Bootcamp: Modern Datacenter Administration — Lesson 1: Windows Server, Identity and Core Infrastructure

Learning Objectives

• Deploy and configure servers, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, certificates, and administrative roles
• Apply identity lifecycle, privileged access, delegation, hardening, patching, and configuration standards
• Validate windows server, identity and core infrastructure decisions with documented requirements, test evidence, risk controls, and measurable acceptance criteria

Detailed Topics

• Deploy and configure servers: Deploy and configure servers, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Group Policy, certificates, and administrative roles
• Apply identity lifecycle: Apply identity lifecycle, privileged access, delegation, hardening, patching, and configuration standards
• Validate windows server: Validate windows server, identity and core infrastructure decisions with documented requirements, test evidence, risk controls, and measurable acceptance criteria

Guided Demonstration

1. Review the requirement, users, data, dependencies, permissions, risks, and expected result.
2. Demonstrate the relevant configuration, creation, analysis, migration, administration, or support workflow step by step.
3. Capture settings, outputs, logs, screenshots, calculations, test results, and other useful evidence.
4. Compare the observed result with acceptance criteria and explain any corrective action.

Hands-On Activity

Build and assess a secure core infrastructure baseline.

• Document assumptions, prerequisites, and the planned sequence before starting.
• Complete the activity and preserve evidence of normal, boundary, and failure behavior.
• Record issues, corrective actions, reusable notes, and the next improvement priority.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify the business or technical decision that must be made.
• Compare valid implementation approaches and their trade-offs.
• Consider security, privacy, accessibility, performance, support, and operational impact.

Troubleshooting Focus

• Separate symptoms from causes and collect evidence before applying a fix.
• Check configuration, data, permissions, dependencies, capacity, connectivity, and recent changes.
• Validate rollback, recovery, ownership, user impact, and business continuity.

Validation Checklist

• The requirement, scope, inputs, and expected outcome are clear.
• The selected design or configuration is documented and follows approved standards.
• Normal, boundary, failure, security, accessibility, and operational conditions are reviewed.
• The result is supported by evidence and the next improvement is prioritized.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can explain and apply Windows Server, Identity and Core Infrastructure in a realistic scenario and validate the result with documented evidence.