Studying Server 2003

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loss4words

Weaksauce
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Aug 31, 2007
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Hey everyone,

My question may seem awkward but I really need some help. I'm currently working as a help desk/customer support technician in a mid-size company. Other than a project here and there calls come far and between and most of the time I just sit there and read or surf the web just to kill time. This week my boss, who's a network admin at my company, said that some time after christmas he would have me create my own test network. My objective would be to configure, implement and be able to manage this test network using Windows Server 2003. Obviously, he doesn't expect me to do it all over a short period of time (as I'm sure he knows exactly what I'm capable of :) ) but I really hope that with some help I could do this.

In the past, I've taken a course designed for 70-290 certification exam and I've also watched CBT Nuggets 70-290 series of videos. As of now my only experience with servers is somewhat good understanding of Active Directory and GPOs, configuration of RAID, setting up the permissions for individual users and groups, and managing server hardware. Not much. I really hope to impress my boss, or if anything, this should be a good learning experience for me.

The problem, however, is that I'm not so sure where to start after I make my server a DC, and how to procede with setting everything up. I am looking online for something like a Step-by-Step how to Guide but I can't find much. I'm also considering buying more CBT Nuggets stuff since I've found it to be very informative and easy to learn, but I'm not sure which series of videos I need for what I'm hoping to do. The more I search, the more frustrated I become and sometimes I'm even thinking of telling my boss that I don't have enough knowledge to do this. I really need as much help as I can get. Any advice, suggestoins, links or anything would be really apprciated...Thanks, and sorry for a long post. :)
 
Need a lot more details to help you out.....

What is this "network" going to be doing? How many servers? What functions are needed? Etc....
 
Thanks for replying, TheCreator.

As far as I know, I will be given just one server, and several computers to work with. I'm not sure what exactly he wants me to do or what server roles he wants me to configure. I'm guessing he wants me to do as much as I can with only one server available....Sorry, if I'm not giving enough information :(
 
What I would do is get a copy of Win 2K3, if you have the 70-290 book from Microsoft Press(I don’t know about other brands) you will get a trial copy with the book. Then go home and load server on a spare computer or two. The book has some exercises that would help you get comfortable with the setup and use of the server. The best way to learn is to just do it.
 
oneshort said:
What I would do is get a copy of Win 2K3, if you have the 70-290 book from Microsoft Press(I don’t know about other brands) you will get a trial copy with the book. Then go home and load server on a spare computer or two. The book has some exercises that would help you get comfortable with the setup and use of the server. The best way to learn is to just do it.
Click to expand...

+1 great way to learn is simulate it
 
Thank you everyone for your responses.

Yes, I do have that 180-day trial CD that I have with my book. I'll install it in VPC and go from there...
 
You're not going to find a 'step by step' guide because you really haven't laid out what you want to 'step by step' through.

I think you've got the basic: Install Windows, Install updates, Install AD process... But then what do you want to do with it? You said you want to 'manage' it, but what exactly do you want to practice managing?

If you want to manage GPO's, software distribution, WSUS, SharePoint Services, IPSEC, certificate services (PKI), RRAS/VPN or many of the other features and add-ins for Windows Server, you'll probably want a few clients and users/groups. (This of course also furthers the idea of 'test-network' as opposed to 'test server')

If you physcially segment this test network, then I'd suggest setting up DHCP. It's a simple process, but if you haven't done it before, then it's a worthwhile learning process!

Set up some shares and printers... If you haven't gotten the share and file / folder permissions ideas and interactions cemented in your head, there's an area to practice... ( Question: What happens when you move files vs copying files?)

Move along from there. Set up some GPO's to manage and config the clients.

Hope that gives you somewhere to start?
 
loss4words said:
Thanks for replying, TheCreator.

As far as I know, I will be given just one server, and several computers to work with. I'm not sure what exactly he wants me to do or what server roles he wants me to configure. I'm guessing he wants me to do as much as I can with only one server available....Sorry, if I'm not giving enough information :(
Click to expand...

