This self-paced training course combines discussions, notes, hands-on practices, and review questions to teach you how to install, configure, administer, and support Windows 2000. The course is designed to be completed from beginning to end. If you choose not to complete the book from beginning to end, see the "Before You Begin" section in each chapter. Hands-on practices that require preliminary work from preceding chapters refer to the appropriate chapters.

The book is divided into the following chapters:

The "About This Book" section you are now reading contains a self-paced training overview and introduces the components of this training. Read this section thoroughly to get the greatest educational value from this self-paced training and to plan which lessons you will complete.

Chapter 1, "The Microsoft Windows 2000 Platform," describes the Microsoft Windows 2000 family of products, which includes Window 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. This chapter presents the features and benefits of using Windows 2000.

Chapter 2, "Installing Windows 2000," reviews the Windows 2000 installation process and provides a hands-on practice in which you install Windows 2000 Server. It also presents information on automating installations, performing over the network installations, and troubleshooting common problems that may occur during the installation process.

Chapter 3, "Configuring the DNS Service," introduces DNS and name resolution. DNS is a distributed database that is used in TCP/IP networks to translate computer names to IP addresses. It also presents the skills and knowledge necessary to install and configure the DNS Service, to configure DNS clients, and to troubleshoot the DNS Service. It provides a hands-on practice in which you configure TCP/IP as part of the preinstallation configuration required to install the DNS Service, and then you install and configure the DNS Service.

Chapter 4, "Implementing Active Directory Directory Services," introduces Windows 2000 Active Directory directory services. Active Directory directory services use DNS as the domain naming and location service so Windows 2000 domain names are also DNS names. In fact, the core unit of logical structure in the Active Directory structure is the domain. This chapter presents the skills and knowledge necessary to plan, install, and configure your network's Active Directory structure. It provides a practice in which you promote your stand-alone server to a domain controller by installing Active Directory directory services on it. In this practice you also change the mode of your domain from the default of mixed mode to native mode.

Chapter 5, "Administering Active Directory Directory Services," explains how to use the Active Directory Users and Computers administrative tool to create and manage user and computer accounts. User accounts still provide users with the ability to log on to a domain to gain access to network resources or to log on at a computer to gain access to resources on that computer, but the tool for creating them is new. This chapter also explains how groups have changed since Windows NT 4.0. There are two types of groups: security groups and distribution groups. These types of groups have a scope attribute that determines who can be a member of the group and where you can use that group in the network. This chapter explains how to create and manage groups and how to control access to Active Directory objects. This chapter provides four practices in which you create Organizational Units; create and move user accounts; modify user account properties; create and add members to a global group, a domain local group, and a universal group; and delegate control.

Chapter 6, "Managing Desktop Environments with Group Policy," introduces you to group policies, which are another method for defining a user's desktop environment, and which are typically set for the entire domain or network to enforce corporate policies. This chapter teaches you what group policies are and how to apply and configure group policies. This chapter also provides a practice in which you create a GPO at the domain level, create a group, and grant the group the right to log on to the domain controller.

Chapter 7, "Managing Software by Using Group Policy," introduces Windows Installer and the Software Installation and Maintenance Technology. Both of these features help reduce the time required to deploy and manage software. This chapter provides the skills and knowledge necessary for you to publish software rather than install it. This chapter also explains how to deploy both mandatory and optional upgrades.

Chapter 8, "Managing File Resources," explains how the methods of providing access to file and print resources in Windows 2000 have improved upon those available in Windows NT 4.0. It explains how to create and share file resources, how to create and use Dfs trees, and how to use the new disk defragmentation utility. This chapter also explains the changes in NTFS permission configuration, disk quotas, and file encryption. This chapter provides five hands-on practices. In the first practice you share a folder, you publish a folder, and then observe the difference between a published folder and a shared folder. In the second practice you create a Dfs tree. In the third practice, you assign the Take Ownership permission to a user account, and then log on as that user and take ownership of a file. In the fourth practice, you configure the quota management settings for drive C. In the fifth practice, you encrypt a folder and its files, and then test access to the files.

Chapter 9, "Configuring Remote Access," introduces the new protocols for use with remote access in Windows 2000, as well as the new wizards and interfaces for configuring all types of network connections. The Network Connection wizard, for example, provides a simple interface for creating and configuring basic inbound and outbound connections, while Routing and Remote Access is a more robust management tool for configuring connections on domain controllers. This chapter gives you an understanding of the new options and interfaces in Windows 2000 so that you can connect computers and configure protocols correctly to meet your organization's remote access requirements. This chapter has three practices, in which you install and configure RRAS, configure an outbound connection, and create a Remote Access Policy and Profile.

Chapter 10, "Supporting DHCP and WINS," explains the enhanced implementations of DHCP and the Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) included in the Windows 2000 Server family of products. These enhancements reduce the amount of time you spend configuring, administering, and troubleshooting your DHCP servers and clients, your DNS servers, and your WINS servers and clients.

Chapter 11, "Managing Disks," introduces the two disk storage types Windows 2000 provides. Basic disks are not new to Windows 2000; they use the partitions found in earlier versions of Windows and MS-DOS. Dynamic disks are new to Windows 2000 and use volumes that provide more efficient use of space than partitions in computers with multiple hard disks. This chapter also introduces the Disk Management tool, which consolidates all disk management tasks for both local and remote administration. It provides shortcut menus to show you which tasks you can perform on the selected object, and includes wizards to guide you through creating partitions and volumes and upgrading disks. This chapter provides a hands-on practice in which you upgrade a basic disk to a dynamic disk, create a folder for mounting a volume and then create and mount a simple volume.

Chapter 12, "Implementing Disaster Protection," explains the features included in Windows 2000 that are designed to help you recover from computer disasters. These disaster protection features include support for fault-tolerant volumes, advanced startup options, the Recovery Console, and the Backup utility. This chapter helps prepare you to develop and implement effective disaster protection and recovery plans. This chapter has two practices in which you install and start the Recovery Console, review the commands available in the Recovery Console, and then use some of these available commands. You will also back up the system state using Windows 2000 Backup, delete an OU, and then perform an authoritative restore to recover it.

Chapter 13, "Upgrading a Network to Windows 2000," explains some of the benefits of upgrading a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 network to Microsoft Windows 2000, including improved security, easier management, and improved administration. It also explains how the process of upgrading a Windows NT 4.0 network to Windows 2000 varies depending on your existing Windows NT 4.0 network infrastructure and your organization's business requirements. This chapter provides a hands-on practice in which you upgrade a computer running Windows NT 4.0 server that is configured as a Primary Domain Controller (PDC) to a domain controller running Windows 2000 Server. This chapter also examines the upgrade process, specifically as it relates to upgrading each of the Windows NT 4.0 domain models.

Chapter 14, "Using Remote Installation Services," explains that remote installation is the process of connecting to a server running Remote Installation Services (RIS), called the RIS server, and then starting an automated installation of Windows 2000 Professional on a local computer. Remote installation enables administrators to install Windows 2000 Professional on client computers throughout a network from a central location. This reduces the time spent by administrators visiting all the computers in a network, thereby reducing the cost of deploying Windows 2000 Professional.

Appendix A, "Questions and Answers," lists all of the practice questions and review questions from the book, shows the page number where the question appears, and provides the suggested answer.

Appendix B, "Creating Setup Disks," explains how to create the four Windows 2000 Server Setup disks. Unless your computer supports booting from a CD-ROM drive, you must have the four Windows 2000 Server Setup disks to complete the installation of Windows 2000 Server.