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.  

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.  

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.

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.

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” I mean, what is the point in recognizing these bright and inspiring individuals, and not leveraging them to inspire the community that they are a part of.

We often get asked the question “Who should attend MVPDays”?  

Anyone that has an interest in technology, is eager to learn, and wants to meet other like-minded individuals.  This Roadshow is not just for Microsoft MVP’s it is 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 show you how to Migrate your legacy Exchange 2010 environment to Exchange 2016. We built based on our experience migrating live customer environments.

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.  

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.

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” I mean, what is the point in recognizing these bright and inspiring individuals, and not leveraging them to inspire the community that they are a part of.

We often get asked the question “Who should attend MVPDays”?  

Anyone that has an interest in technology, is eager to learn, and wants to meet other like-minded individuals.  This Roadshow is not just for Microsoft MVP’s it is 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 bring you real world step-by-step guidance from our expert MVP Authors on Migrating to Office 365 from an on premises Exchange environment. It has been written with the most current techniques possible to help with your migrations and learning process.    

About This Book

Migrating to Server 2025 and Azure is a comprehensive, hands-on guide for IT professionals, system administrators, consultants, and trainers looking to modernize their infrastructure through upgrades to Windows Server 2025 and integrating Azure Hybrid services. Designed around real-world lab exercises, this book takes you on a journey from legacy environments to modern cloud-ready architecture, making it a must-have resource for anyone involved in digital transformation initiatives.

As organizations increasingly embrace hybrid cloud models and prepare for next-generation IT environments, the need for structured, tested, and repeatable migration strategies becomes crucial. This book was written to fill that exact need. It doesn’t just tell you how to migrate – it shows you, step by step, through a series of practical labs grounded in real-world scenarios. Whether upgrading an aging Active Directory environment, migrating file servers, integrating with Azure, or hardening your security posture using modern tools, this book equips you with the knowledge and tools to get it done efficiently and confidently.

With Windows Server 2025 on the horizon, many enterprises face the challenge of upgrading aging infrastructure, replacing deprecated technologies, and embracing hybrid capabilities. Cloud adoption is no longer an optional strategy – it's a necessity for agility, scalability, and security. But migrations can be complex, risky, and disruptive without the right plan and approach.

That’s where Migrating to Server 2025 and Azure shines.

We don’t simply present theoretical concepts. Every chapter, every lab, and every exercise has been field-tested in real environments. You’ll walk away with practical experience, an understanding of the potential pitfalls, and the skills to troubleshoot issues in the real world. This isn’t just a book—it’s your migration playbook.

What You'll Learn

This book is structured into logical sections and guided labs that walk you through every stage of the migration process, from planning and preparation to execution and validation. Here’s a breakdown of what’s inside:

Before diving into the migrations, we set the stage by walking you through how to access and configure your lab environment. You’ll learn how to prepare your virtual infrastructure to simulate a real production environment, giving you a safe and isolated space to test each scenario.

Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS) is the cornerstone of every Windows environment. Lab 1 focuses on migrating ADDS from Server 2016 to Server 2025, including preparing the schema, verifying replication health, and performing FSMO role transfers.

You’ll also learn how to demote legacy domain controllers, tune SRV records, configure time synchronization (NTP), and update domain and forest functional levels. A special instructor-led demo shows how to configure a domain controller directly in Azure, highlighting best practices for hybrid AD deployments.

By the end of Lab 1, you’ll have a fully upgraded AD infrastructure ready to support future workloads and hybrid scenarios.

Lab 2 introduces you to the power of Windows Admin Center (WAC) and its tight integration with Azure Hybrid Services. You’ll learn to set up WAC, connect it to your Azure environment, and deploy services like Azure Site Recovery and Azure Migrate.

These tools allow you to test disaster recovery scenarios and plan live migrations of on-premises workloads to Azure. The exercises here build your confidence in using Azure-native tools to extend the reach and resilience of your infrastructure.

Due to the volume of data and custom permissions, file servers are often among the most critical and complex workloads to migrate. Lab 3 uses the Storage Migration Service (SMS) in WAC to modernize file servers, demonstrating a full migration to Azure Files. The exercises guide you through preserving NTFS permissions, validating file integrity, and ensuring seamless cutovers.

Web workloads are still alive in enterprise IT, and Lab 4 is focused on modernizing your Internet Information Services (IIS) infrastructure. You'll install WordPress on Server 2012R2 using PowerShell, configure MySQL and PHP, and then walk through several migration and upgrade strategies.

