Teaching a full course on MCSA (Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate) for Windows Server 2022 would be quite comprehensive, covering a wide range of topics related to the installation, configuration, administration, and management of Windows Server environments. Here's an outline of what such a course might entail:
Module 1: Introduction to Windows Server 2022
- Overview of Windows Server 2022
- Editions and Licensing
- New Features and Improvements
Module 2: Installation and Configuration
- Planning for Installation
- Installing Windows Server 2022
- Server Core vs. Server with Desktop Experience
- Initial Configuration Tasks
Module 3: Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
- Understanding AD DS Architecture
- Installing and Configuring Domain Controllers
- Managing Active Directory Objects
- Group Policy Management
Module 4: Networking Services
- TCP/IP Fundamentals
- DNS Configuration and Management
- DHCP Configuration and Management
- Implementing IP Address Management (IPAM)
Module 5: File and Storage Services
- Configuring File Sharing
- Implementing DFS (Distributed File System)
- Storage Spaces and Storage Spaces Direct
- Data Deduplication
Module 6: Hyper-V Virtualization
- Overview of Hyper-V
- Installation and Configuration of Hyper-V
- Virtual Machine Management
- High Availability and Disaster Recovery
Module 7: Remote Access
- Configuring Remote Desktop Services (RDS)
- Virtual Private Network (VPN) Setup
- DirectAccess and VPN Reconnect
- Web Application Proxy
Module 8: Web Services
- Installing and Configuring IIS (Internet Information Services)
- Configuring Web Applications and Virtual Directories
- Security Best Practices for Web Servers
- Application Pool Configuration
Module 9: Security and Compliance
- Implementing Windows Defender Firewall
- Configuring Network Access Protection (NAP)
- Understanding BitLocker Drive Encryption
- Implementing Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)
Module 10: Monitoring and Maintenance
- Performance Monitoring and Optimization
- Event Log Management
- Server Backup and Restore
- Implementing Windows Admin Center for Management
Module 11: High Availability and Disaster Recovery
- Implementing Failover Clustering
- Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV)
- Stretch Clusters
- Backup and Restore Strategies
Module 12: Troubleshooting and Best Practices
- Common Windows Server Troubleshooting Tools
- Performance Tuning and Optimization
- Best Practices for Server Deployment and Management
- Case Studies and Real-World Scenarios
Module 13: Preparation for Certification
- Overview of MCSA Certification Path
- Exam Preparation Strategies
- Practice Exams and Mock Tests
- Tips for Exam Day
This course outline covers the core topics required for MCSA certification in Windows Server 2022. Each module can be expanded into multiple lessons or chapters depending on the depth of knowledge desired. Additionally, hands-on labs and practical exercises should be integrated throughout the course to reinforce theoretical concepts with real-world application.
Windows Server 2025 Is (Almost) Here
In-Depth
Windows Server 2025 Is (Almost) Here
Many more new features than last release, explained in detail: "Maybe Microsoft has realized that not everything is in the cloud, and giving attention to Server is important."
The next version of Windows Server is coming soon, and in this article I'll look at some of the improvements and new features.
Recently Microsoft held a Windows Server summit, full of (pre-recorded mostly) technical sessions looking at all the different enhancements -- catch the recordings here.
As for the release date, various presenters said "soon," "second half of 2024," "later in 2024," "can't tell you because Satya will punch me in the face" -- but the price probably goes to sole System Center 2025 session where the presenter said we'll be releasing it at the same time as Windows Server, in September 2024. If that turns out to be true, I suspect that poor program manager might be in trouble for not keeping the "secret."
In this article I'll focus on Active Directory and security improvements, changes to NTLM and SMB, Hotpatching, storage and networking enhancements, GPU support with both pooling and partitioning, and failover clustering. There are quite a lot of new features, unlike in the Windows Server 2022 release, something I attribute to two factors -- enhancements in Azure are trickling down to Server (especially for Hyper-V) and Azure Stack HCI. This "twice a year(ish)" product is a bit like a canary for Windows Server itself -- getting new features tested out before they make it into the long-term servicing release of Windows Server. Oh, and maybe Microsoft has realized that not everything is in the cloud, and giving attention to Server is important.
Active Directory -- a Very Old Dog Learns New TricksI remember reading books (remember those?) back in 1999 on Active Directory (AD) before it was released in Windows Server 2000. Just turning 25, AD has a whole slew of new tricks, such as Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) awareness. Modern servers have oodles of memory and often multiple sockets of CPUs, but not all CPUs have high speed access to all of that memory, instead being divided into NUMA nodes. So perhaps one socket with 12 cores has fast access to 64GB of memory (or 128, or 256, depending on the hardware), and slower access to the rest. This means that if you're running a server application such as an old version SQL Server that's not NUMA aware, you're going to get "weird" performance, but a newer application knows how to adapt to the underlying hardware. The same is true for virtual machines (VMs) as both Hyper-V and VMware can project the underlying configuration into VMs, so they too know how to adapt.
