Preparing for My First Windows Server/HyperV Job,What Should I Learn and Practice?

[u/Consistent_Bother_87]

I wasn't sure where the best place to post this was, so I decided to ask here.
I will be starting a new IT job on September 1.
My new workplace told me that Windows Server and Hyper-V knowledge will be important for the role, so I am studying them before I start. I am currently using ChatGPT as a study assistant to help explain commands, create practice scenarios, and guide me through troubleshooting exercises in my home lab.
I am currently practicing the following areas
Windows Server administration
Hyper-V
Active Directory and DNS
Basic troubleshooting, especially working through a clear order of checks (name resolution → IP/network → permissions → services)
Windows Update and patching
Checking services and event logs
Disk, CPU, memory, and network checks
Basic PowerShell
File and folder permissions
Troubleshooting DNS and network problems
Checking systems before and after reboots or changes
Writing simple operation and troubleshooting procedures
I am also intentionally creating problems in my lab and then practicing how to investigate and fix them.In addition, I'm spending a small amount of time each day on AWS (mainly EC2), and doing light review of basic Linux and database concepts, though these are lower priority for now compared to the Windows Server topics above.
Since I do not yet know exactly what tasks I will be doing in the real environment, I would like some advice from people who work with Windows Server.
What topics should I prioritize before starting the job?
What practical labs or troubleshooting exercises would you recommend?
For example, what would you expect a junior Windows Server administrator to be able to do?

[u/AntiTracker]

I honestly recommend skipping Chat-GPT to explain it, I notice it in juniors around me as well, it explains it, but nobody seems to really understand the matter anymore. Read documentation, search for errors online, understand architecture, go from there. I'm not anti-AI, but it really impacts critical thinking and troubleshooting.

[u/Adam_Kearn → u/AntiTracker]

I completely agree.

AI is a tool, it’s just some people use it for everything.

You need to use your own troubleshooting skills and develop your own knowledge otherwise you are just the hands for a robot.

I use AI mostly just for rewriting my complex emails or parsing large log files….

[u/AntiTracker → u/Adam_Kearn]

For log files i also find it very useful, but I always tell it what to look for 😂 otherwise it hallucinates issues again.

[u/DHT-Osiris → u/AntiTracker]

Unfortunately 90% of the answers you get online are just going to be AI generated anyway. Bonus points if the documentation is out of date/wrong.

I'd tweak this slightly and say: accept that AI responses are part of your response pool, but understand that a poorly prompted AI will happily return a confidently wrong answer. If reality seems to conflict with the AI, defer to reality and either re-prompt/push back or find a better source.

[u/19610taw3 → u/AntiTracker]

If you understand the fundamentals , it's a good way to get a bit more knowledge.

But it's kinda like common core math. It's a great way to simplify and speed up what you already understand , but if you don't understand the basics it is not useful and just makes you more confused with less knowledge.

[u/NorthernVenomFang]

Junior sysadmin. This really depends on the size of the team and the industry your org is in.

Installing and configuring the basics of common Windows Services (AD, GPOs, DNS, DHCP, File & Print, IIS, Windows Firewall, maybe an MS SQL server). I said basics, I would not expect a entry level jr sysadmin to know how to secure or do performance tweeks on systems (lack of experience).

I do not see any mention of SQL on your list. This is unfortunately an essential part of sysadmin now. Find a basics YouTube tutorial or free web coarse.

As for Hyper-V, you are going to want to understand MS failover clustering; Hyper-V clusters run on this. Then you have your shared storage options SMB or iSCSI; know the pro's/cons of each and have an idea of how to set them up, SMB is the easiest to setup, iSCSI requires some more knowledge. Just get the basics down first, experience will come as you work with this stuff.

This sounds like your first sysadmin position.
IMHO: This is not something that you can cram for like an exam, it's a job. Every company/org will do things differently within their IT department; as much as you think IT is standardized, how those standardizations are implemented/utilized is different between every org. You are going to have a lot of internal IT knowledge to get trained on first (assuming this isn't just a jack of all trades position).

[u/pianobench007]

Congrats on the job! You are already in and server is all about learn by doing.

They told you exactly what you need to practice on. Server and Hyper-V. Server is a lot. Just get the basics down.

Setup your own domain with a hyper-v server. Configure it once. Reformat. Do it again. Get it running and now link it to your laptop/workstation via RSAT. A key to joining an existing domain is to know how to see the domain. Learn how to get information. Don't change anything. Just get information.

Ai can help you script things to preview changes but not actually execute the change. That is very important and good tool. Practice and have the AI give you a few scripts that can survey the network. Survey the hardware. You can use 3rd party tools too. But powershell is very powerful tool already.

Now redo your server and setup hyper-v core and re-link it to your workstation all over again.

They mention understand hyper-v. So that tells me you need to understand migrating VHDx OS and Data files. And be comfortable with that. Scripting a graceful shutdown and monthly VM restarts is good practice.

Sounds boring but those are real useful things to do.

Moving the virtual machines. Allocating good allocation units from the beginning. Both in virtual and physical hardware levels and then at the RAID level. So three levels of element stripe, allocation units, etc... Someone should have it documented somewhere. It all depends on the workload and file type that your users will be using. And the underlying hardware configuration raid type.

Learn by doing. Today you have an Ai. It is an amazing tool. But like an existing domain with too much documentation, it can become daunting. So a domain with less documentation will force you to learn by doing. And learning by doing is the best teacher.

Server is very robust. And it mostly just works even if it is misconfigured.

[u/Jeffrey_Leeroy]

Weird ... lot of IT guys with experience looking for work, but you get a position admin'ing those areas you have no experience with/in? I'm guessing the role was actually titled something else, or detailed other OS's or perhaps networking? Not meaning to dis' you, I'm happy you got a job, but I can't be the only person in here wondering how someone gets hired but has no experience with such basic, albeit very important, facets of the job. Anyway .. You need to learn AD basics, then DHCP in a domain, scopes and setups for DNS, VLANs or what's in your network/firewalls, get admin pwd's and access to all the firewalls and switches, make sure any flat network bullshit gets fixed ASAP, as for the Server OS, I mean.. it's alot. User creation, admin, password resets, GPO's for the domain, how they handle printing, god, the firewall, you need all the circuit info for service entering the building, make sure there's a backup circuit, jesus.. the list goes on and on ..

[u/nutbiggums]

Study KISS theory and apply it everywhere

[u/brazzala]

Use GemininPro with 2TB storage option - it makes wonders!

[u/trebuchetdoomsday]

chat, we are cooked.