IT professional writing about cybersecurity, cloud & DevOps, automation, networking, and systems administration. Real-world guides for real-world problems.
Step-by-step guide to installing the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) role on Windows Server and promoting the machine to the first Domain Controller in a new forest. Covers the Add Roles and Features wizard, the Configuration Wizard, DSRM password, DNS delegation warning, paths, the auto-generated PowerShell script, and post-promotion verification.
A step-by-step post-installation checklist for Windows Server. Configure Server Manager, disable IE Enhanced Security, set a static IP, enable Remote Desktop, run Windows Update, and activate your server.
Learn how to install Windows Server 2019 on a VMware ESXi virtual machine step by step. The same process works on Hyper-V, VirtualBox, and bare-metal servers.
Learn how to configure nested virtualization on Hyper-V so you can run Hyper-V inside a virtual machine. This step-by-step guide covers connecting to the guest VM, attempting Hyper-V role installation (and understanding the error), shutting down the VM, running Set-VMProcessor -ExposeVirtualizationExtensions on the physical host, restarting the VM, installing the Hyper-V role successfully, and verifying the nested Hyper-V Manager is operational. Includes best practices for memory allocation, performance overhead, and processor compatibility.
Learn how to configure File Screens using File Server Resource Manager (FSRM) on Windows Server. This step-by-step guide covers installing the FSRM role, understanding File Screens, File Screen Templates, and File Groups, creating a reusable template with Active or Passive screening, applying the screen to a specific folder, testing the block behavior, and modifying or deleting file screens. Includes best practices for rolling out screening policies without disrupting users.
Learn how to install and configure a standalone DHCP server on Windows Server without Active Directory. This step-by-step guide covers verifying the static IP, installing the DHCP Server role via Server Manager, skipping AD authorization in the post-install wizard, creating a scope with IP range exclusions and lease duration, configuring scope options (gateway and DNS), activating the scope, verifying client IP assignment with ipconfig, viewing address leases, and creating reservations from the console.
Learn how to implement DHCP high availability on Windows Server using DHCP failover. This guide covers Load Balance and Hot Standby failover modes, preparing and authorizing the secondary DHCP server, running the Configure Failover Wizard to set relationship name, MCLT, mode, and shared secret, verifying scope synchronization on the secondary server, testing failover behavior, managing Replicate Scope and Replicate Relationship operations, and configuring firewall rules for TCP port 647.
Learn how to create and manage DHCP IP reservations on Windows Server. This guide covers opening the DHCP console, locating the target scope, creating a new reservation with a descriptive name, entering the device MAC address, selecting supported protocols (DHCP, BOOTP, or Both), verifying the reservation, and avoiding common pitfalls including exclusion conflicts, duplicate MAC addresses, and stale reservations after hardware changes.
