Network Infrastructure and Services

This unit covers foundational network services, server administration, virtualization, storage/backup strategies, and core security and troubleshooting practices. Students build on basic networking concepts to configure and manage services (DHCP, DNS, AD, file/print, collaboration), implement virtualization and storage solutions, and apply diagnostics and protections to maintain availability and integrity.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze network protocols and services by tracing packet flow through the OSI and TCP/IP layers and applying subnetting to design and troubleshoot IP addressing schemes
• Configure and administer core network services and server roles, including DHCP client settings, DNS zones, Active Directory user management and password resets, file server shares, Group Policy filtering, and remote desktop access options
• Implement and manage virtualization, storage, and backup solutions by deploying Hyper-V and network virtualization, configuring RAID and deduplication, establishing backup/tape strategies, and verifying services such as SMB and Apache
• Evaluate and apply security and troubleshooting measures by securing wireless networks, enabling multifactor authentication, configuring Windows Firewall and spam filters, using diagnostic utilities (nbtstat, net, monitoring tools), and resolving errors to maintain system availability