Microsoft Active Directory The Complete AD DS Masterclass

An Active Directory Course for Real World Active Directory Skillbuilding
What you'll learn

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Deploy and manage domain controllers, from installing the AD DS role to promoting and decommissioning DCs
Design an OU structure that actually holds up as your organization grows
Manage users, groups, and computers at scale with both the GUI and PowerShell
Apply group scope strategy (global, domain local, universal) the way Microsoft intended - and know when to break the rules
Build, link, and troubleshoot Group Policy Objects, and diagnose GPOs that refuse to apply
Understand how Kerberos authentication and authorization actually work under the hood
Configure sites, subnets, and site links to control replication across WAN connections
Diagnose replication failures using repadmin and dcdiag
Automate everyday AD administration with PowerShell
Understand how AD DS, Entra ID, and Entra Domain Services fit together in a hybrid identity design
Build and run your own three-server AD lab - in Azure with a one-click template, or on your own hardware
Requirements

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Basic familiarity with Windows Server - you should be comfortable navigating Server Manager and using RDP
A computer capable of running the lab (an Azure subscription or a machine that can run Hyper-V - the Azure subscription is optional, and a free trial works fine)
No prior Active Directory experience required - we start from the beginning
Description

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Active Directory is the technology everyone inherits and almost nobody was actually taught.
You get handed a domain that somebody built fifteen years ago. The OU structure makes no sense. There are groups nested inside groups nested inside groups. Group Policy is a pile of overlapping GPOs that "work, mostly." And when replication breaks or logons slow to a crawl, you're expected to fix it, even though nobody ever explained how any of it fits together.
This course fixes that.
It teaches you the model behind Active Directory: how it thinks, why it behaves the way it does, and then puts your hands on the keyboard so you can actually work with it.
How this course is built
Concept lectures explain what the major Active Directory components are and why they work the way they do.
Numerous demos show you how common administrative tasks are performed in the real tools.
20+ hands-on simulations and labs let you perform tasks yourself, including installing the AD DS role, promoting a domain controller, joining computers to the domain, creating users and groups, building GPOs, working with PowerShell, and more.
able reference posters cover DNS, replication, FSMO roles, Group Policy, group scopes, OU design, PowerShell, administrative tools, and other core topics.
Drag-and-drop, sorting, hotspot, and interactive exercises break up the video content and give you additional opportunities to practice and reinforce what you just learned.
Optional Azure-hosted lab environment included
You do not need Azure to learn from this course.
If you already have your own Active Directory lab, you can use it. But if you want a ready-made environment to follow along with, I include a downloadable Azure ARM template in the very first section of the course.
The template deploys the Azure networking and three Windows machines used throughout the lab environment. Instead of spending your time manually building the infrastructure first, you can deploy the template and then focus on learning Active Directory.
The template gives you the starting infrastructure. It doesnot build Active Directory for you.
You will do that yourself as the course progresses.
You'll install Active Directory Domain Services, promote the domain controller, configure DNS, join the member server and client to the domain, create users and groups, build Organizational Units, configure Group Policy, work with replication, and complete the hands-on exercises along the way.
So whether you use the included Azure lab, your own virtual machines, or an existing test environment, you can follow along hands-on.
What we cover
We start from the beginning, including what a directory service actually is, and build up through the core Active Directory administration lifecycle.
You'll learn
Domains, forests, trees, domain controllers, and the Global Catalog
Active Directory administrative tools and when to use each one
Installing Active Directory Domain Services and promoting domain controllers
Joining Windows servers and clients to the domain
Users, groups, computers, and Organizational Unit design
Group scopes, nesting, AGDLP, and group-based access
Delegation of administrative control
Authentication, authorization, and access control fundamentals
DNS and its inseparable relationship with Active Directory
Group Policy, from your first GPO through inheritance, precedence, filtering, and troubleshooting
FSMO roles and how they fit into a multi-master directory
Sites, subnets, site links, and Active Directory replication
Replication troubleshooting tools such as repadmin and dcdiag
PowerShell for common Active Directory administration, including users, groups, computers, bulk creation, and reporting
Domain password policies, fine-grained password policies, account lockout, user rights, and auditing
Hybrid identity, including how AD DS fits with Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Entra Connect, Microsoft Entra Domain Services, and domain controllers running in Azure
By the end, you won't just know which buttons to click.
You'll understand why those buttons exist.
That is the difference between an administrator who follows a runbook and one who can diagnose problems, explain what is happening, defend design decisions, and write the runbook.
Who I am
I'm a senior infrastructure engineer with more than 25 years of experience working with Windows infrastructure and Active Directory in production environments.
I've spent my career designing it, maintaining it, troubleshooting it, migrating it, and supporting the systems that depend on it.
Every lecture in this course is recorded in my own voice, and the course is built around the kinds of tasks and problems administrators actually encounter in real environments.
My teaching approach
This is a concept-first course.
I explain why Active Directory behaves the way it does before showing you the clicks, because many AD problems come from people who learned a procedure without understanding the model behind it.
The lectures use clear, focused slides, but the course does not stop there.
Concepts are reinforced with demos, simulations, hands-on labs, interactive exercises, PowerShell practice, and downloadable reference material.
If you want to genuinely understand Active Directory well enough to administer it, troubleshoot it, and make informed decisions about how it should be designed, this course is built for you.
Let's get started!
Who this course is for

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IT professionals who inherited an Active Directory environment and need to truly understand it
Help desk and desktop support technicians moving up into systems administration
Sysadmins who learned AD "on the job" and want to fill in the gaps with a proper foundation
Anyone preparing for a Windows Server administration role
Homepage

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