Microsoft is a huge name in the industry and youngsters prefer to work in the company. Once upon a time, it used to be my dream to work in Microsoft but not any more, atleast nothing apart from Network Security. If you wish to work for MS in India and not a developer then also you have plenty of option and one being an AD admin or Support Specialist.
Microsoft has their support center in Bangalore known as GTSC (Global Technical Support Center) where you can always apply as per the openings, however they have also outsourced many of their technical processes to companies like Convergys India Pvt Ltd, Wipro etc where people provide support to different products of Microsoft.
Three years back, I learnt multiple technologies as I was always interested in Servers and hence MCSE Server Administrator was one of them. I prepared well for all the technologies but was never interested in a Windows Server Support Profile but then I got calls repeatedly from one of the MS partners and decided to go for an interview. (Working for them was an all together different experience, that I would share in a separate blog post). I worked in the Microsoft Directory Services Team, providing support to MS Pro Customers to fix their non-working server environments.
I was already trained on the server part, the way its been taught in Indian Institutes and then I also did all the practicals from CBT Nuggets, but without theory everything is nothing. While watching the video tutorials, I kept on making notes of keywords that are very important to know (And obviously that were new to me) for a server environment and then started searching and reading about them. Here is a list of few basic things that you should be aware of, before attending any Active Directory/Windows Server Administrator Interview:
Active Directory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Directory
So What Is Active Directory? -- https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa746492(v=vs.85).aspx
Active Directory Domain Services: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa362244(v=vs.85).aspx
Active Directory: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc977985.aspx
What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup?-- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-vista/what-is-the-difference-between-a-domain-and-a-workgroup
What is the difference between a domain, a workgroup, and a homegroup? -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows7/what-is-the-difference-between-a-domain-a-workgroup-and-a-homegroup
Organizational Unit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_unit_(computing)
Windows domain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_domain
Active Directory domain (AD domain): http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/definition/Active-Directory-domain-AD-domain
Domain controller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_controller
What Is a Domain Controller & What Does it Do? -- http://scientificera.com/windows/45-windows/224-what-is-a-domain-controller.html
Understanding Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Functional Levels: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/understanding-active-directory-functional-levels(v=ws.10).aspx
Domain Controller Roles: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786438(v=ws.10).aspx
Understanding Sites, Subnets, and Site Links: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754697(v=ws.10).aspx
The Difference Between a Domain and a Domain Controller: http://www.worldstart.com/the-difference-between-a-domain-and-a-domain-controller/
What Are Domains and Forests? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759073(v=ws.10).aspx
FSMO Roles in Active Directory in Windows 2008 Server: http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/readyfsmo-roles-active-directory-windows-2008-server
How to find out who has your FSMO Roles? -- http://blogs.technet.com/b/mempson/archive/2007/11/08/how-to-find-out-who-has-your-fsmo-roles.aspx
How Domains and Forests Work: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783351(v=ws.10).aspx
How Operations Masters Work: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc780487(v=ws.10).aspx
How the Global Catalog Works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/how-global-catalog-servers-work(v=ws.10).aspx
How the Active Directory Schema Works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773309(v=ws.10).aspx
Group Policy: http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/definition/Group-Policy
Group Policy: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb310732.aspx
Access control in Active Directory: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785913(v=ws.10).aspx
What Is DHCP? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781008(v=ws.10).aspx
What is DHCP & DORA Process? -- https://kb.iu.edu/d/adov
What Is DNS? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787921(v=ws.10).aspx
How DNS Works -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772774(v=ws.10).aspx
DNS (Domain Name System): frequently asked questions -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/domain-name-system-faq
Understanding the Boot Process -- http://www.answers.com/Q/Windows_2003_booting_process
Windows Server 2003 Boot Process: https://bobcares.com/blog/windows-server-2003-boot-process-common-errors-solutions
These are good to go for freshers and other people as well. Rest, I have other set of bookmarks that I will share soon so that your preparation should be good for Microsoft EPS Interview either with partner or directly with client. However, for MS GTSC, you would need to prepare in more depth so I will also share some Advanced Topics on Active Directory (Actually the topics aren't advanced rather the articles are in depth) on Experts Galaxy Enterprise Version (expertsgalaxy.net)
Microsoft has their support center in Bangalore known as GTSC (Global Technical Support Center) where you can always apply as per the openings, however they have also outsourced many of their technical processes to companies like Convergys India Pvt Ltd, Wipro etc where people provide support to different products of Microsoft.
