Active Directory administration training

Lesson 1 • AD Data Store and Schema

Describes the NTDS.DIT database, schema partitions, and attribute definitions. Provides the technical grounding needed for advanced administration tasks.

Lesson 2 • Physical Structure and Site Topology

Explains how sites, subnets, and site links reflect physical network infrastructure. Connects physical design to replication efficiency.

Lesson 3 • Logical Structure of Active Directory

Covers forests, trees, domains, and organisational units as the logical building blocks of AD. Students map business requirements to logical AD design.

Lesson 4 • Kerberos and NTLM Authentication Basics

Introduces the two primary authentication protocols used by AD. Understanding these protocols is prerequisite knowledge for security and troubleshooting chapters.

Lesson 1 • Promoting a New Domain Controller

Walks through the AD DS role installation and dcpromo-equivalent wizard steps. Students perform GUI and PowerShell-based promotions.

Lesson 2 • Domain Controller Demotion and Decommission

Covers safe demotion procedures and metadata cleanup for failed DCs. Proper decommission prevents lingering objects and replication errors.

Lesson 3 • Prerequisites and Planning

Covers hardware, OS, DNS, and network requirements before promotion. Proper planning prevents post-deployment reconfiguration.

Lesson 4 • Adding DCs to Existing Domains

Explains how to add redundant domain controllers to an existing domain. Redundancy ensures availability and load distribution.

Lesson 1 • User Account Management

Covers creating, modifying, disabling, and deleting user accounts via GUI and PowerShell. Consistent account management reduces security gaps.

Lesson 2 • Automating Object Management with PowerShell

Introduces the ActiveDirectory PowerShell module for scripted object management. Automation reduces errors and accelerates repetitive administrative tasks.

Lesson 3 • Group Types and Scopes

Explains security vs. distribution groups and domain local, global, and universal scopes. Correct group design is foundational to permission management.

Lesson 4 • Organisational Unit Design and Delegation

Teaches OU hierarchy design aligned to administrative and policy needs. Delegation of control reduces reliance on Domain Admin privileges.

Lesson 1 • Creating and Linking GPOs

Covers GPO creation, linking to sites, domains, and OUs, and link order. Correct linking ensures policies reach intended targets.

Lesson 2 • Configuring Security and Desktop Policies

Applies GPO settings for password policies, software restriction, and desktop lockdown. These settings form the baseline security configuration for domain clients.

Lesson 3 • Group Policy Architecture

Explains GPO structure, SYSVOL storage, and the client-side extension model. Understanding architecture is required before creating effective policies.

Lesson 4 • Troubleshooting Group Policy

Uses gpresult, RSOP, and event logs to diagnose policy failures. Systematic troubleshooting restores policy compliance quickly.

Lesson 1 • Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC)

Describes how the KCC automatically builds replication topology. Understanding KCC behaviour helps administrators tune or override topology when needed.

Lesson 2 • Monitoring Replication Health

Uses repadmin, dcdiag, and event logs to assess replication status. Proactive monitoring catches latency and failures before they affect users.

Lesson 3 • Intrasite and Intersite Replication

Compares replication within a site to replication across site links. Site topology directly controls replication frequency and bandwidth consumption.

Lesson 4 • Resolving Replication Failures

Addresses USN rollback, lingering objects, and replication quarantine scenarios. Resolving these issues restores directory consistency across the environment.

Lesson 1 • AD Tiered Access and Just-Enough Administration

Implements JEA endpoints and role-based delegation to minimise standing privileges. Least-privilege administration reduces the blast radius of compromised accounts.

Lesson 2 • Auditing and Security Event Logging

Configures advanced audit policies to capture authentication, object access, and privilege use. Audit logs are essential for incident detection and forensic investigation.

Lesson 3 • Privileged Access and Tiered Administration

Introduces the tiered administration model to limit lateral movement of privileged credentials. Proper tier separation is the primary defence against credential theft attacks.

Lesson 4 • Protecting AD Against Common Attacks

Covers defences against pass-the-hash, Kerberoasting, and DCSync attacks. Mitigations are applied through configuration, not third-party tools.

Lesson 1 • Recycle Bin and Object Recovery

Enables and uses the AD Recycle Bin to restore deleted objects without downtime. The Recycle Bin is the fastest recovery path for accidental deletions.

Lesson 2 • Disaster Recovery Planning for AD

Builds a documented AD disaster recovery plan covering RTO, RPO, and test procedures. A tested DR plan ensures predictable recovery during real incidents.

Lesson 3 • Database Maintenance with ntdsutil

Uses ntdsutil to compact, move, and integrity-check the NTDS.DIT database. Regular maintenance prevents database corruption and reclaims disk space.

Lesson 4 • AD Backup Strategies

Covers Windows Server Backup, bare-metal backup, and backup frequency requirements for AD. A tested backup strategy is the foundation of any recovery plan.

Lesson 1 • Azure AD Connect and Hybrid Identity

Installs and configures Azure AD Connect to synchronise on-premises identities to the cloud. Hybrid identity is the foundation for Microsoft 365 and cloud application access.

Lesson 2 • Azure AD and Entra ID Integration

Explores Azure AD (Entra ID) features that complement on-premises AD, including Conditional Access and Identity Protection. Cloud-native controls extend security beyond the corporate perimeter.

Lesson 3 • Active Directory Certificate Services

Deploys an enterprise CA to issue certificates for smart card logon, SSL, and code signing. An internal PKI reduces reliance on external certificate authorities.

Lesson 4 • Active Directory Federation Services

Deploys AD FS to provide claims-based authentication for web applications. Federation enables SSO across organisational and cloud boundaries.