AD in Windows Server 2025 is NUMA-aware, which should bring serious performance improvements, useful in large environments (one company mentioned has 1,200 DCs and a database file in the hundreds of GB size).
Speaking of databases, the new version comes with a new page size, which has been 8KB since the first version, now they can be 32KB. If you're upgrading an existing forest, each new 2025 DC will use 8KB pages until they're all upgraded, after which you manually make the switch using the Enable-ADOptionalFeature PowerShell cmdlet.
There's improved attribute security and auditability, and the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP, the language applications use to talk to AD) lets you enforce channel binding support to stop replay attacks of communication. LDAP now prefers encryption and also supports Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3. Changing passwords remotely using legacy protocols is blocked, and computer account passwords are now blocked from using any part of the computer name in the password. The encryption used in Kerberos can now be quantum safe, and they've got rid of RC4 and MD5 which should reduce Kerberoasting attacks.
The DCLocator service (which does exactly what it says on the tin) is deprecating another ancient protocol (think MS-DOS era): Mailslots. Good riddance.
These enhancements come in the new Domain and Forest Functional Level (DFL, FFL) version 10 (called Windows Server 2025), the last new one was version 7 in Windows Server 2016.
Delegated Managed Service AccountsService accounts are a necessary evil in both AD and Entra ID (where the security risks are solved with Managed Identities). You have an application (database, a Backup program, a custom batch script) that needs to run on a server or servers. Back in the day, you simply created a user account, gave it the right permissions (in some cases Domain Admin, because that always works) ticked the box for password never expires and then forgot about it. Until attackers compromised the account and used it to move laterally amongst your servers.
Some versions ago we got Managed Service Accounts, which did use long random password, that were rotated automatically by AD but could only be used on one server. This was followed by Group Managed Service Accounts (gMSA), which could be used anywhere in the domain and applications such as Defender for Identity used them. However, they required the application to be written to take advantage of them (something I discovered when a client wanted to deploy a smart card app on their DCs, which only supported ordinary accounts).
The new Delegated Managed Service Accounts (dMSA) fixes these problems. Take an existing service account, "upgrade" it in a two-step process to a dMSA, and the application keeps running wherever it is, but under the hood there's no longer a password associated with it, instead it uses keys that are managed and rotated by AD.
Burying NTLMThere's no doubt that maintaining backwards compatibility is why Microsoft's products are in every corporate datacenter on the planet. But this also means carrying some serious security baggage from a long time ago -- I watched at least two presentations where it was stated that this focus on compatibility will be changed in favor of stronger security.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the deprecation of the venerable NTLM (that's "New Technology Lan Manager" for you young Padawans, NT being really old, and Lan Manager being positively ancient). This is a comprehensive effort, not just in server, but also in the Windows client. It's a four-part approach: IAKerb, Local KDC, TryIPSpn and move to negotiate.
IAKerb is an extension to Kerberos that allows a client that doesn't have line-of-sight connectivity to a Domain Controller (a remote worker for example) to authenticate through a server that does have connectivity.
Local Key Distribution Server (KDC) uses the local Security Account Manager (SAM) to allow remote authentication of local accounts over Kerberos rather than NTLM. Service accounts in domains can be associated with one or more DNS host names (Service Principal Names, SPN) and if you use that when authenticating, Kerberos is used, but if you use an IP address, it falls back to NTLM. No more though, Windows Server 2025 allows you to associate IP addresses with service accounts, so they'll use Kerberos instead.
The final approach is for Windows components and third-party apps that are hardcoded to use NTLM, even when both ends support Kerberos, by moving the configuration to Negotiate; NTLM won't be used. This is of course the long tail, both in Windows (one presenter spoke about "reduced usage" of NTLM in Windows Server 2025, another of the same in System Center), but I'm sure it'll take time to clean up the old code. Just like was done for applications that insisted on SMB v1, there's going to be a list of applications that insist on using NTLM in an effort to name and shame them.
SMB Is KingThe file sharing protocol in Windows: Server Message Block (SMB) is going from strength to strength. This version now turns signing on by default (to stop attackers in the middle), the ability to control which particular versions ("dialects") of SMB you allow and the option to change which port number is used for SMB. In earlier versions, when you enabled file sharing, several default Windows Firewall rules were enabled (some that are so legacy they're not even used by SMB anymore). This has been fixed in Windows Server 2025.
There's now a two-second delay when you enter the wrong password until you can try again, which shouldn't impact a normal sleepy user on a Monday morning but will considerably slow down automated brute force attempts.
