MCSA Windows Server 2016 Study Guide: Exam 70-742

William Panek

• Publisher: Sybex
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781119359326
• eBook ISBN: 9781119359401
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Certification Guides in Computer Science
• Index: Computer Science

Comprehensive preparation for the final MCSA exam, updated for Windows Server 2016

MCSA Windows Server 2016 Study Guide: Exam 70-742 is the ultimate preparation resource for the third and final MCSA exam. Tightly focused and highly relevant, this guide provides everything you need to go into the exam fully prepared; expert coverage of all exam objectives helps ensure comprehensive understanding, and hundreds of practice questions help you track your progress and prioritize areas most in need of review. Access to online study aids allows you to study on the go, with electronic flashcards, practice tests, and a glossary to help you get the most out of your preparation plan. Hands-on exercises test your practical skills, while real-world scenarios give you a preview of how MCSA skills and concepts are applied in the workplace.

Bestselling author and four-time Microsoft MVP, William Panek, covers server deployment, maintenance, and management; file and print server configuration; network services and access; Active Directory; Group Policy; server infrastructure and more, this book is your comprehensive companion for the latest exam.

• Study 100 percent of Exam 70-742 objectives, updated for Windows Server 2016
• Practice your skills with real-world hands-on exercises
• Review from anywhere with access to online study aids
• Assess your readiness with challenging practice exams

Windows Server 2016 includes enhancements to Hyper-V, Storage Spaces, and Active Directory, along with many brand new and updated features—all of which are reflected in the latest exam. To ensure complete readiness and avoid exam-day surprises, it is critical that your study resources be up-to-date and comprehensive in scope; MCSA Windows Server 2016 Study Guide: Exam 70-742 covers everything you need to know, with a practical approach that promotes true understanding.

Chapter 1
Installing Active Directory

THE FOLLOWING 70-742 EXAM OBJECTIVES ARE COVERED IN THIS CHAPTER:

• 
  Install and configure domain controllers
  • This objective may include but is not limited to: Install a new forest; add or remove a domain controller from a domain; upgrade a domain controller; install AD DS on a Server Core installation; install a domain controller from Install from Media (IFM); resolve DNS SRV record registration issues; install and configure a read-only domain controller (RODC); configure domain controller cloning

One of the most important tasks that you will complete on a network is setting up your domain. To set up your domain properly, you must know how to install and configure your domain controllers.

After I show you how to install and configure your domain controller, you’ll explore the concept of domain functional levels, which essentially determine what sorts of domain controllers you can use in your environment. For instance, in the Windows Server 2008 domain functional level, you can have Windows Server 2008/2008 R2, Windows Server 2012/2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016 domain controllers, but the functionality of the domain is severely limited. Also, you CAN NOT have any domain controllers below the domain function level (no domain controllers below 2008 in this example).

Once you understand how to plan properly for your domain environment, you will learn how to install Active Directory, which you will accomplish by promoting a Windows Server 2016 computer to a domain controller. I will also discuss a feature in Windows Server 2016 called a read-only domain controller (RODC), and I will show you how to install Active Directory using Windows PowerShell.

---

For these exercises, I assume you are creating a Windows Server 2016 machine in a test environment and not on a live network.

---

Verifying the File System

When you’re planning your Active Directory deployment, the file system that the operating system uses is an important concern for two reasons. First, the file system can provide the ultimate level of security for all the information stored on the server itself. Second, it is responsible for managing and tracking all of this data. The Windows Server 2016 platform supports three file systems:

• File Allocation Table 32 (FAT32)
• Windows NT File System (NTFS)
• Resilient File System (ReFS)

Although ReFS was new to Windows Server 2012, NTFS has been around for many years, and NTFS in Windows Server 2016 has been improved for better performance.

If you have been working with servers for many years, you may have noticed a few changes to the server file system choices. For example, in Windows Server 2003, you could choose between FAT, FAT32, and NTFS. In Windows Server 2016, you could choose between FAT32, NTFS, and ReFS (see Figure 1.1).

FIGURE 1.1 Format options on Windows Server 2016

Resilient File System (ReFS)

Windows Server 2016 includes a file system called Resilient File System (ReFS). ReFS was created to help Windows Server maximize the availability of data and online operation. ReFS allows the Windows Server 2016 system to continue to function despite some errors that would normally cause data to be lost or the system to go down. ReFS uses data integrity to protect your data from errors and also to make sure that all of your important data is online when that data is needed.

One of the issues that IT members have had to face over the years is the problem of rapidly growing data sizes. As we continue to rely more and more on computers, our data continues to get larger and larger. This is where ReFS can help an IT department. ReFS was designed specifically with the issues of scalability and performance in mind, which resulted in some of the following ReFS features:

Availability If your hard disk becomes corrupt, ReFS has the ability to implement a salvage strategy that removes the data that has been corrupted. This feature allows the healthy data to continue to be available while the unhealthy data is removed. All of this can be done without taking the hard disk offline.

Scalability One of the main advantages of ReFS is the ability to support volume sizes up to 2^78 bytes using 16 KB cluster sizes, while Windows stack addressing allows 2^64 bytes. ReFS also supports file sizes of 2^64-1 bytes, 2^64 files in a directory, and the same number of directories in a volume.

Robust Disk Updating ReFS uses a disk updating system referred to as an allocate-on-write transactional model (also known as copy on write). This model helps to avoid many hard disk issues while data is written to the disk because ReFS updates data using disk writes to multiple locations in an atomic manner instead of updating data in place.

Data Integrity ReFS uses a che...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• Assessment Test
• Answers to Assessment Test
• Chapter 1 Installing Active Directory
• Chapter 2 Administer Active Directory
• Chapter 3 Maintaining Active Directory
• Chapter 4 Implementing GPOs
• Chapter 5 Understanding Certificates
• Chapter 6 Configure Access and Information Protection Solutions
• Appendix Answers to Review Questions
• Advert
• EULA