Windows Server^® 2008 Administration:
Hands-On

Windows Server 2008 Administration

• Developing an effective administrative strategy
• Tools, techniques and best practices

Building Blocks of Server Management

Implementing role-based server administration

• Analysing available server roles
• Solving remote administration issues
• Remotely configuring features to maximise functionality

Leveraging fundamental tools and components

• Controlling resources with Server Manager
• Performing common administrative tasks with PowerShell
• Microsoft System Center

Securing Windows Server 2008

Hardening your server

• Reducing the attack surface
• Baselining your server with Microsoft Baseline Security Analyser (MBSA)

Implementing Group Policies for security

• Generating custom templates with Security Configuration Wizard (SCW)
• Creating effective security policies
• Building security templates with the Security Configuration and Analysis tool
• Integrating local and AD policies

Tracking internal access

• Achieving your security goals with selective auditing
• Centralising the audit management process

Reducing vulnerabilities with Server Core

• Managing Server Core from the command line
• Minimising exploitable components

Patch Management Implementation

Developing a strategy for patch management

• Taking inventory and documenting the existing environment
• Deploying service packs and hotfixes

Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)

• Managing the WSUS catalogue
• Configuring WSUS components
• Preparing the workstations with Group Policy
• Authorising and distributing patches to clients

Maintaining a High-Availability Environment

Building fault-tolerant servers

• Maximising resource utilisation with Hyper-V
• Enabling failover clustering to ensure business continuity
• Analysing cluster models for optimal architectures

Replicating with the Distributed File System (DFS)

• Transferring data with the DFS Replication (DFSR) service
• Optimising and troubleshooting replication

Virtualising servers to extend uptime

• Selecting the appropriate virtualisation model
• Best practices for architecting your virtual environment

Disaster recovery methods and tools

• Repairing the server with imaging technologies
• Full server backup with scripts and scheduled tasks

Maximising Performance and Increasing Responsiveness

Diagnosing system performance problems

• Monitoring applications and processes with Reliability and Performance Monitor
• Identifying the essential system counters
• Optimising servers with Windows System Resource Manager (WSRM)

Tracing performance problems

• Isolating the causes of performance problems
• Locating and solving bottlenecks

Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008

Resolving issues with diagnostic tools

• Shutdown Event Tracker
• BCDEDIT

Repairing the Registry

• Rooting out Registry problems
• Backing up and restoring the Registry

Coping with driver failures

• Revealing and uninstalling phantom devices
• Demystifying and recovering from common failures

Solving boot configuration problems

• Identifying critical boot components
• Fixing partition tables and the boot configuration data store