Microsoft just released two new exams for Windows Server Hybrid Administrators. With the exams AZ-800 Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure and AZ-801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services you can gain the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification. In this blog post I want to share my AZ-801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services Certification Exam Study Guide with you. To learn and prepare for the exam, I usually use a couple of online resources, mainly Microsoft Docs and Microsoft Learn, which I am going to share with you. You can find more information about how I prepare for a Microsoft Certification exam on my blog post: How to prepare and pass Microsoft Certification Exam.
Also, check out other Microsoft Azure Certification Exam Study Guides:
- Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-305 Exam Study Guide Azure Solutions Architect Certification
- Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-600: Configuring and Operating a Hybrid Cloud with Microsoft Azure Stack Hub Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-700: Microsoft Azure Network Engineer Exam Study Guide
- Exam AZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure
- Exam SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals Exam Study Guide
- Exam DP-300: Azure Database Administrator Exam Study Guide
Here is my AZ-801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services Certification Exam Study Guide
It is essential to get familiar with the exam objectives and skills measured first. That is why I recommend reading the description of the exam and the skills measured.
Exam AZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services
Microsoft Docs
Candidates for this exam configure advanced Windows Server services using on-premises, hybrid, and cloud technologies. These professionals should have expertise in implementing and managing on-premises and hybrid solutions, including performing tasks related to security, migration, monitoring, high availability, troubleshooting, and disaster recovery. They use administrative tools and technologies, such as Windows Admin Center, PowerShell, Azure Arc, Azure Automation Update Management, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Azure Security Center, Azure Migrate, and Azure Monitor.
A candidate for this exam should have extensive experience working with Windows Server operating systems.
The high-level view of the skills measured in the exam:
- Secure Windows Server on-premises and hybrid infrastructures (25-30%)
- Implement and manage Windows Server high availability (10-15%)
- Implement disaster recovery (10-15%)
- Migrate servers and workloads (20-25%)
- Monitor and troubleshoot Windows Server environments (20-25%)
Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification
By passing the AZ-800 and AZ-801 exam, you will gain the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate certification.
Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate Certification
Microsoft Docs
Responsibilities for this role include integrating Windows Server environments with Azure services and managing Windows Server in on-premises networks. This role manages and maintains Windows Server IaaS workloads in Azure, in addition to migrating and deploying workloads to Azure.
Candidates for this certification administer core and advanced Windows Server workloads and services using on-premises, hybrid, and cloud technologies. These professionals should have expertise in implementing and managing on-premises and hybrid solutions, such as identity, management, compute, networking, and storage. They are also experts at performing tasks related to security, migration, monitoring, high availability, troubleshooting, and disaster recovery. These professionals use administrative tools and technologies, including Windows Admin Center, PowerShell, Azure Arc, and IaaS virtual machine administration. They also work with Azure Automation Update Management, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Azure Security Center, Azure Migrate, and Azure Monitor.
A candidate for this certification should have extensive experience working with Windows Server operating systems.
You can learn more on the certification website.
Free Online Microsoft Learn AZ-801 Exam Study Guide resources
Microsoft Learn provides you with free online training and learning paths for different Microsoft technologies. They not just offer reading material, but also control questions and free online labs. Here are some relevant Microsoft Learn modules and learning paths for the AZ-801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services Certification Exam. Microsoft Learn is an important part of my AZ-801 exam study guide.
- Deploy and manage identity infrastructure
- Manage Windows Servers and workloads in a hybrid environment
- Manage virtualization and containers in a hybrid environment
- Implement and operate an on-premises and hybrid networking infrastructure
- Configure storage and file services
Microsoft Docs AZ-801 Study Guide resources
One thing I always used to prepare for my Microsoft exams is Microsoft Docs. Here are the relevant Microsoft Docs which I used to prepare and study for the AZ-801 exam. If you want to get some hands-on experience, I also recommend checking out my Windows Server and Azure Arc Lab Kit.
