Is Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 a good way to learn the AD?

tjb122982tjb122982 Member Posts: 255 ■■■□□□□□□□
in MCSA / MCSE on Windows 2012 General
Since almost every job posting I see mentions AD in the job qualifications, I need to learn more about the AD? Would downloading the evaluation trial of Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 do the trick or would I be better off with Windows Server 2012? At this point, I am really only interested in the AD.
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  • NetworkNewbNetworkNewb Member Posts: 3,298 ■■■■■■■■■□
    It can only be installed on a Server
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  • srabieesrabiee Member Posts: 1,231 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Wait, I'm confused. Are these job postings specifically asking for ADFS experience, or just AD in general?
    WGU Progress: Master of Science - Information Technology Management (Start Date: February 1, 2015)
    Completed: LYT2, TFT2, JIT2, MCT2, LZT2, SJT2 (17 CU's)
    Required: FXT2, MAT2, MBT2, C391, C392 (13 CU's)

    Bachelor of Science - Information Technology Network Design & Management (WGU - Completed August 2014)
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  • tjb122982tjb122982 Member Posts: 255 ■■■□□□□□□□
    srabiee wrote: »
    Wait, I'm confused. Are these job postings specifically asking for ADFS experience, or just AD in general?

    Just AD. Sorry for the confusion.
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  • srabieesrabiee Member Posts: 1,231 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Ok that makes more sense. If you want to learn AD, the best way to go about it is to create a Server 2012 R2 virtual machine and configure a domain. Then practice configuring DHCP, DNS, GPOs, user accounts, security groups, etc, and add domain members (additional virtual machines) as necessary. Oracle VM VirtualBox is free I believe. Or you could do it in Windows 8 or Windows 10 Hyper-V.

    If you want something to guide you along the process, I highly recommend the Sybex book Mastering Server 2012 R2. It's like 1600 pages in length, extremely comprehensive, and easy to read through (plenty of screen shots and diagrams).

    Amazon.com: Mastering Windows Server 2012 R2 (9781118289426): Mark Minasi, Kevin Greene, Christian Booth, Robert Butler, John McCabe, Robert Panek, Michael Rice, Stefan Roth: Books

    CBTNuggets and Pluralsite also offer instructor-lead video-based training, if you learn better that way.
    WGU Progress: Master of Science - Information Technology Management (Start Date: February 1, 2015)
    Completed: LYT2, TFT2, JIT2, MCT2, LZT2, SJT2 (17 CU's)
    Required: FXT2, MAT2, MBT2, C391, C392 (13 CU's)

    Bachelor of Science - Information Technology Network Design & Management (WGU - Completed August 2014)
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