access Control
• Deploying File Classification Infrastructure
• Auditing file access activities

12. Securing Active Directory Domain Services

• Best practices for Active Directory security
• Understanding the Administrative security model
• Implementing Tiered administration
• Applying Privileged Access Management (PAM)
• Securing Domain Controllers
• Enforcing Password policies
• Configuring Fine-Grained Password Policies
• Setting Account lockout policies
• Conducting Auditing and monitoring
• Considering Backup and recovery strategies

13. Implementing and Managing Rights Management Services (RMS)

• Introduction to Active Directory Rights Management Services
• RMS architectural components
• Installation of AD RMS
• Protecting sensitive documents
• Defining 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 management concepts
• Hybrid identity architectural models
• Configuring Microsoft Entra Connect
• Implementing Password Hash Synchronization
• Setting up Pass-through Authentication
• Federation integration with AD FS
• Overview of Conditional Access
• Managing identity synchronization
• Administering cloud identities

15. Integrating Active Directory with OpenLDAP

• LDAP protocol fundamentals
• Active Directory's LDAP support capabilities
• Overview of OpenLDAP
• Methods for identity synchronization
• Integration of authentication mechanisms
• Common interoperability scenarios
• Security considerations during integration
• Troubleshooting LDAP connectivity issues

16. Monitoring Active Directory

• Essential monitoring tools
• Utilizing Event Viewer
• Using Performance Monitor
• Managing via Active Directory Administrative Center
• Leveraging PowerShell for monitoring tasks
• Monitoring replication status
• Conducting Health checks
• Auditing system changes
• Optimizing performance

17. Troubleshooting

• Resolving User logon issues
• Addressing DNS-related problems
• Diagnosing Replication failures
• Troubleshooting Group Policy application
• Resolving Authentication issues
• Fixing Certificate-related problems
• Performing Domain Controller health checks
• Using Diagnostic tools (dcdiag, repadmin, nltest, gpresult)
• Executing Backup and recovery procedures
• Handling Disaster recovery scenarios

18. Summary and Conclusion

• Review of key concepts covered
• Best practices for Active Directory administration
• Security recommendations for implementation
• Operational maintenance checklist
• Access to additional Microsoft resources and documentation
• Open Q&A session
• Final hands-on review and lab wrap-up