Secure Windows Server On-premises and Hybrid Infrastructures (25-30%)
Secure Windows Server operating system
- configure and manage exploit protection
- configure and manage Windows Defender Application Control
- configure and manage Windows Defender for Endpoint
- configure and manage Windows Defender Credential Guard
- configure SmartScreen
- implement operating system security by using Group Policies
Secure a hybrid Active Directory (AD) infrastructure
- configure password policies
- enable password block lists
- manage protected users
- manage account security on a Read-Only Domain Controller (RODC)
- harden domain controllers
- configure authentication policies silos
- restrict access to domain controllers
- configure account security
- manage AD built-in administrative groups
- manage AD delegation
- implement and manage Microsoft Defender for Identity
Identify and remediate Windows Server security issues by using Azure services
- monitor on-premises servers and Azure IaaS virtual machines (VMs) by using Azure Sentinel
- identify and remediate security issues on-premises servers and Azure IaaS VMs by using Azure Security Center
Secure Windows Server networking
- manage Windows Defender Firewall
- implement domain isolation
- implement connection security rules
Secure Windows Server storage
- manage Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption (BitLocker)
- manage and recover encrypted volumes
- enable storage encryption by using Azure Disk Encryption
- manage disk encryption keys for IaaS virtual machines
Implement and Manage Windows Server High Availability (10-15%)
Implement a Windows Server failover cluster
- implement a failover cluster on-premises, hybrid, or cloud-only
- create a Windows failover cluster
- stretch cluster across datacenter or Azure regions
- configure storage for failover clustering
- modify quorum options
- configure network adapters for failover clustering
- configure cluster workload options
- configure cluster sets
- configure Scale-Out File Servers
- create an Azure witness
- configure a floating IP address for the cluster
- implement load balancing for the failover cluster
Manage failover clustering
- implement cluster-aware updating
- recover a failed cluster node
- upgrade a node to Windows Server 2022
- failover workloads between nodes
- install Windows updates on cluster nodes
- manage failover clusters using Windows Admin Center
Implement and manage Storage Spaces Direct
- create a failover cluster using Storage Spaces Direct
- upgrade a Storage Spaces Direct node
- implement networking for Storage Spaces Direct
- configure Storage Spaces Direct
Implement Disaster Recovery (10-15%)
Manage backup and recovery for Windows Server
- back up and restore files and folders to Azure Recovery Services vault
- install and manage Azure Backup Server
- back up and recover using Azure Backup Server
- manage backups in Azure Recovery Services vault
- create a backup policy
- configure backup for Azure Virtual Machines using the built-in backup agent
- recover a VM using temporary snapshots
- recover VMs to new Azure Virtual Machines
- restore a VM
Implement disaster recovery by using Azure Site Recovery
- configure Azure Site Recovery networking
- configure Site Recovery for on-premises VMs
- configure a recovery plan
- configure Site Recovery for Azure Virtual Machines
- implement VM replication to secondary datacenter or Azure region
- configure Azure Site Recovery policies
Protect virtual machines by using Hyper-V replicas
- configure Hyper-V hosts for replication
- manage Hyper-V replica servers
- configure VM replication
- perform a failover
Migrate Servers and Workloads (20-25%)
Migrate on-premises storage to on-premises servers or Azure
- transfer data and share
- cut over to a new server by using Storage Migration Service
- use Storage Migration Service to migrate to Azure Virtual Machines
- migrate to Azure file shares
Migrate on-premises servers to Azure
- deploy and configure Azure Migrate appliance
- migrate VM workloads to Azure IaaS
- migrate physical workloads to Azure IaaS
- migrate by using Azure Migrate
Migrate workloads from previous versions to Windows Server 2022
- migrate Internet Information Services (IIS)
- migrate Hyper-V hosts
- migrate Remote Desktop Services (RDS) host servers
- migrate Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
- migrate print servers
Migrate IIS workloads to Azure
- migrate IIS workloads to Azure Web Apps
- migrate IIS workloads to containers
Migrate an AD DS infrastructure to Windows Server 2022 AD DS
- migrate AD DS objects, including users, groups and Group Policies, using Active Directory Migration Tool
- migrate to a new Active Directory forest
- upgrade an existing forest
Monitor and Troubleshoot Windows Server Environments (20-25%)
Monitor Windows Server by using Windows Server tools and Azure services
- monitor Windows Server by using Performance Monitor
- create and configure Data Collector Sets
- monitor servers and configure alerts by using Windows Admin Center
- monitor by using System Insights
- manage event logs
- deploy Log Analytics agents
- collect performance counters to Azure
- create alerts
- monitor Azure Virtual Machines by using Azure diagnostics extension
- monitor Azure Virtual Machines performance by using VM insights
Troubleshoot Windows Server on-premises and hybrid networking
- troubleshoot hybrid network connectivity
- troubleshoot on-premises connectivity
Troubleshoot Windows Server virtual machines in Azure
- troubleshoot deployment failures
- troubleshoot booting failures
- troubleshoot VM performance issues
- troubleshoot VM extension issues
- troubleshoot disk encryption issues
- troubleshoot storage
- troubleshoot VM connection issues
Troubleshoot Active Directory
- restore objects from AD recycle bin
- recover Active Directory database using Directory Services Restore Mode
- recover SYSVOL
- troubleshoot Active Directory replication
- troubleshoot hybrid authentication issues
- troubleshoot on-premises Active Directory
Tips and Resources
I hope this AZ-801 Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced Services for the Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Associate Certification Exam Study Guide helps you pass the exam and get the Windows Server Hybrid Administrator certification. I also recommend that you open a free Azure account if you don’t have one yet. You can create your free Azure account here. Also, check out my blog posts about Microsoft Azure Certification:
- Why you should become Microsoft Azure certified
- How to pick the right Azure exam certification path
- How to prepare and pass a Microsoft Azure exam
- Learn Microsoft Azure in 2020
- AZ-104 Microsoft Azure Administrator Exam Study Guide
I hope you enjoyed my AZ-801 Study Guide, and it helps you with exam prep. Did I miss any link, or do you have any recommended AZ-801 Windows Server Hybrid Administrator Certification Exam Study resources? Let me know in the comments.
Tags: Administrator, AZ-801, AZ-801 Study Guide, Azure, Cloud, Exam, Hybrid, Hyper-V, Microsoft, Microsoft Azure, Study Guide, Virtualization, Windows Server Last modified: March 17, 2022