This lab equips you with multiple options for moving and modernizing your web stack, from backing up and restoring IIS to migrating entire websites to Azure using the App Service Migration Assistant.

Print services may not be glamorous, but they remain essential. This lab guides you through migrating print services from Server 2016 to 2022 using built-in tools to export and import configurations. You’ll also explore Microsoft Universal Print, a cloud-based service that eliminates the need for traditional print servers.

No migration is complete without addressing security. In Lab 6, you’ll use Microsoft’s Security Compliance Toolkit to apply baseline Group Policy templates to harden your environment. You’ll secure Windows Server 2019/2022 and Windows 10/11, aligning your configurations with best practices and reducing your attack surface.

In Lab 7, you'll handle the migration of DHCP services by exporting and importing the DHCP database. These steps are critical to ensuring a seamless transition that does not disrupt clients relying on DHCP leases and options.

Lab 8 tackles DNS migration with two real-world approaches: copying the zone database file for a primary zone and converting a secondary zone into a primary zone. Both methods are fully documented and walk you through preserving resolution accuracy and minimizing downtime.

Lab 9 shows how to perform an in-place upgrade for organizations using Storage Spaces from Server 2016 to Server 2022. While this is marked as a review-only exercise, it’s valuable for understanding the prerequisites and limitations of upgrading this specific workload.

If you're still running WSUS on older operating systems, Lab 10 provides a blueprint for modernizing this vital service. You'll perform an in-place upgrade from Server 2012R2 to 2019 and review post-upgrade tasks like cleanup, verification, and database health checks.

Lab 11 dives deep into high availability scenarios. You'll perform an in-place upgrade of a Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) cluster to Server 2022, even while virtual machines are running—an impressive feat that reduces downtime and showcases the robustness of Windows Server's clustering technologies.

A Unique Learning Approach

This book is built for hands-on learners.

Each lab and exercise is formatted to mirror how professionals work. You'll see:

• Step-by-step instructions
• Screenshots and command-line examples
• PowerShell usage and automation tips
• Instructor-led demos for complex or visual tasks
• Real-world best practices and caveats

Whether you're following along in a home lab or a training environment or are preparing for a large-scale enterprise rollout, the exercises are crafted to ensure retention, reduce confusion, and promote repeatability.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is ideal for:

• IT professionals preparing for server upgrades or migrations
• Consultants building out hybrid solutions for clients
• Trainers and instructors seeking structured labs for courses
• Students in IT programs learning about infrastructure modernization
• Anyone managing Active Directory, Windows Server, file servers, print servers, web servers, or hybrid infrastructure

It assumes moderate comfort with Windows Server, PowerShell, and Azure, but the clear instructions make it accessible to junior admins and ambitious learners.

Final Thoughts

Migrating to Server 2025 and Azure is more than a lab manual—it's a comprehensive roadmap for your infrastructure modernization journey. Every lab, demo, and piece of guidance is built from the ground up to empower you with relevant, tested, and forward-looking skills.

Whether you are moving an entire data center or modernizing a few legacy servers, this book gives you the confidence and capability to do it right.

Welcome to the future of IT. Let’s migrate—together.

Organizations are constantly threatened by increasingly sophisticated adversaries in the modern cybersecurity landscape. Microsoft Defender XDR is one of the most powerful tools available to help protect, detect, and respond to these threats across your digital estate. But how do you genuinely know your defenses are working?

Red Teaming and Blue Teaming with Microsoft Defender XDR is a practical, hands-on guide written for IT professionals seeking to level up their cybersecurity skills. Whether you're a sysadmin, SOC analyst, or security engineer, this book will walk you through the entire lifecycle of building a secure cyber range, safely simulating attacks, and validating your Defender XDR configurations against real-world threats.

Designed for accessibility and impact, this book shows you how to set up your own controlled, internal lab using free tools—no expensive gear or third-party licenses. You'll learn how to deploy an end-to-end Red Team lab environment and use popular open-source offensive security tools like:

• Covenant C2 Framework – for command and control post-exploitation testing
• Evil-WinRM – to simulate compromised privileged access
• Mimikatz – for credential harvesting and testing credential guard configurations
• CommandoVM – the ultimate offensive Windows pentesting virtual machine
• Rubeus – for Kerberos ticket abuse and golden ticket testing
• BloodHound – for Active Directory attack path analysis
• …and more.

Each chapter balances Red and Blue perspectives: how the attack works, how it manifests inside Microsoft Defender XDR, and most importantly, how to detect, alert, and respond effectively. You'll gain a deep understanding of how Defender XDR correlates data across Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Identity, Cloud Apps, and Email, allowing you to build real-world detections and incident response workflows.

