Introduction

Active Directory, developed by Microsoft, is a powerful directory service that provides centralized user management, security tools, and simplified administrative tasks within a network enterprise environment. It is vastly used in many organizations within their computerized infrastructure and networks. Knowledge of Windows Server and Active Directory is vital in terms of information technology.  

Objective

The goal of this home lab is to familiarize oneself with the configuration and administration of Active Directory over numerous amounts of users and several client machines. Plus the implementation and understanding of various services, roles, and features such as RAS, NAT, and DHCP will help the virtualized network and domain become more cohesive and interconnected to help simulate active directory in an actual large-scale enterprise environment.

Lab Setup and Overview

Virtual Box will be used to virtualize the environment. ISO files are also required to run the domain and client machines. These ISO files should be Microsoft Windows Server 2019, and Microsoft Windows 10 Pro. The following is a diagram giving a high-level overview of machines, services, IP addressing, and virtual resources.