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Exam AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services Crash Course

Published by Pearson

Advanced content levelAdvanced

Windows Server administrators get an opportunity to skill up in the cloud with Exam AZ-801!

  • This exam and certification address long-standing user requests that Microsoft reinstate a Windows Server-specific certification. This certification is the closest thing we have now to the old Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) in Windows Server.
  • Local Windows Server administrators get an opportunity to skill up in the cloud, and Microsoft Azure administrators gain deeper insight into Windows Server.
  • Course covers Windows Server 2022, the current Windows Server release.

This live training covers the AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services certification exam. Passing this exam validates your skills with Windows Server administration in a hybrid cloud context. Exam AZ-801 covers workload-specific Windows Server administration tasks. By contrast, Exam AZ-800 covers global Windows Server management. To earn the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator exam, you must pass two exams. Exam AZ-800 and AZ-801, to earn your Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification.

We cover every exam objective, blending both theory and practice. The AZ-801 exam's core subject matter is unique in that it combines a product-based focus (Windows Server) with hybrid cloud architecture (Microsoft Azure).

What you’ll learn and how you can apply it

By the end of the live online course, you’ll understand:

  • How Windows Server works both on-premises and in Microsoft Azure
  • How to configure Windows Server for maximum availability, security, and performance
  • How to develop an effective AZ-801 certification study plan
  • How to map your subject matter knowledge to Exam AZ-801

And you’ll be able to:

  • Secure Windows Server on-premises and hybrid infrastructures
  • Implement and manage Windows Server high availability
  • Implement disaster recovery
  • Migrate servers and workloads
  • Monitor and troubleshoot Windows Server environments
  • Prepare for Exam AZ-801 and be halfway to earning the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification

This live event is for you because...

  • Exam AZ-801 candidates
  • Exam AZ-800 candidates who want to understand how the two AZ-80x exams differ in focus
  • Windows Server administrators who need to understand how Windows Server works in the Microsoft Azure cloud
  • Microsoft Azure administrators who desire deeper understanding of the Windows Server operating system
  • Existing Microsoft certification candidates who want to round out their certification portfolio

Prerequisites

  • Windows Server installation and configuration
  • Active Directory administration
  • Ethernet & TCP/IP internetworking
  • Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Course Set-up

  • Windows Server licenses (learners can download free evaluation software from the Microsoft Evaluation Center)
  • Microsoft Azure subscription (learners can sign up for the Azure Free Account)
  • A hypervisor to run Windows Server virtual machines (learners can use Hyper-V, which is available for free in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education)

Recommended Preparation

Recommended Follow-up

Schedule

The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.

Introduction (10 minutes)

  • High-level course overview
  • Set expectations

Segment 1: Secure Windows Server operating system (30 minutes)

  • Configure and manage Exploit Protection
  • Configure and manage Windows Defender Application Control
  • Configure and manage Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
  • Configure and manage Windows Defender Credential Guard
  • Configure SmartScreen
  • Implement operating system security by using Group Policies

Segment 2: Secure a hybrid Active Directory infrastructure (25 minutes)

  • Configure password policies
  • Enable password block lists
  • Manage protected users
  • Manage account security on an RODC
  • Harden domain controllers
  • Configure authentication policy silos
  • Restrict access to domain controllers
  • Configure account security
  • Manage AD built-in administrative groups
  • Manage AD delegation
  • Implement and manage Microsoft Defender for Identity
  • Q&A / Break

Segment 3: Identify and remediate Windows Server security issues by using Azure Services (12 minutes)

  • Monitor on-premises servers and Azure IaaS VMs by using Microsoft Sentinel
  • Identify and remediate security issues on-premises servers and Azure IaaS VMs by using Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Segment 4: Secure Windows Server networking (15 minutes)

  • Manage Windows Defender Firewall
  • Implement domain isolation
  • Implement connection security rules

Segment 5: Secure Windows Server storage (15 minutes)

  • Manage Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption (BitLocker)
  • Manage and recover encrypted volumes
  • Enable storage encryption by using Azure Disk Encryption
  • Manage disk encryption keys for IaaS virtual machines

Segment 6: Implement a Windows Server failover cluster (40 minutes)

  • Implement a failover cluster on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-only
  • Create a Windows failover cluster
  • Implement a stretch cluster across datacenters or Azure regions
  • Configure storage for failover clustering
  • Modify quorum options
  • Configure network adapters for failover clustering
  • Configure cluster workload options
  • Configure cluster sets
  • Configure Scale-Out File servers
  • Create an Azure witness
  • Configure a floating IP address for the cluster
  • Implement load balancing for the failover cluster
  • Q&A / Break

Segment 7: Manage failover clustering (20 minutes)

