JITA Learning · Microsoft · Field Guide
AZ-802 · Administering Windows Server (beta)
Build working judgment for modern Windows Server administration.
What you should expect
Build working judgment for modern Windows Server administration.
This Field Guide develops a working mental model of modern Windows Server administration. You will connect administer AD DS, Group Policy, sites, replication, identities, and authentication services, configure Windows Server networking, remote access, SSH, storage, file services, and iSCSI, manage hybrid services such as Azure File Sync, Defender for Servers, and connected administration, and apply Credential Guard, application control, exploit protection, and server security controls. You are not just memorizing feature names; you are learning what owns the requirement, what can fail, and how to verify the outcome.
What you will learn
- administer AD DS, Group Policy, sites, replication, identities, and authentication services
- configure Windows Server networking, remote access, SSH, storage, file services, and iSCSI
- manage hybrid services such as Azure File Sync, Defender for Servers, and connected administration
- apply Credential Guard, application control, exploit protection, and server security controls
- recognize why one technically plausible alternative loses under the stated requirement
- apply Changed Fact reasoning and verify the design or implementation through operational evidence
Decision skills you will practice
- identify the governing requirement
- compare the nearest plausible alternative
- apply Changed Fact reasoning
- trace prerequisites, dependencies, and failure paths
- verify configured state, effective state, runtime outcome, and negative-path evidence
Who this is for
Windows Server administrators building broad operational judgment across identity, policy, networking, storage, security, remote administration, and monitoring
Use this when you need to learn the architecture, mechanics, dependencies, tradeoffs, failure paths, and verification logic behind the certification.
Decisions you will learn to distinguish
- Group Policy vs Group Policy Preferences or adjacent identity policy controls
- local Windows Server administration vs Azure-connected management
- configured security feature vs effective server protection
Why JITA is different
Microsoft explains the platform. JITA teaches the decision.
Microsoft Learn explains the services, features, and documented behavior that support modern Windows Server administration. JITA connects those capabilities into decisions: what owns the requirement, what the nearest alternative is, what changes when one fact changes, and what evidence proves the implementation worked.
How to choose:
Use the Field Guide to build understanding. Use the Exam Preparation Guide to test whether that understanding survives exam-style decisions.