Windows Server 1.1 : introduction Active Directory

Welcome to module 2 of this Windows Server course, dedicated to Active Directory. The goal of this section is to give you a solid understanding of what Active Directory actually is, and how it fits into a Windows Server 2019 deployment. We will cover Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS), the directory's place in the network, and the different types of objects it manages.

What we will cover

• Object types — user accounts, computer accounts and groups. These are the foundational building blocks of any directory, and we will look at how to manage each of them.
• Domain controllers — we will see how to deploy a domain controller, install Active Directory on top of Windows Server 2019, and create your own domain in your own lab environment.
• Account management — managing user and computer accounts day-to-day, from a centralized place.
• Group Policy Objects (GPOs) — putting GPOs in place to control configuration settings, apply restrictions, and centrally manage every object in your domain.

By the end of the module you will be able to build a working domain, populate it with accounts, and steer the configuration of all those accounts from one central console. Active Directory is the cornerstone of nearly every Windows-based corporate network, so the time invested in understanding it pays off across almost every other role you will install on Windows Server later.