One cool feature that Microsoft has been dribbling out over the last few versions is SMB over Quick UDP Internet Connections (QUIC, being an alternative to TCP that uses TLS 1.3 for security). In essence you get a secure tunnel from your Windows (or Android) client directly to an SMB file share over the internet, without using a VPN. In previous versions it was only available in the special "Azure Edition" of Windows Server, and you could only run it in Azure (later on also on Azure Stack HCI), it's now available in all editions of Server: Standard, Datacenter and Azure Edition.
Windows Server 2022 Features Removed Or Deprecated
Windows Server is a network of operating systems used by organizations for a customizable network of their own. In the 2022 version of Windows Server, we see Microsoft making big strides, especially in the areas of security and user data protection, but this is also accompanied by several features being discontinued. In this article, we will be discussing all features Microsoft has decided to remove or stop developing starting from Windows Server 2022.
Windows Server 2022 Features that are being removed
Semi-Annual Channel – The Semi-Annual Channel is what Microsoft generally uses to release a new version of their Server but this time around, the only primary channel is the Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC). Users are going to get 5 years of mainstream support that can be topped off with 5 years of extended support. The Semi-Annual channel is going to be continued with the Azure Stack HCI.
According to Microsoft, users will receive a new version of Windows Server every couple of years, and the channel will continue to receive security-cum-non security updates.
Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) Server – After being considered for removal in Windows Server version 1709, Microsoft has decided to do away with the iSNS Server Service as well. Users of iSNS servers, however, can connect to them individually if they want.
Windows Server 2022 Features Microsoft will no longer be developing
These are the features that Microsoft will no longer be deploying its resources towards
Guarded Fabric and Shielded Virtual Machines (VMs) – Microsoft’s alliance with Azure means that they are making substantial advances in the field of user security by making use of moving more and more data to the cloud. This will be done using Azure Confidential Computing and Azure Security Center. While Microsoft will continue to support these services, they won’t extend any further developments. Launching SConfig from a command prompt window – Starting with Windows Server 2022, SConfig is going to launch by default upon sign in, provided you are running Core Server installation. If you exit from the SConfig, you’ll be taken to a regular PowerShell window. This automatic launch can also be disabled, if you wish to, in which case PowerShell will open upon sign-in. To avoid confusion, Microsoft has decided to scrape off SConfig.Cmd from the next version of their OS. We hope that this post helps. Read next: Windows Server 2022 Hardware Requirements. 
Hardware Requirements For Windows Server 2022 Edition
Microsoft publishes a server line for its operating system – known as Windows Server. It is meant to be run on servers specifically found in large-scale workspaces or organizations. If you are interested in knowing what are the hardware requirements to run Windows Server, this post is for you. Today, we will be discussing what are the Hardware Requirements for the latest Windows Server 2022 Edition.
We will list the minimum Windows Server 2022 hardware requirements for the following components:
1] Processor
Two key factors are affecting a processor’s efficiency; the cores & size of it and its clock frequency. To install Windows Server properly, your system has got to have at least a 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor that is compatible with an x64 instruction set. Additional security features like (DEP) and NX Bit should also be supported. If you want to check if your CPU complies with these requirements and where is it that it’s falling short, you can make sure of Coreinfo.
2] RAM
The minimum requirement for the RAM on your PC is for it to be at least 512MB big (a commonality in all computers made these days). It is also required to be equipped with ECC (Error Correcting Code)
3] Network Adapters
The network adapters on your PC should consist of an ethernet adapter which should be capable of pumping at least 1 gigabit per second. Your network adapters should also comply with the PCI Express architecture specification.
4] Disk Space Requirements The hard disc on your PC should be able to hold at least 32GB of data to run Windows Server, while the installation of the GUI requires an additional 4 gigabytes. 5] Others There are some other requirements that you need to take care of as well. Your PC should be equipped with a DVD drive if you plan on installing Windows via disk media. Other requirements include: UEFI 2.3.1c-based system and firmware that supports secure boot Graphics device and monitor capable of Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher-resolution Keyboard and Microsoft mouse (or other compatible pointing devices). Related: Windows Server 2022 vs 2019 vs 2016 Feature differences What are the minimum specs requirement for Windows Server installation? To install Windows Server properly, your system has got to have at least a 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor, 512MB RAM,32GB Hard Disk, and other requirements detailed in this post. Read: Windows Server 2022 Editions compared. Is TPM required for Windows Server 2022? A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip is required in order to use certain features such as BitLocker Drive Encryption. It must meet these requirements: Hardware-based TPMs must implement version 2.0 of the TPM specification. TPMs that implement version 2.0 must have an EK certificate TPMs that implement version 2.0 must ship with SHA-256 PCR banks & implement PCRs 0 through 23 for SHA-256. PCR bank that can be used for both SHA-1 and SHA-256 measurements. A UEFI option to turn off the TPM is not a requirement. We hope that this article was able to sufficiently clear all the doubts you had concerning the minimum hardware requirements of the Windows Server 2022 edition.