Three years back, I learnt multiple technologies as I was always interested in Servers and hence MCSE Server Administrator was one of them. I prepared well for all the technologies but was never interested in a Windows Server Support Profile but then I got calls repeatedly from one of the MS partners and decided to go for an interview. (Working for them was an all together different experience, that I would share in a separate blog post). I worked in the Microsoft Directory Services Team, providing support to MS Pro Customers to fix their non-working server environments.
I was already trained on the server part, the way its been taught in Indian Institutes and then I also did all the practicals from CBT Nuggets, but without theory everything is nothing. While watching the video tutorials, I kept on making notes of keywords that are very important to know (And obviously that were new to me) for a server environment and then started searching and reading about them. Here is a list of few basic things that you should be aware of, before attending any Active Directory/Windows Server Administrator Interview:
Active Directory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Directory
So What Is Active Directory? -- https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa746492(v=vs.85).aspx
Active Directory Domain Services: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa362244(v=vs.85).aspx
Active Directory: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc977985.aspx
What is the difference between a domain and a workgroup?-- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows-vista/what-is-the-difference-between-a-domain-and-a-workgroup
What is the difference between a domain, a workgroup, and a homegroup? -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows7/what-is-the-difference-between-a-domain-a-workgroup-and-a-homegroup
Organizational Unit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizational_unit_(computing)
Windows domain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_domain
Active Directory domain (AD domain): http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/definition/Active-Directory-domain-AD-domain
Domain controller: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_controller
What Is a Domain Controller & What Does it Do? -- http://scientificera.com/windows/45-windows/224-what-is-a-domain-controller.html
Understanding Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) Functional Levels: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/understanding-active-directory-functional-levels(v=ws.10).aspx
Domain Controller Roles: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786438(v=ws.10).aspx
Understanding Sites, Subnets, and Site Links: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754697(v=ws.10).aspx
The Difference Between a Domain and a Domain Controller: http://www.worldstart.com/the-difference-between-a-domain-and-a-domain-controller/
What Are Domains and Forests? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759073(v=ws.10).aspx
FSMO Roles in Active Directory in Windows 2008 Server: http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/readyfsmo-roles-active-directory-windows-2008-server
How to find out who has your FSMO Roles? -- http://blogs.technet.com/b/mempson/archive/2007/11/08/how-to-find-out-who-has-your-fsmo-roles.aspx
How Domains and Forests Work: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783351(v=ws.10).aspx
How Operations Masters Work: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc780487(v=ws.10).aspx
How the Global Catalog Works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/how-global-catalog-servers-work(v=ws.10).aspx
How the Active Directory Schema Works: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc773309(v=ws.10).aspx
Group Policy: http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/definition/Group-Policy
Group Policy: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb310732.aspx
Access control in Active Directory: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785913(v=ws.10).aspx
What Is DHCP? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc781008(v=ws.10).aspx
What is DHCP & DORA Process? -- https://kb.iu.edu/d/adov
What Is DNS? -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787921(v=ws.10).aspx
How DNS Works -- https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772774(v=ws.10).aspx
DNS (Domain Name System): frequently asked questions -- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/domain-name-system-faq
Understanding the Boot Process -- http://www.answers.com/Q/Windows_2003_booting_process
Windows Server 2003 Boot Process: https://bobcares.com/blog/windows-server-2003-boot-process-common-errors-solutions
These are good to go for freshers and other people as well. Rest, I have other set of bookmarks that I will share soon so that your preparation should be good for Microsoft EPS Interview either with partner or directly with client. However, for MS GTSC, you would need to prepare in more depth so I will also share some Advanced Topics on Active Directory (Actually the topics aren't advanced rather the articles are in depth) on Experts Galaxy Enterprise Version (expertsgalaxy.net)
