It’s Friday night. Here I am.

Partying so hard. Getting wild. You mad haters? I could go through the VCE and memorize most of this stuff without really learning anything but that isn’t really that much fun. I’m that nerd that wants to learn the MesureUp stuff (a lot of isn’t on the test even though its the ‘official’ test prep material) and learn the actual test stuff. I’ve found that, shockingly, if you know the material it helps in having a diverse knowledge base to go through the questions and understand what the hell is going on. I know. It’s surprisingly honest way to go about things. That and feeling super hacker-man with a giant TV blasting rap videos, a super nice laptop open and working from my desktop with a giant monitor. I have a second monitor and wall mount on the way. I guess I could also get my work laptop out just feel extra computer. No worries, I have binders full of black hoodies too. Jokes aside, It gives the illusion that studying is worth my time as I’ve come along way from studying on a dell netbook. Its around here somewhere. I had to store screen shots on an external HD on that thing and port them over to Photobucket. Speaking of, I paid for a Photobucket sub and my images are still showing up with a watermark (support email has been sent, Karen). This is troubling to me.

Anyway, lets unpack this single question because there are a bunch of things that I don’t know as much as I would like about. For one, Azure MFA. I mean, I’m aware of the concept but I’m not entirely sure what it is in relation to Azure. So lets start in that spot. Well, lets start with the question and then I follow up with some links.

Azure MFA

Azure MFA Server

So the more I read about this the more I realize the question is not accurate, this is not a surprise. So an on prem server has nothing to do with ADFS because I was assuming that was the case but an on prem server does not require this so its almost erroneous information. Seriously, AD FS has nothing to do with with the items listed. It seems like they are over complicating how to install AD FS and upgrading your farm/forest functional level. Regardless I’m interested so lets keep going with this.

Sidenote, my face when I found out they changed forest functional level to farm:

This MSFT Passport thing, I cant find a damn bit of info on integrating this with AD. I’m this is the worst example of how to implement to much stuff to make sure that SSO doesn’t work that I’ve ever seen. I, mean ok LDAP v3 is not over the top but as to why your specifying MFA and Passport is a touch confusing. So it could be that I’m more confused than the wording of the question. However, I think the idea they are getting at is SSO with MFA with support for LDAP. However they are not really getting into the specifics of how they plan to do that which confuses nubs. Such as I. The other factor is that there isn’t one TN article that you can point to and say ‘this is SSO with MFA using Passport and Azure MFA. Still, the Azure bit seems like someone ordered guac on this burrito. Anyway, lets get into the LDAP bit.

WHAT LDAP

Configure AD FS to authenticate users stored in LDAP directories

Ok, so we have that bit of confusion out of the way. Basically your using it regardless of if you are aware of it or not. It seems like the difference comes in with how and where your users are authenticating.

Anyway, so back to the question. So we just install AD-FS and we are done with SSO is what is implied here. OHHHH gosh. That’s a good one MeasureUp. So its on the 2 times with the changing the rolls from join a 2016 to the dom, turning off a roll and then raise the farm level. Ok. Sure.

This may end up being fairly brief but to be honest I had no idea what Docker was or any of the relevant technologies that are associated with it. I started studying some at work and it feels like my coworkers are getting annoyed with me. I’m sure they wont read this blog or even mention it. I’ts more passive than any thing. So shifting out of the ongoing saga of the annoyance of extincting passionately lets learn about Docker! I’ve seen several questions about Docker mostly related to installing and configuring to a lesser degree but without having a grasp on what the technology is that your working with its hard to really know why things are the way they are. I’ve seen questions in both exams on this topic and may at a later time update with more images however at this time I’ve only chosen to include one. And again, I’m sure I’ll never see this tech in the field but I’m a passionate person that loves to learn about tech. Kill me for that right? Lets only learn a very narrow field and be ideologically subservient to someone who claims to be some form of a god whilst spouting off poor un-researched and un-evolved philosophical technology for the sake of survival, right? Well. maybe sort of keep our heads down and when they start yelling at us try and ignore it the best we can. LOL, what was that about getting into the topic at hand? Oh yeah, Docker questions. Before I loose my job for not being an idiot.

So I don’t know what Docker is or what a Docker image is. Still not entirely sure that I do but! I have a vague understanding and enjoy rambling. Here is where I started:

OK, so I still don’t really know what this is and there at a lot of dev type things being thrown around in here but I very much appreciate this person as at this point I’ve learned that this is plausibly used primarily for deploying web apps. Ok, lets find something a little more comprehensive and perhaps without the dev aspects as I have no desire to ever do dev. My primary goal is to rant and tell jokes online. Ok that’s not entirely true but I do enjoy a good joke.

So now ive learned that Docker is used for basically light weight virtualization so that you can host several instances of the same set of software. Which when considering hardware overhead makes really good sense in a lot of cases. I’m unclear on the exact security of this however it seems like if you have a web app and a SQL instance on the same image there is a lot of cause for issue as your not using any type of secure transfer from a back-end server. I’m mentioning this because SQL instances are specifically mentioned (I think in the first video) and this leaves all sorts of data vuln if this is front end web-server serving the client and hosting data. However at this point I don’t really know enough to say and I’m certain there are build outs where you have a back-end server hosing a database that a front-end web server has to authenticate to. Ok, so speculation aside. Whats a docker image? Assuming its a complete functioning container that runs on your Docker install but lets find a link to be sure.

Docker file

So I’m a little more clear in that there are phases to actually deploying it in that you have a file that then creates an image. I’ll think of this like unzipping. No clue if this is correct or not. However, to be honest, at this point I’m mostly interested in acquiring a basic understanding to pass the test for career development and personal reasons. Basically I really enjoy studying server and would enjoy working on it full time.

