How can I get AD experience.

I have noticed that most of the help desk job postings that I have come across lately have AD experience as a requirement. I am currently working in a Tech Support role for a computer manufacturer and have almost no Windows server experience and none in an actual production environment.

I have decided to set up a lab to get some practice as I have access to the OSs through WGU and dreamspark. I currently have the server on a VM, and one client system on a VM. I plan on setting up a couple of more clients for testing. I have created a couple of accounts and they can log in, but I am stumped on what to do from there. Are there any good resources for labs to practice working with AD in the typical entry level help desk role? What kinds of things should I be doing to get myself up to speed on AD so that I can better my chances of getting one of these positions?

I currently work in a telecommute role, where the can be significant down time between calls, so I will have some time to practice with AD and start developing my skills if I can find out what I should be working on.

Thanks in advance for any replies, and I look forward to your help.

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Comments

TheMontu

In my help desk role all I've ever done is add/remove/disable and move computers and disable/enable user accounts.

I don't imagine the jobs your looking at are asking more?

QHalo

I would also know how GPO's affect machines and how to tell if they are applying correctly. Outside of that from a helpdesk perspective, unless you work in a very small shop, I've never seen nor would I ever give the helpdesk more ability than that. Knowing how to do more is always great though. You have the right idea. Lab it up. Screw it up in the lab and learn what to avoid doing or how to fix something you have done in the real world.

cygnus21

I figured it would be stuff along these lines, but I haven't really even gotten far enough to ask. I would guess resetting passwords would be up there among the skills to have as well.

Anyone have any good resources to read so I can play with some of this stuff? Would the 70-640 resources here be a good start. I will be getting that cert eventually anyway in the future.

Bloogen

Studying for the 70-640 would be an amazing reference and if you were to go through the 70-640 MS Press book and perform all of the labs from the book you would learn basic helpdesk tasks and so much more. With the knowledge of the 640 if you really focus on learning it and not just "finishing the book" you can start looking to prepare yourself for a job beyond a helpdesk role.

Install VirtualBox or VMware workstation to ensure you can follow along with the labs. Do not skip the questions and lab exercises they are the most critical part of the the learning process for the real world. Try it first, Google when you get stuck, ask for help here when you really get lost.

Good luck!

cygnus21

Sounds like a plan. I will pick up the 70-640 book, and get to work. My end goal is getting off of the help desk and into systems or network admin at some point anyway so I will want to know AD in some pretty good depth anyway.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm sure you will all be hearing from me soon with some questions.

PS I actually have one. I have VM ware player installed. Will this work well enough for labbing, or should I gram Workstation. I believe that I can get workstation as a student through WGU as well so I can have it if I need it.

Bloogen

Go with VirtualBox or VMware Workstation. I believe VMware Player lacks the ability to take snapshots which is pretty useful when doing labs to be able tor revert quickly. You will also get a lot more network related options which are useful during your studies.

VirtualBox for a free solution and go for VMware workstation as soon as you can afford or it is provided for you.

cygnus21

Ok so I have the 70-640 book from MS on its way to me, and WGu is getting me set up for VM ware player. SO I am on my way now. Thanks all for the advice.

MiikeB

Make a domain in your lab, go through these things:

Join a computer to a domain
Create a domain admin account
Create a user account
Put the computer and account in an OU you make called test
Lock the user account with bad password attempts, unlock the account
Reset the user password
Create a security group
Restrict access to a folder to only that security group
Try accessing it, when it fails, try adding the user to the security group then access the folder
Create a group policy on the domain controller that does something like restrict access to control panel
Apply that GPO to your test OU and then log in and see that you cannot access control panel
Take a look at RSOP

After you have done all of these you should feel comfortable enough to interview for a job at a helpdesk.

Active Directory is not rocket science by any stretch and I am sure you will figure it out quickly.

cygnus21

I've all ready done the first three. I will start working on the others tonight and see if I can make it work. It is a little intimidating at first, because there is so much you can do with AD that knowing where to even start is daunting I guess.

Thanks for the advice on where to start. It helps a lot. I will also start working on the labs in the book when it gets here. I do want to know AD better and will be taking it for my degree anyway so why not start now since I need to know some of it to be able to get a job anyway.

I appreciate everyone's advice and I will let you all know how it goes. I do have one phone interview scheduled for Monday, and another recruiter working on getting me a second sometime this week.

Mike-Mike

some of that is overkill... I think it's good to know of course, but I think most help desk AD use is resetting passwords.....

Do you know how to right click? boom! you've got that whole password thing down...

I think AD is relatively user friendly.. I spent a little less than a year on the Service Desk for a large company with 60,000 users. We had a wide scope of tasks, but by far the most often thing done in AD were password reset and account unlock.

As I learned and moved up the ladder, tasks got expanded, but on Day One I had never used A.D. before and it all turned out pretty good

chmod

But if he wants to move up the ladder he needs to know/do more than right clicking.

