Active Directory for Admins Training Course

1. Introduction

• Introductory overview of Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
• Course goals and expected learning outcomes
• The significance of Active Directory within enterprise settings
• Walkthrough of the training lab environment
• Essential Active Directory terminology and core concepts

2. Active Directory Features and Architecture Overview

• The architectural design of Active Directory
• Distinguishing between logical and physical structures
• Understanding Domains, Trees, and Forests
• The role of Organizational Units (OUs)
• Domain Controllers and the Global Catalog
• Flexible Single Master Operations (FSMO) roles
• Configuration of Sites and Subnets
• Integration of DNS with Active Directory
• Active Directory partitions and underlying database structure

3. Identity Management Solutions and Concepts

• Fundamentals of Identity and Access Management (IAM)
• Differentiating between Authentication and Authorization
• Mechanics of Kerberos authentication
• Overview of NTLM authentication
• Implementation of Single Sign-On (SSO)
• Principles of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Managing the identity lifecycle
• Concepts behind hybrid identity

4. Setting Up Active Directory

• Strategic planning for an Active Directory deployment
• Installing Active Directory Domain Services
• Process for promoting a server to a Domain Controller
• Establishing a new forest and domain
• Installation and configuration of DNS
• Verifying the successful installation
• Adhering to best practices during deployment

5. Implementing Active Directory Domain Services

• Creation of Organizational Units
• Administration of users, groups, and computer accounts
• Handling user account management
• Understanding group scopes and group types
• Delegating administrative control
• Managing service accounts
• Joining computers to the domain

6. Configuring and Managing Replication

• Core concepts of Active Directory replication
• Understanding multi-master replication
• Designing the replication topology
• Function of the Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC)
• Managing Sites and replication schedules
• Methods for troubleshooting replication
• Monitoring the health of replication

7. Implementing and Managing Group Policy

• The architecture behind Group Policy
• Creation of Group Policy Objects (GPOs)
• Process for linking GPOs
• Mechanics of Group Policy inheritance
• Application of Loopback processing
• Utilizing Administrative Templates
• Deploying software via GPO
• Configuring Folder Redirection
• Enforcing security policies
• Defining password and account lockout policies
• Troubleshooting Group Policy issues

8. Establishing a Certification Authority (CA) Hierarchy

• Basics of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
• Architecture of Certificate Services
• Distinguishing Root and Subordinate Certification Authorities
• Installation of Active Directory Certificate Services
• Designing a structured CA hierarchy
• Configuring certificate templates
• Setting up Auto-enrollment

9. Certificate Management

• Managing the certificate lifecycle
• Process for issuing certificates
• Handling certificate renewals
• Procedures for certificate revocation
• Understanding Certificate Revocation Lists (CRLs)
• Utilizing the Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
• Administration of certificate templates
• Resolving common certificate issues

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

• Introduction to federation services
• Architectural components of AD FS
• Principles of Claims-based authentication
• Installation process for AD FS
• Setting up trust relationships
• Implementation of Single Sign-On
• Integration with external applications
• Monitoring and troubleshooting AD FS operations

11. Enabling Data Access

• Core concepts of access control
• Configuring NTFS permissions
• Setting up Shared folder permissions
• Calculating Effective permissions
• Implementing Access-Based Enumeration
• Utilizing Dynamic Access Control
• Applying File Classification Infrastructure
• Auditing file access activities

12. Securing Active Directory Domain Services

• Best practices for Active Directory security
• Designing an administrative security model
• Implementing tiered administration
• Strategies for Privileged Access Management (PAM)
• Hardening Domain Controllers
• Defining password policies
• Applying Fine-Grained Password Policies
• Configuring account lockout policies
• Conducting audits and continuous monitoring
• Considerations for backup and recovery

13. Implementing and Managing Rights Management Services (RMS)

• Overview of Active Directory Rights Management Services
• Architectural design of RMS
• Installation of AD RMS
• Protection of sensitive documents
• Establishing 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
• Concepts in cloud identity management
• Designing a hybrid identity architecture
• Using Microsoft Entra Connect
• Configuring Password Hash Synchronization
• Implementing Pass-through Authentication
• Federating with AD FS
• Overview of Conditional Access
• Managing identity synchronization
• Administration of cloud identities

15. Integrating Active Directory with OpenLDAP

• Fundamentals of LDAP
• LDAP support within Active Directory
• Overview of OpenLDAP
• Methods for identity synchronization
• Integrating authentication processes
• Common scenarios for interoperability
• Security considerations for integration
• Troubleshooting LDAP connectivity

16. Monitoring Active Directory

• Overview of monitoring tools
• Utilizing Event Viewer
• Using Performance Monitor
• Navigating the Active Directory Administrative Center
• Using PowerShell for monitoring tasks
• Monitoring replication status
• Performing system health checks
• Auditing system changes
• Optimizing performance

17. Troubleshooting

• Resolving user logon issues
• Addressing DNS-related problems
• Diagnosing replication failures
• Troubleshooting Group Policy issues
• Resolving authentication errors
• Fixing certificate-related problems
• Conducting 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 core concepts
• Best practices for Active Directory administration
• Security recommendations
• Operational maintenance checklist
• Additional Microsoft resources and documentation
• Questions and answers session
• Final hands-on review and lab wrap-up