  • Implement cluster-aware updating
  • Recover a failed cluster node
  • Upgrade a node to Windows Server 2022
  • Failover workloads between nodes
  • Install Windows updates on cluster nodes
  • Manage failover clusters using Windows Admin Center

Segment 8: Implement and manage Storage Spaces Direct (15 minutes)

  • Create a failover cluster using Storage Spaces Direct
  • Upgrade a Storage Spaces Direct node
  • Implement networking for Storage Spaces Direct
  • Configure Storage Spaces Direct

Segment 9: Manage backup and recovery for Windows Server (25 minutes)

  • Back up and restore files and folders to Azure Recovery Services Vault
  • Install and manage Azure Backup Server
  • Back up and recover using Azure Backup Server
  • Manage backups in Azure Recovery Services Vault
  • Create a backup policy
  • Configure backup for Azure VM using the built-in backup agent
  • Recover VM using temporary snapshots
  • Recover VMs to new Azure VMs
  • Restore a VM
  • Q&A / Break

Segment 10: Implement disaster recovery by using Azure Site Recovery (18 minutes)

  • Configure Azure Site Recovery networking
  • Configure Site Recovery for on-premises VMs
  • Configure a recovery plan
  • Configure Site Recovery for Azure VMs
  • Implement VM replication to secondary datacenter or Azure region
  • Configure Azure Site Recovery policies

Segment 11: Protect virtual machines by using Hyper-V replicas (15 minutes)

  • Configure Hyper-V hosts for replication
  • Manage Hyper-V replica servers
  • Configure VM replication
  • Perform a failover

Segment 12: Migrate on-premises storage to on-premises servers or Azure (15 minutes)

  • Transfer data and share
  • Cut over to a new server by using Storage Migration Service (SMS)
  • Use Storage Migration Service to migrate to Azure VMs
  • Migrate to Azure file shares

Segment 13: Migrate on-premises servers to Azure (15 minutes)

  • Deploy and configure Azure Migrate appliance
  • Migrate VM workloads to Azure IaaS
  • Migrate physical workloads to Azure IaaS
  • Migrate by using Azure Migrate
  • Q&A / Break

Segment 14: Migrate workloads from previous versions to Windows Server 2022 (18 minutes)

  • Migrate IIS
  • Migrate Hyper-V hosts
  • Migrate RDS host servers
  • Migrate DHCP
  • Migrate print servers

Segment 15: Migrate IIS workloads to Azure (12 minutes)

  • Migrate IIS workloads to Azure Web Apps
  • Migrate IIS workloads to containers

Segment 16: Migrate an AD DS infrastructure to Windows Server 2022 AD DS (15 minutes)

  • Migrate AD DS objects, including users, groups and Group Policies using AD Migration Tool
  • Migrate to a new Active Directory forest
  • Upgrade an existing forest

Segment 17: Monitor Windows Server by using Windows Server tools and Azure services (30 minutes)

  • Monitor Windows Server by using Performance Monitor
  • Create and configure Data Collector Sets
  • Monitor servers and configure alerts by using Windows Admin Center
  • Analyze Windows Server system data by using System Insights
  • Manage event logs
  • Deploy Azure Monitor agents
  • Collect performance counters to Azure
  • Create alerts
  • Monitor Azure VMs by using Azure diagnostics extension
  • Monitor Azure VMs performance by using VM Insights
  • Q&A / Break

Segment 18: Troubleshoot Windows Server on-premises and hybrid networking (12 minutes)

  • Troubleshoot hybrid network connectivity
  • Troubleshoot on-premises connectivity

Segment 19: Troubleshoot Windows Server virtual machines in Azure (18 minutes)

  • Troubleshoot deployment failures
  • Troubleshoot booting failures
  • Troubleshoot VM performance issues
  • Troubleshoot VM extension issues
  • Troubleshoot disk encryption issues
  • Troubleshoot storage
  • Troubleshoot VM connection issues

Segment 20: Troubleshoot Active Directory (18 minutes)

  • Restore objects from AD recycle bin
  • Recover Active Directory database using Directory Services Restore mode
  • Recover SYSVOL
  • Troubleshoot Active Directory replication
  • Troubleshoot Hybrid authentication issues
  • Troubleshoot on-premises Active Directory

Wrap-Up and Goodbye (10 minutes)

Your Instructor

Tim Warner

Tim Warner has been a Microsoft MVP in Azure AI and Cloud/Datacenter Management for 6 years and a Microsoft Certified Trainer for more than 25 years. His O'Reilly Live Training classes on generative AI, GitHub, DevOps, data engineering, cloud computing, and Microsoft certification reach hundreds of thousands of students around the world. He's written for Microsoft Press, presented at Microsoft Ignite, and contributed to several Microsoft open-source projects. You can connect with Tim on LinkedIn: timw.info/li.

Skill covered

Windows Server