I think that’s all for tonight. At some point I may add additional screen shots of questions to this. I didn’t really go into detail about the PowerShell on this. Honestly, the PowerShell on the test is basically for memorization purposes. I’m not arguing with it but its simply remembering the right choice. They consistently ‘harden’ PowerShell for some obvious reasons and some not so obvious. I guess I’m supposed to be impressed or worried by this. Really it seems more like Kyle trying to show off his cool truck again. Ok, perhaps its not that annoying but I highly doubt I will be in a position to need to use PowerShell. I don’t personally have the desire to create or learn it that much so I’ll sit here and talk crap about the devs and changes of it haha

So here we are again! Its been a while. However I have not lost my zeal! I feel that some momentum was lost in the previous years of my study but in purchasing study materials I am very excited about digging into the TechNet articles about Windows Server 2016. Hopefully, I’ll get through this one and then press on to the Server 2019 upgrade test.I’m currently working for Genuine Parts Company on Unix and Solaris servers. Which is much better than being unemployed however in just a few days of starting to gorge on Windows Server material I find my self longing for the days that all I was doing was studying and planning on how to pass tests! That said the goal of attaining a job working on Windows Server has not yet been obtained.

I have discovered that in my job search that this blog was largely ignored by potential employers and I let my subscription go. However, when going through the new material from various sources that I will be sharing test prep questions from I quickly discovered lots of room for conversation. Not to mention I have found my social life engrossed by tech twitter. I’m mostly following infosec accounts however ‘hacking’ is not necessarily my end goal. Or really even working in infosec. I would love to be on Windows Server however a SOC analyst position would also be intriguing to me. It seems appropriate for my skill level. I have the materials needed to start into a Security + certification and started getting pretty heavily into it then found the momentum lacking to finish. Not entirely a bad thing as I can always pick it back up. So I decided to take a look around at Server as my goal for this year was to get my Server cert up to date and Security +. Not sure if even one of those will happen, to be honest, however I did find my self entirely absorbed upon seeing what was going on in Windows Server beyond reading the free e-books that MSFT provided. Its not until you really start diving into the material that they are testing on that you find you self entrenched in what is happening. Im about 50 questions into the MeasureUp material and 30 or so into a VCE after a about 4 days of study. I can say that its much eaiser this time around and I may not have as much to blog about but it does seem fun to go through the questions that I have issues with comment on them.

In my experience the MeasureUp test prep is great because it offers answers with explications and click-able links. To be honest, its not really entirely helpful towards passing the test as they ask questions that are not on the test but if its understanding of infrastructure that you seek, this is helpful information. Will this get you a job, lol. No. Will getting a cert get you a job? No. This time around I want to get my self together and not loose site of my goals. I started into work at CareerBuilder after getting my MCSA in a basic tech call center job, that was absolutely amazing thanks to my coworker’s and to be honest life changing in a lot of ways, however the technical portion of it left a bit to be desired. I then proceeded to get a girlfriend that worked in tech at a software company and didn’t study anything really for about a year. Not entirely a waste of time as I gained a lot of life experience but at this point in time I’m ready to get back on the ball with certs. It would be great to have a resume that had 2012, 2016, 2019 MCSAs, a Hyper-V MCP, Sec + and Network +. Seems like it would be hard to ignore. Thats a pretty far reaching goal considering im away from home about 12 hours a day with figuring in drive time. I’m a pretty determined guy that’s more thought driven than anything but coming home and memorizing information after a 12 hour day is not an easy thing to do. The reasons for doing it at this point have changed as I have no fear of loosing my current role but simply seeking to expand myself.

Any way lets get into some MeasureUp commentary

Right away I see a few things that I have no idea what they are

What dat iz
• Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
• Storage Spaces Direct

Ok so ‘Hyper-Converged Infrastructure’ seems to basically be the concept of Windows Admin Center but they appear to have added another name and there is networking stuff and they think its funny to use the term compute for some reason. 100% sold on this. To be honest, I’m not sure if SDN was included in the Admin Center in 2012 but in the rapidly changing world of computing it seems good to include it. Microsoft will most likely never offer hardware for networking however in implementing the large storage spaces offered in the current iteration that span the space of several physical services and a virtually unlimited amount of physical disks I absolutely see the importance

Ok Store Spaces Direct, this is cool. I’m entirely sure of the target audience as the the potential for storage space is absolutely massive. So massive in fact that I’m not sure who would want to keep data of this size on prem. However, I’m certain it has its uses. Will I ever personally get to deploy a disk array using this. Doubtful but who knows. Maybe ill be fortunate enough to get job working on Windows Server.

As you can see we haven’t even gotten to the question yet and we are on question 2. Of 249. Yeah great. I’m totally going to be able to do this in my free time. Passion carry’s us through I suppose. That said this one of those PowerShell questions that simply requires you to learn a cmdlet rather than theory. This is fine. Im sure ill complain more about PowerShell later.

I have one question left to answer. Why did I blog any thing about Security +? To be honest I’m not sure. I may hit some basic Linux and security stuff at some point but this was absolutely started as a Windows Server blog. I don’t mind expanding but as the information is not proprietary its really hard to become inspired by a large collection of ideas produced and published by a single repository. It’s more along the lines of learning ‘this is a fork, it stabs food’. However, I’ve found that installing Kali can be tricky so I may go over setting up dual booting at some point as I still need to reinstall
Windows on my laptop. It’s currently only booting a bare metal install of Kali which I’m not convinced is a great idea without a really great firewall but maybe that’s just time for the good old infosec tinfoil hat. Am I deviating, yes I must have been anyway. The point being I may go over some Linux stuff.

That’s all for tonight. One question and unnecessary information about my life. I suppose this blog is apparently simi-personal