What you’ll learn:

• How to safely set up a cyber range in a lab or virtualized environment
• Best practices for configuring Microsoft Defender XDR and its integrated components
• Red Team tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) mapped to MITRE ATT&CK
• Realistic attack simulation scenarios using well-known adversary emulation tools
• How to craft custom detections, alerts, and remediation workflows
• Defensive tuning and hardening based on the telemetry and behavior of simulated attacks

⚠️ Disclaimer: This book is intended strictly for educational and defensive security research purposes. All tools and techniques demonstrated must be used only in isolated, internal environments you own and control. The authors accept no responsibility for misuse or malicious application of any content described in this book. You are solely responsible for ensuring you remain compliant with all applicable laws, policies, and ethical standards.

Whether you're new to Red Teaming or looking to sharpen your detection engineering chops, Red Teaming and Blue Teaming with Microsoft Defender XDR deliver the real-world guidance needed to improve your organization's security posture before the real attackers show up.

The Fundamentals of Active Directory—Hands-On Lab Guide is a comprehensive, lab-based learning resource crafted for IT professionals, systems administrators, students, and technical trainers seeking a deep, practical understanding of Active Directory. Published by MVPDays Publishing, this book strongly emphasizes guided, real-world exercises that teach not just the “how” but the “why” behind Active Directory’s core services.

This guide is ideal for those preparing for certification, working in enterprise environments, or simply looking to master foundational AD concepts with a practical edge.

Rather than presenting theory in isolation, this book walks learners through a structured lab environment, enabling them to confidently deploy, manage, secure, and migrate an Active Directory infrastructure. From the initial installation of domain controllers to advanced domain migrations and hardening techniques, every chapter builds directly on hands-on tasks that reinforce core concepts.

The book begins with steps to access the lab environment, including the deployment of virtual machines and initial network configuration. This sets the stage for all subsequent exercises.

Before implementing, learners are guided through the design process: understanding business and technical requirements, choosing the right topology, and planning a secure and scalable AD deployment.

This chapter covers the step-by-step installation of two domain controllers (TMDC01 and TMDC02). It includes a comparative exercise on Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) versus ADSI Edit—helping readers understand the tools available for directory management at different levels of abstraction.

In this core section, learners explore:

• User creation and security principals
• Understanding SIDs, ACEs, ACLs, and DACLs
• Default security groups and their purposes
• Group scope and nesting
• Structuring Organizational Units (OUs) for delegation and policy targeting
• The AD schema and its role in extensibility
• Configuration of Active Directory Sites and Services

Each topic is reinforced with detailed instructor-led exercises.

A critical skill for any AD administrator, this lab teaches:

• Creating and applying GPOs
• Locking down environments (e.g., RDS servers)
• Managing inheritance, enforcement, and loopback processing
• Understanding SYSVOL replication and troubleshooting

For those interested in disaster recovery, this lab walks through:

• Performing authoritative and non-authoritative restores
• Using the Active Directory Recycle Bin
• Practical considerations for AD backup strategies

Security is front and center as learners apply Microsoft’s Security Compliance Toolkit to harden Windows Server 2019/2022 and client systems (Windows 10/11) via Group Policy Security Baselines.

This capstone lab series takes learners through the complete process of upgrading an AD environment:

• Verifying replication health
• Extending the schema with ADPREP
• Installing and promoting new Server 2022 domain controllers
• Transferring FSMO roles
• Demoting legacy DCs
• Configuring time services (NTP)
• Updating domain and forest functional levels

The lab simulates a complete production migration scenario with IP reassignment, time synchronization via Group Policy, and post-migration validation steps.

Review questions support each major topic and answer keys, making this book perfect for self-study or classroom environments. Question sets include:

• Active Directory architecture
• Group types and permissions
• Backup and recovery techniques
• Security hardening concepts
• Migration and upgrade best practices

This guide is a must-have for:

• New and intermediate IT professionals learning Active Directory
• Microsoft certification candidates
• Systems engineers responsible for managing identity and access
• Educators and trainers looking for structured, real-world lab content
• Security professionals focused on hardening and compliance

The Fundamentals of Active Directory – Hands-On Lab Guide equips readers with the skills and hands-on experience to confidently design, deploy, manage, secure, and migrate Active Directory environments. Rich in practical exercises and grounded in real-world application, this book ensures learners walk away with the knowledge and the muscle memory to succeed in today’s hybrid and cloud-connected IT landscape.