Systems Admin

Systems Admin

Standalone DHCP Server Configuration (Without Domain Joined)

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.

10 min read
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Systems Admin

Implement DHCP High Availability

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.

7 min read
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Systems Admin

DHCP – Create and Manage IP Reservation

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.

6 min read
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Systems Admin

Create and Manage DHCP Scope

Learn how to create and manage DHCP scopes on Windows Server. This step-by-step guide covers launching the New Scope Wizard, configuring the IP address range, setting exclusion ranges and lease duration, configuring scope options (gateway and DNS), activating the scope, viewing active leases, modifying scope properties post-creation, creating superscopes for multinet environments, and monitoring scope utilization statistics.

8 min read
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Systems Admin

Implement and Configure the DHCP Server Role (On-Premise)

Learn how to implement and configure the DHCP Server role on Windows Server. This step-by-step guide covers installing the DHCP role, setting a static IP address, completing the Post-Installation Configuration Wizard, authorizing the server in Active Directory (including DHCP Administrators and DHCP Users security groups), verifying authorization with green arrows, and creating a scope to begin issuing IP addresses.

7 min read
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Systems Admin

Implement and Manage IPAM (IP Address Management)

Learn how to implement and manage IPAM (IP Address Management) on Windows Server. This step-by-step guide covers installing the IPAM feature, provisioning with Group Policy-based provisioning, configuring server discovery, setting servers to Managed status, applying IPAM GPOs with Invoke-IpamGpoProvisioning, retrieving data, and using the IP address space, DHCP scope, and DNS zone management capabilities.

7 min read
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Systems Admin

Implement Domain Name System Security Extension (DNSSEC)

Learn how to implement DNSSEC on Windows Server to protect against man-in-the-middle DNS attacks. This step-by-step guide covers the Zone Signing Wizard, configuring Key Signing Keys (KSK) and Zone Signing Keys (ZSK) with RSA-SHA-256, enabling NSEC3 and Trust Anchor distribution, verifying the padlock icon, and best practices for key rotation and monitoring.

7 min read
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Systems Admin

Configure DNS Forwarding: Regular and Conditional Forwarders

Learn how to configure DNS forwarding in Windows Server DNS Manager. This step-by-step guide covers regular forwarding (offloading all external queries to public DNS servers like 8.8.8.8) and conditional forwarding (routing domain-specific queries to designated DNS servers), including the DNS resolution order and Active Directory replication for conditional forwarders.

7 min read
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Systems Admin

Configuring Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA)

Learn how to configure Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA) in Active Directory. This step-by-step guide covers creating the KDS Root Key, creating and installing the gMSA with New-ADServiceAccount and Install-ADServiceAccount, verifying with Test-ADServiceAccount, and configuring Services.msc to use the account with automatic password rotation.

6 min read
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Systems Admin

Configure and Manage Active Directory Sites and Services

Learn how to configure Active Directory Sites and Services for a multi-site environment. This step-by-step guide covers creating AD sites, configuring site links with costs, setting the replication interval and schedule, mapping IP subnets to sites, and managing site link bridging for efficient domain controller replication.

8 min read
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