Learning Resources for Windows Server 2012 and Others

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koeks525

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Hey everyone,

I have been making use of my holiday to learn a few new things, been messing around with PHP and started learning a little fireworks on the side. I got a few e-books (I wish I could find a really cheap source to purchase the physical books) for PHP [PHP 5 and MySQL for dummies].

I would like to now also start learning the server side of things, how to configure things like a DNS server, Proxy Server, Mail Server, Print Server, and other cool things a server system can do. I am currently downloading Windows Server 2012 R2 (I picked the Standard Edition) from Microsoft DreamSpark.

I got a question for you guys, I would love to get a book or some source(s) which will help me learn all there is to Windows Server 2012, as well as running the above kinds of servers and any additional server configurations.

I have a spare laptop lying around, which I will be using for testing and learning. I just upgraded the RAM on the laptop, so now it has 4GB of RAM, a 2.10GHz Pentium Dual Core Processor, 320GB HDD...I hope this will be good enough.

Could you guys recommend me any sources (books, ebooks, youtube tutorials, etc) that can help me out here??

Thanks.
 
koeks525 said:
I have a spare laptop lying around, which I will be using for testing and learning. I just upgraded the RAM on the laptop, so now it has 4GB of RAM, a 2.10GHz Pentium Dual Core Processor, 320GB HDD...I hope this will be good enough.
Click to expand...

To quote from the movie Taken... "Good Luck".
 
Your laptop will probably run Server 2012 okayish, but it's definitely not going to cut it for something like Exchange, which is the sort of gold standard for mail servers on Windows. For print serving, you'll really want to learn a 3rd party product like PaperCut or PCounter, since Server doesn't have high levels of built in control, let alone cost accounting per page etc.

Proxy servers on Windows are getting rarer, since a lot of this has become shifted over to firewall appliances or dedicated caching hardware. Threat Management Gateway 2010 is a little old now and doesn't support IPv6, but it's a great product and will force you to think about your network quite deeply. I think WinGate is also still around. WinProxy AFAIK is dead.

For books, try Mastering Windows Server 2012 R2 from Sybex (multiple authors) Really good book that covers everything in deep enough detail to get you up and running and also understanding a lot of the theory behind the software.
 
Thanks guys for the links provided....I am currently going through them, will be grabbing something on PHP, MySQL, and Javascript. Thanks a lot, Asha'man X, I will read the book you provided.

I am a bit worried about Server 2012 running just okay-ish, I think I will have to make use of my main laptop then, it has an Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz processor, 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Nvidia GT 525M graphics...I would love everything to run nicely when I do test out what I learn.

I guess all the programming will be happening on the spare laptop I am using.
 
VG008 said:
Microsoft virtual academy is a great place for learning all things MS.

http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com
Click to expand...

+1, virtual academy has a ton of free info to get you going. Your laptop should be fine for running server but will most probably not allow virtualization which is a must when it comes to labbing. You can manage without it but it takes far longer to start from scratch if you mess things up (which is the best way to learn).
 
Also Google technet labs, there are some cool labs available on demand.
 
See the new posting for more Microsoft ebooks
 
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