In this lab guide, you will learn about managing Windows Server 2019 by exploring two new Windows Server 2019 features: Just Enough Administration (JEA) and Windows Admin Center. Additionally, you will learn about Windows PowerShell Direct and other modern administrative techniques that go along with with JEA.

This lab guide teaches the main components of Microsoft Endpoint Manager (MEM) Configuration Manager and Intune, what they're used for, and how to optimize the design to minimize cost and management of the infrastructure. Guided through real-world scenarios by industry experts, you will learn why Microsoft Endpoint Manager continues to dominate the systems management space and how its customers were able to easily transition to a telecommuting workforce at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ability for an organization to offer Work from Anywhere capability to its staff without compromising security or data integrity is critical for the continued operation of every business. Learn how to configure these products to support your enterprise devices fully, whether on-premises, off-premises, in the data center, or virtualized in Azure.

In a hybrid world, we need hybrid management of our assets. This is particularly important when it comes to Operating System servicing and imaging. This seminar guides you through the configuration process to handle your on-prem imaging requirements for servers and desktops and maintain them using Software Updates and Delivery Optimization with Intune.

The simple act of shipping end-user devices to a corporate location for configuration before delivery to the end-user can create a complex and expensive process. AutoPilot with Microsoft Intune allows you to assign a device configuration to computers as they leave the distributor, allowing direct-to-employee shipping, simplifying device setup for the user, and ensuring security compliance is met before corporate connections are initiated. Using a hands-on lab, we will explore AutoPilot in detail and examine the options for initial device configuration and ongoing compliance.

This book covers the entire end-to-end planning, installing, updating, configuring and deploying a complete system with a full PKI infrastructure to boot! That element alone, documented in Chapter 2, cannot be overemphasized and is worth the cost of the book all by itself! When I was looking into the implementation of the then-new and shiny Internet Based Client Management (IBCM) feature many years ago, all I knew of PKI was how to spell it. I would have given anything for this information back then. For you, it’s all crystal clear, and found right here in chapter 2.

Beyond that element, you will first see listed out all the prerequisites necessary, the various roles and features to be implemented, the black magic that is SQL Server, your domain configurations clearly explained and necessary (which will keep your Domain Admins away from your desk!), and then walk you through how to install it all. You’ll then end up with SSL security, the MDT Toolkit fully integrated, updated to Current Branch 1710, initial configuration settings applied, and clients deployed. In other words, you’ll create a completely functional system with all of the latest-and-greatest. If you’re naturally lazy like me, and you don’t particularly want to go through all of this yourself but just want it DONE so you can get on with it, guess what? There’s a SCRIPT to do it all FOR you!!!

Lastly, the authors’ then go on to also manage all of that hocus-pocus called networking! I never pretended to be a network engineer. As far as I’m concerned, they all live in a foreign land complete with its own language. NAT? Wasn’t that a famous singer back in the day??? What’s that got to do with anything? Well, in a simple-to-follow procedure in the prerequisites section, they make it all clear, and why.

The purpose of this book is to showcase the amazing expertise of our guest speakers at the North American MVPDays Community Roadshow.  They have so much passion, expertise, and expert knowledge that it only seemed fitting to write it down in a book.  

MVPDays was founded by Cristal and Dave Kawula back in 2013. It started as a simple idea; “There’s got to be a good way for Microsoft MVPs to reach the IT community and share their vast knowledge and experience in a fun and engaging way.” We wondered what the point was in recognizing these bright and inspiring individuals, and not leveraging them to inspire the community that they were a part of? If we didn’t yet have the right venue to help these individuals inspire and teach, why not create it?

Having established our soapbox, we often get asked the question “Who should attend MVPDays”?  

The answer is simple. Anyone that has an interest in technology, is eager to learn, and wants to meet other like-minded individuals should attend. This Roadshow is not just for Microsoft MVP’s, but for anyone in the IT Community.

Make sure you check out the MVPDays website at: www.mvpdays.com. You never know, maybe the Roadshow will be coming to a city near you.

The goal of this particular book is to give you some amazing Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) tips from the experts you come to see in person at the MVPDays Roadshow.  This book is used as a required reading prior to MVP Dave Kawula engaging on any Storage Spaces Direct project. From us at the MVPDays Publishing team we really hope you find immense value in this book and as always let us know what you think.

End of life for Windows Server 2008 is just around the corner and now with this book you will have the knowledge to upgrade or migrate to Windows Server 2019. The book covers Active Direct, DHCP, DNS, NTP, Storage Spaces Direct, and more.

This book is dedicated to all of those IT Pro’s out there that have to troubleshoot Windows Server environments on a daily basis.  We know this can be a tedious task, and sometimes our best friend, “Google” just doesn’t have all the answers.  We have dug into the vaults to find these solutions to problems you might have seen or will see.  Everything you will read about comes from actual troubleshooting cases from our team.

Are you ready to start deploying Windows Server 2019?  If so, you must read this book as the built-in Windows Defender Anti-Virus is not enough for protection.  It is like downloading a free version of Anti-Virus and running it on your servers.  With Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection you get all of the robust features you would expect out of an enterprise Anti-Virus / Malware / and Security Product.  These do not come pre-installed and require configuration via securitycenter.microsoft.com.  This book will walk you through how to setup, configure, and test Defender Advanced Threat Protection.  

Managing an estate of devices on the network has always been a challenge to infrastructure administrators.  In today’s world, we deal with real threats from bad actors, a multitude of ever-changing devices, and complex remote work scenarios driven by Covid-19.  Are the traditional tools like Microsoft’s Group Policy, Endpoint Manager, and PowerShell enough to manage a modern workforce?  Each of the respective tools has its pros and cons and might not sustain today’s modern workforce.  

To answer this question, our elite team of Microsoft MVPs has made a feature comparison between these three platforms and a fourth offering from our friends at 1E called Tachyon Guaranteed State.  

In today’s world defending against attacks that originate from both inside and outside your organization is critical. Unfortunately, threat actors are preying on organizations lagging with their Cyber Security defenses and becoming easy targets. In the lab guide, we will walk you through configuring Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection to protect against Malware and Ransomware attacks. This will include live simulated attacks via PowerShell and testing tools. Then we will turn our focus to Securing Cloud bases resources with Microsoft’s Defender for Cloud. The elements of this book will give a fundamental understanding and help you close the front door, so the bad guys can’t just walk in.

Are you interested in build lab, proof of concept, or development environments in Microsoft Azure. If so, this book is for you. You will start by setting up your first Microsoft Azure Subscription. Then, configure a Virtual Machine that will be used as a Nested Hyper-V Host.  Further advanced configurations will see you enable external NAT Configurations and multiple real-world scenarios.