You can do a lot of things with one server. ;)
I always just jumped into whatever I wanted to do, and then went to the books when I couldn't figure something out.
So, another vote for simulating it yourself I guess.
 
shade_star said:
I think your speaking from lack of experience. 03 will be in use for many many years to come. Companies dont upgrade server OS's very often.
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it's called an enterprise agreement...


just saying, if you get cert. in 03.. i'm pretty sure you have to take some extra tests to have that upgraded to 08
 
Verge said:
it's called an enterprise agreement...


just saying, if you get cert. in 03.. i'm pretty sure you have to take some extra tests to have that upgraded to 08
Click to expand...

I just know that we wouldn't think of moving our 2k3 servers untill 08 has been out for some time.
It's foolish to jump right on the latest OS imo.

edit: I don't have an MS cert. Just experiance.
 
smizack said:
I just know that we wouldn't think of moving our 2k3 servers untill 08 has been out for some time.
It's foolish to jump right on the latest OS imo.

edit: I don't have an MS cert. Just experiance.
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In any business environment if you jump to 08 and it causes issues it may cost your job.
The reasoning is why jump to a new system (especially for mission critical servers) when it just released?
Most IT Managers would tell their subordinates to be quiet if they suggested this right away. (At least I would hope!)
This line of thinking pushes the use of server 03 out years and hence the reason to study it contrary to the poster above saying to ditch it because 08 is coming out.
 
shade_star said:
In any business environment if you jump to 08 and it causes issues it may cost your job.
The reasoning is why jump to a new system (especially for mission critical servers) when it just released?
Most IT Managers would tell their subordinates to be quiet if they suggested this right away. (At least I would hope!)
This line of thinking pushes the use of server 03 out years and hence the reason to study it contrary to the poster above saying to ditch it because 08 is coming out.
Click to expand...

I totally agree.

And that's why not one of our systems at work are running Vista, or Server 08 and have no plans to in the forseeable furture.

As for someone else suggesting an OS upgrade, no one besides MIS knows what OS we are using for any given server anyway. I'll be runnig 08 at my house long before I'll ever put it in an production environment.

You'll always have the know-it-all (FSO in my case) that thinks he somehow was involved in the latest linux kernel yet he wouldn't know how to shut down a *nix box from command line.

But they are easily swayed. ;)
 
shade_star said:
In any business environment if you jump to 08 and it causes issues it may cost your job.
The reasoning is why jump to a new system (especially for mission critical servers) when it just released?
Most IT Managers would tell their subordinates to be quiet if they suggested this right away. (At least I would hope!)
This line of thinking pushes the use of server 03 out years and hence the reason to study it contrary to the poster above saying to ditch it because 08 is coming out.
Click to expand...


We have alot of servers, we will be migrating some of them on release date, some of the new features are very nice. I have a feeling more people will be migrating than you think, especially when businesses start rolling out vista, we can't wait.
 
Verge said:
We have alot of servers, we will be migrating some of them on release date, some of the new features are very nice. I have a feeling more people will be migrating than you think, especially when businesses start rolling out vista, we can't wait.
Click to expand...

Many people may definately be migrating but on a live environment? Do you have a test lab to try it out first?
If you guys are an enterprise and migrate to 08 without lab testing for weeks before hand then you have a set of big brass ones.
 
shade_star said:
Many people may definately be migrating but on a live environment? Do you have a test lab to try it out first?
Click to expand...


of course


we have connect account, not to mention the beta's have been publicly available for quite some time
 
I highly recommend the book by Mark Minasi, Mastering Windows Server 2003. You'll learn the steps for setting things up and actually understand what you will and won't need as well as how to manage it.
 
more than likely hes going to throw basic network services at you. dns, dhcp, rras, etc. before you learn how to configure these things for server 03, learn about them from the low level. that's the best way to learn anything in networking. as your career grows, you'll get thrown into novell, linux, unix, and whatever's the flavor of the month and knowing how MS does something isn't going to help much.
 
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