The more you know the better you become along with the experience. Instead of guessing is better if he already know how to do it.

jibbajabba

If three people know how to right click - who would the company chose to hire ?

The one who knows how >that< little bit more

Mike-Mike

Once he gets the help desk job, he should absolutely try to grow his skills, that's what I did. I went from Service Desk to Access Management which had me in A.D. all day long. Getting certs and expanding my skillset help me get there....

what I'm saying is, you dont need to be an A.D. expert to get a job at a help desk, it would be overkill... it's not a bad thing to know all that, but based in my experience... I didn't need to know how Group Policy worked, or how to join computers to domains, etc....

again, based on my experience..

cygnus21

I guess the state of IT down here is different. I see posting after posting that want AD. Some of the a min of 2 years exp with it. I want to get some of the basics down so when I go and interview I can say yes I can do this, and this, and this. If it is more than what they need great, Id rather have a little more skill than less. Once I have a position I can dive in full bore. I am not expecting to have the 70-640 ready to test before getting in somewhere but I want to be able to set myself apart from everyone else.

There are some postings down here that want a 4 yr degree, plus 5 years exp, plus MCITP, CCNA minimum and want to pay $30,000/yr. I know this it the dream candidate, but that is a little much. It's not just one or two. They are all over the place. It's getting really hard to even break in to IT here. I am happy to even have a shot, and I want to make sure that I land it now. That way I don't have to send another 100 unanswered resumes, lol.

Again I know I dont need to have loads of AD knowledge, but I want to have enough that they can say "OK this guy can do what we need done" I will build my skills from there.

You guys are awesome and thanks for the help(again... I sound like a broken record here) I will definitely be hanging out here a lot more in the future.

cygnus21

ok new question for you guys. Is there any easy way to migrate my VM's from VMware player to workstation. I indeed do get a yearly license for workstation from my school. I would have to renew it every year, but heck its free for learning so I cant complain. I have downloaded it, but it wants to uninstall player. Can I just save the Vm files somewhere and then move them into workstation after it is installed?

Bloogen

Pretty sure all of your VM's will work in VMware Workstation without you having to do anything. Don't need to move them either, at most you may need to re-import them or reattach the vmdk's to a new VM.

cygnus21

Yeah all I had to do was navigate to them and they worked like a charm.

antielvis

The answer is you can't really practice, at least not what you'd experience at the enterprise level. What I'd do is I'd create a small AD, have an "admin" "users" and "computers" OU. Create a few accounts but know the options of AD inside out (how to use it, not how to design it). Learn what every checkbox & what ever tab in AD does & be able to explain it. Understand that computer accounts also authenticate & learn the basics of how that works.

On larger networks it takes months/years to really understand the fundmentals of their AD/network. That's something you learn on the job, not at home.

cygnus21

I understand that I will not become really good with AD from labbing. I just want to develop enough basics so that someone will hire me. Once that happens then I can really learn it and become proficient. the problem is that it is hard to even get in down here unless you have some basic AD skills. That is all I am looking for right now.

Polynomial

cygnus21 wrote: »

I understand that I will not become really good with AD from labbing. I just want to develop enough basics so that someone will hire me. Once that happens then I can really learn it and become proficient. the problem is that it is hard to even get in down here unless you have some basic AD skills. That is all I am looking for right now.

Don't worry about it that much for help desk/jr. sys admin purposes. It honestly something you can figure out just by opening it up.

Creating accounts, adding them to groups, OUs are very basic.

matt333

I'd say get a good understanding of AD but there is a lot more then AD in a Windows Server. Definitely study up on the different roles user/share permissions etc. I work in Help Desk and using AD is only the beginning. Once your familiar with the interface move on. Like above you do it once or twice and you get it not anything you need to really need to analysis.

Mike-Mike

did the OP see this:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/87681-south-florida-entry-level-job-help-desk-good-experience-opportunity.html

that's what you're looking for right? in your area?

Slowhand

cygnus21 wrote: »

I understand that I will not become really good with AD from labbing.

Actually, you can get pretty good at working with AD from setting up your own lab. What you won't get good at is the particular details of how each network you might work with is set up, how individual preferences and company policies impact how AD was configured, and what other applications and systems may be running alongside it.

That aside, I do think you should pursue your ambition to learn more about AD and Windows Server technologies in general. First off, it'll certainly help you in the immediate future as you look for desktop support type of work, and starting on the path towards the MCSA/MCSE certifications now will ensure that you've got both credentials and a bit of experience when it's time to step up to sysadmin work after an opportunity presents itself.

I think you've got the right mindset about trying for higher-level certs and jobs down the road, expand your skills and move forward to learn as much as you can.

cygnus21

Mike-Mike wrote: »

did the OP see this:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/87681-south-florida-entry-level-job-help-desk-good-experience-opportunity.html

that's what you're looking for right? in your area?

Yeah and if it is what I think it is (I pm'd the OP there to check) I'm not interested. I used to work for the company and its not worth it to me to go back.