“Active Directory and PowerShell for Jobseekers” takes you by the hand, and equips you with essential skills sought after by employers in today's IT landscape. This book walks you through every step of the Active Directory lifecycle, covering design, deployment, configuration, and management. Automation using PowerShell is emphasized, helping you learn how to automate processes with scripts. It begins with Active Directory management, creating a development environment in Azure. In the next stage you get a thorough overview of environment creation, configuration, monitoring, security settings and recovery. With examples presented through both manual steps and automated PowerShell scripts, this book allows readers to choose their preferred method for learning PowerShell automation. Additionally, it also introduces DevOps tools for cloud infrastructure, covering update management, monitoring, security, and automation resources. By the end of this book, you'll be confident and prepared to tackle real-world Active Directory challenges. You will also be able to impress potential employers with your in-demand skills and launch your career as a sought-after IT security specialist.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• About the Author
• About the Reviewers
• Acknowledgement
• Preface
• Table of Contents
• 1. Introduction
  • Inspiration
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Active Directory overview
  • Active Directory domain and forest implementations
    • Single forest, single domain
    • Single forest, multiple domains
    • Multiple forest Active Directory
  • Development environment domain architecture
    • Act]ive Directory domain and forest functional levels
    • Active Directory FSMO roles
  • PowerShell overview
    • PowerShell versions history
    • PowerShell command-line interface
    • PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment
    • Visual Studio Code
    • Windows Terminal
    • Notepad++
    • Notepad
    • How to start with PowerShell?
  • AD management options with PowerShell
    • Built-in PowerShell commands
    • Active Directory PowerShell module
  • Development environment overview
    • Physical environment
    • Hyper-V environment
    • Cloud environment
    • Azure Cloud as the development environment for AD
  • Conclusion
• 2. Setting up the Development Environment
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Overview of cloud computing
  • Cloud computing offering types
  • Starting with Azure
  • Creation of Azure subscription
  • Configuration of Azure Cloud Shell
  • Overview of Azure Portal
  • Resource groups, regions, availability zones
  • Capacity planning for Active Directory
  • Deploying virtual machines for AD domain controllers
  • Securing access to development environment
    • Private access
    • Public internet access
    • Just-in-time access
    • Azure Bastion
    • Most secure option: Hybrid Solution
  • Infrastructure deployment verification
  • Conclusion
• 3. Active Directory Environment Creation
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Design overview for development environment
  • IP configuration for domain controllers
  • Promotion of the first domain controller in the forest
  • Child domain promotion
  • Adding additional domain controller to the existing domain
  • Creating next child domain into forest
  • Conclusion
• 4. Active Directory Environment Configuration
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • DNS forwarders and zones configuration
  • AD sites, subnet creation and configuration
  • FSMO role holders’ migration
  • Default domain policy and default domain controller policy management and configuration
  • Creation of OU structure and delegation
    • Organizational Unit creation
    • Delegating control to Organizational Units
  • Basic Active Directory Management using RSAT tools and PowerShell
    • Recycle Bin management
    • Fine-Grained Password Policy management
  • Cleanup of default user permissions
  • Conclusion
• 5. Active Directory User Management
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • AD schema and user object class introduction
  • User creation, common attributes intro
  • User deletion and housekeeping
    • User evaluation
  • User attribute modification
    • Renaming user account
    • Modifying attribute-specific information
    • Implementing expiration dates on User accounts
  • Bulk user exports, imports, and modifications
    • Bulk user creation and modification
  • Sign-in options and password management
    • Password management
  • Conclusion
• 6. Active Directory Group Management
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Active directory group types
  • AD groups creation and deletion
  • AD group membership modifications
  • Nesting
    • Sensitive groups
    • Enterprise Admins
    • Domain Admins
      • Administrators
      • Schema admins
      • Protected groups
  • Bulk operations on AD groups
    • Add/remove multiple users to the AD group
    • Add/remove user to/from multiple AD groups
    • Copy membership between user accounts
    • Clear membership
  • Group membership reporting
    • Extract members for static list or groups
    • Extract members of all protected groups in the domain
    • Extract members of protected groups in forest
  • Conclusion
• 7. Active Directory Security Management
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Introduction to DSACLs and AD provider
  • Performing security audits using PowerShell
  • Group policy management and security hardening
  • AdminSDHolder and SDPROP
  • Managed service accounts and group managed service accounts
  • Fine-Grained Password Policies
  • Patch management and update configuration
  • Kerberos delegation setup and auditing
  • Implementing tiering model
  • Conclusion
• 8. Monitor Active Directory
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Monitor critical AD services
  • DCDIAG and PowerShell
    • Automatizing DCDIAG using PowerShell
  • Replication status
  • Event monitoring
  • Performance monitoring
  • Scheduling tasks for monitoring
  • Implementing global solution for AD monitoring
  • Conclusion
• 9. Active Directory Disaster Recovery
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Reanimation of tombstone objects
  • Recycle Bin recovery scenarios
  • Configuration of Windows server backup for domain controllers
  • Non-authoritative domain controller restores
  • Authoritative domain controller restore
  • Organizational unit restores
  • Object restores
  • SYSVOL recovery
    • Non-authoritative SYSVOL synchronization
    • Authoritative SYSVOL synchronization
  • Implementing the global DR solution
  • Conclusion
• 10. Manage Windows Server Using PowerShell
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Windows Server Core implementation
  • RPC, WMI and remote PSSessions
  • Windows Admin Center implementation
  • Windows Admin Center remote management
  • Executing bulk operations on multiple DCs
  • Scheduling reporting and notifications
    • Using hybrid worker to process the data
  • Conclusion
• 11. Securing PowerShell for AD Management
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Why not to use privileged accounts for bulk operations
  • Running scheduled tasks with gMSA and system account
  • WinRM configuration and security
  • Using Kerberos and Certificate authentication
  • Windows server advanced firewall and IP filters
  • Conclusion
• 12. PowerShell DSC for AD Configuration Management
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • Introduction to PowerShell DSC
  • Possible configuration management products
  • Azure Automation Desired State Configuration
  • Solution architecture
  • Solution implementation
  • DSC configuration of AD infrastructure
  • Conclusion
• 13. Interview Questions
  • Introduction
  • Structure
  • Objectives
  • How to prepare for an interview
  • Interview scenarios for AD Sysadmin
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Your Active Directory and PowerShell projects
  • Motivation
  • Questions to interviewers
  • Conclusion
• Index