Managing Servers & Networks

What you will be able to do

• Identify common server roles (file, print, web, application, database, DNS, DHCP, and directory) and choose the right role for a given workload.
• Design an Active Directory structure with domains, organizational units, users, and groups, and apply configuration at scale with Group Policy.
• Explain how Kerberos and LDAP-based authentication work so you can troubleshoot logon and access failures.
• Configure DNS zones and records (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, PTR, SRV) and trace a name resolution problem from client to authoritative server.
• Plan and run DHCP scopes, reservations, and options, and diagnose common addressing and lease conflicts.
• Select a storage approach (RAID levels, DAS, NAS, and SAN) and match file systems and redundancy to availability needs.
• Provision virtual machines on a hypervisor and use snapshots, templates, and resource limits to run a safe, efficient server estate.
• Apply a baseline of hardening, patching, backup, and monitoring practices that keep core services secure and recoverable.

What is inside

4 modules, 8 lessons. Each module ends in a graded quiz and most carry an assignment.

1. 01

   Server Foundations and Core Roles

   Every service in the building runs on a server playing a specific role. This module maps the core roles a systems administrator supports (file, print, web, application, database, DNS, DHCP, and directory), then shows how servers are provisioned, managed remotely, and held to a baseline for hardening, patching, and backup.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

2. 02

   Networking Services: DNS and DHCP

   Before a directory or an application can work, machines have to find each other and get onto the network. This module covers the two services that make that happen: DNS for name resolution and DHCP for addressing. You will work through zones, record types, and forward and reverse lookups, then configure DHCP scopes, reservations, and options. By the end you can trace a name from a client all the way to the authoritative server, and diagnose why a device cannot get an address.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment

3. 03

   Directory Services and Active Directory

   Identity and access run through the directory, and in most networks that directory is Active Directory. This module builds from directory service and LDAP concepts up to a working Active Directory: domains, forests, organizational units, users, groups, and their hard dependence on DNS. It then shows how Group Policy scales configuration across thousands of machines and how Kerberos and LDAP actually authenticate a logon, so you can diagnose and repair logon failures with a repeatable method instead of guesswork.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions

4. 04

   Storage and Virtualization

   Modern servers rarely run on their own metal. They run as virtual machines on shared, redundant storage. This closing module shows how the estate is actually hosted and scaled. You start with RAID levels and storage architectures (DAS, NAS, and SAN), then move to hypervisors, virtual machines, snapshots, and templates. You finish able to reason about capacity, resilience, and recovery for the whole environment.

   2 lessons · 5 quiz questions · assignment