Active Directory. What is so hot about it?

[HappyCamper781]

You can't do much with Domain Policy / Management with Novell.

Best bet for the OP is to create a lab at home and then apply what you read with your home lab.

AD itself is just the authentication schema. Learning about forests/domains is pretty easy stuff.

You'll want to play with:

Exchange Server (Email)
DFS (Distributed file system with built-in replication)
Remote Installation Service/Windows Installation Service (provisioning a OS install you can boot to, for remote OS image deployment)
Microsoft Operations Manager (overview of all client and server nodes with system status and some management tools)
Group Policy Management (managing system and network wide security policy and software settings by leveraging AD groups and OU's).

That about covers the Basics. Powershell is just Microsoft's attempt to bring Linux/Unix like command line tools to being able to automate tasks and perform management using a command line. Comes free with current Windows Server installs.

[mindwip]

A single esxi server is the way to go. Garb a usb stick and install esxi on it for free. Save your vms to a nfs nas box or nas that directly supports vmware. At work for fun I used an old server and grabbed the 500mb? usb stick that came with a cisco router and loaded esxi os on it. You can do this with any computer no expensive hd cost. The performance is actually really good.

There is some free nas software online realy good feature set. By a hd load the nas os on a usb drive and turn the hd into vmware storage. Use old computers as esxi hosts for processing power.

[NoSpam]

Active Directory isn't complicated, and that's exactly why it's hot.

+1 for an esxi server. You can learn everything using a budget system like a HP microserver. I'm running 2 of them in my lab. One for esxi and the other for xen server. Between the 2 HP Micro
servers, I can simulate just about any environments with multiple VM's. Learning how to migrate between different VM's is very valuable.

I think Microsoft still offers free VM sessions that you can sign up for too. You get a timeslot to use their virtual labs.

[ocabj]

Out of curiosity, is anyone using Samba 4.0+ as an Active Directory replacement. Back in the days of NT4, we actually had a Samba environment handling Windows workstation authentication but then eventually lit up actual AD (Windows 2000 servers) and it's been downhill ever since (being semi-sarcastic).

I doubt we'll ever use Samba simply because my campus is now heavily invested in Exchange (so we need to maximize all compatibility and reliability and need to stick to native MS for MS support), but I'm curious if anyone here is using the latest Samba release branch as an AD replacement.

From what I understand, Samba 4 currently doesn't support cross-forest trusts and actually doesn't support multiple DCs for a single domain.

[njineermike]

Active Directory isn't complicated, and that's exactly why it's hot.

+1 for an esxi server. You can learn everything using a budget system like a HP microserver. I'm running 2 of them in my lab. One for esxi and the other for xen server. Between the 2 HP Micro
servers, I can simulate just about any environments with multiple VM's. Learning how to migrate between different VM's is very valuable.

I think Microsoft still offers free VM sessions that you can sign up for too. You get a timeslot to use their virtual labs.

Server 2008 and above come with hyperV, and I think virtualized MS systems get up to 4 VM guests per actual licensed host. At least that's what I thought the reps told us when we built the hyperV system a few months ago.

[NoSpam]

MS offers different levels of licensing. The "Enterprise" edition gets you the 4 VM's per physical host. The "Data Center" edition allows unlimited VM's.

For the OP's needs, I'd recommend getting a MS TechNet account. It gives you access to almost all of Microsoft's products for development purposes. That's what I use. The first year subscription is pricey, but renewals aren't as bad. They give you multiple licenses on most apps and OS's. Once you have your lab going, its a big advantage when trying to self-study towards an MCITP/MCSE certification.

[ibanezfoo]

Out of curiosity, is anyone using Samba 4.0+ as an Active Directory replacement. Back in the days of NT4, we actually had a Samba environment handling Windows workstation authentication but then eventually lit up actual AD (Windows 2000 servers) and it's been downhill ever since (being semi-sarcastic).

I doubt we'll ever use Samba simply because my campus is now heavily invested in Exchange (so we need to maximize all compatibility and reliability and need to stick to native MS for MS support), but I'm curious if anyone here is using the latest Samba release branch as an AD replacement.

From what I understand, Samba 4 currently doesn't support cross-forest trusts and actually doesn't support multiple DCs for a single domain.

We played with it awhile back. Its just not ready for prime time. Theres also another Samba based open source AD project (the name escapes me). You loaded it on your Samba server and used all the standard MS AD tools to manage it. It was ok but slow and I remember it not supporting trusts and whatnot. I'm a Linux guy as I've posted many times but sadly Samba was just not ready for enterprise level AD stuff. We have many Samba based file servers and they work great though! Integrate nicely in your existing AD infrastructure. Its been a couple years since I've tried Samba as a domain controller though, maybe I will try again when I get some time

[the86d]

...That about covers the Basics. Powershell is just Microsoft's attempt to bring Linux/Unix like command line tools to being able to automate tasks and perform management using a command line. Comes free with current Windows Server installs.

Mainly because batch files that worked for 7+ years started to fail to work, I believe starting with Vista... assigning almost complete command-lines to variables, and then running the variables resolved this, but it was a TERRIBLE workaround.

[Deadbolt]

Been using it for years. Novell eDirectory is much better than Active Direcotry. But I am moving the company to Windows 2008 fir long term planning. Since Novell got sold to Attachmate I am not happy with the slowness of responce from the company.

better in terms of user interface / customization or better in terms of security protocol? the last time I had to use Novell was about a decade ago, and never to the familiarity I am with ADP/LDAP implementations (as a programmer at least) so is it the adage "Don't fix what isn't broke" or is the reason it persisted this long was that its' features aspect were just that much better? (again honest question - thanks for the info, systems historics from a user perspective is very interesting to me. )

[locosway]

You think some questions about AD and PS are hard... I just finished up interviewing with Amazon for a Linux/DB position. Wow, my brain is still numb from the questions.

[Deadbolt]

:lol: goodluck sir first and secondly : don't forget your normal forms you jimmy

[bigmike82]

"Wow, my brain is still numb from the questions. "

Are you allowed to share what questions they asked?

[Deadbolt]

@bigmike - probably much about load balancing and queue braiding. Sounds mindnumbing to me no thanks

[Germz]

I USED to think that I knew quite a bit about stuff, at least my friends and family think so, so getting a job as a pc specialist or what not should be a piece of cake right?

Now it seems that I have hit several walls here and there, the last one is POWER SHELL and ACTIVE DIRECTORY.

WTF?

There was no mention of active directory or PS in the orignal ad that I saw, but like 4 out of the 15 questions seemed to be focused on it at the interview.

HOW the hell can a guy get experience in MS Server and or Active Directory if he has not had any exposure to it? Besides some cool video dvds I found on MS Server 2008 (trainsignal or something) is there any easy way or quick e-book to read or SOMETHING to get like a crash cource in Active Directory?

Anyone? Hello? I am sick of these interviews being learning processes, I want one of them to become a JOB and maybe a career!

I just do not have thousands of dollars to throw at a school to learn this stuff so I gotta pick it up on the cheap.

join the military. instant free certifications and training. lol. PM me stilly. I work with AD/exchange on the daily and support over 100,000 objects.