DO-375: Automation with Ansible and Ansible Tower

 

Course Overview:

Through hands-on labs, you will learn to automate system administration tasks on managed hosts with Ansible, learn how to write Ansible playbooks to standardize task execution, and manage encryption for Ansible with Ansible Vault. This course will also teach you how to deploy and use Red Hat® Ansible Tower to centrally manage existing Ansible projects, playbooks, and roles; perform basic maintenance and administration of the Ansible Tower installation; and configure users and teams and use them to control access to systems, projects, and other resources through role-based access controls. You will learn to use Ansible Tower’s visual dashboard to launch, control, and monitor Ansible jobs; use the Ansible Tower application programming interface (API) to launch jobs from existing templates; automatically schedule Ansible jobs; and dynamically update host inventories.

Course Objectives:

  • Install and troubleshoot Ansible on central nodes and managed hosts
  • Automate administration tasks with Ansible playbooks and ad hoc commands
  • Write effective Ansible playbooks
  • Protect sensitive data used by tasks with Ansible Vault.
  • Install and configure Ansible Tower for enterprise Ansible management
  • Use Ansible Tower to control access to inventories and machine credentials by users and teams
  • Create job templates in Ansible Tower to standardize playbook execution.
  • Centrally launch playbooks and monitor and review job results with Ansible Tower

 

Course Outline:

  • Introduce Ansible
  • Deploy Ansible
  • Implement playbooks
  • Manage variables and inclusions
  • Implement task control
  • Implement Jinja2 templates
  • Implement roles
  • Configure complex playbooks
  • Implement Ansible Vault
  • Troubleshoot Ansible
  • Install Ansible Tower and describe Ansible Tower’s architecture
  • Create users and teams for role-based access control
  • Create and manage inventories and credentials
  • Manage projects for provisioning with Ansible Tower
  • Construct advanced job workflows
  • Update inventories dynamically and compare inventory members
  • Maintenance and administration of Ansible Tower

 
Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 Days

Prerequisites:

  • Become a Red Hat Certified System Administrator, or demonstrate equivalent experience

Target Audience:

This course is designed for Linux system administrators, cloud administrators, and network administrators needing to automate configuration management, application deployment, and intraservice orchestration at an enterprise scale.

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Tech Now is pleased to have the opportunity to provide you training for "Windows Security Automation and Threat Hunting with PowerShell” at CheddarCon 2018!

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Windows Security Automation and Threat Hunting with PowerShell Seminar

Location: 400 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53203, USA

Date: October 10, 2018 8:00am – 4:00pm

Duration: 8 hours

Audience: Cyber Security professionals and Windows administrators

Attendees Environment: Laptops not required, but suggested to have better hands-on absorption of subject matter.

Description:
PowerShell is both a command-line shell and scripting language. Fight fires quickly using existing or custom PowerShell commands or scripts at the shell. PowerShell is made for Security Operations (SecOps) automation on Windows. This seminar does not require prior programming skills. The seminar focuses on PowerShell programming, giving a beginner skills to be productive in windows scripting to automate tasks and also remediate problems.

Cyber Security is the objective of this seminar, and the PowerShell examples will demonstrate PowerShell capabilities that help lock down a Windows system and also report security status.

Objectives:

PowerShell Overview

  • Getting started running commands
  • Security cmdlets
  • Using and updating the built-in help
  • Execution policies
  • Fun tricks with the ISE graphical editor
  • Piping .NET and COM objects, not text
  • Using properties and methods of objects
  • Helping Linux admins feel more at home
  • Aliases, cmdlets, functions, modules, etc.

PowerShell Utilities and Tips

  • Customizing your profile script
  • PowerShell remote command execution
  • Security setting across the network
  • File copy via PowerShell remoting
  • Capturing the output of commands
  • Parsing text files and logs with regex patterns
  • Parsing Security Logs
  • Searching remote event logs
  • Mounting the registry as a drive
  • Security settings in the Registry
  • Exporting data to CSV, HTML and JSON files
  • Running scripts as scheduled jobs
  • Continued Security Compliance
  • Pushing out scripts through Group Policy
  • Importing modules and dot-sourcing functions
  • http://www.PowerShellGallery.com

PowerShell Scripting

  • PowerShell Scripting to implement Security Practices
  • Writing your own functions to automate security status and settings
  • Passing arguments into your scripts
  • Function parameters and returning output
  • Flow control: if-then, foreach, that make security decisions
  • How to pipe data in/out of your scripts for security compliance and reporting

Attendees to this seminar, Windows Security Automation and Threat Hunting with PowerShell, will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.[/wr_text][/wr_column][/wr_row]

TN-965 Windows Security Automation with Powershell

Course Overview:

PowerShell is made for Security Operations (SecOps) automation on Windows. SecOps requires automation in order to scale out security changes and monitoring beyond a handful of hosts. For example, when a vulnerability must be remediated but there is no patch for it yet, automation is needed to quickly and consistently enact the changes necessary. PowerShell “remoting” is encrypted remote command execution of PowerShell scripts in a way that can scale to thousands of endpoints and servers.

Imagine being able to hunt for indicators of compromise across thousands of machines with just a few lines of PowerShell code. Or imagine having the local Administrator account password reset every night on thousands of endpoints in a secure way, and being able to retrieve that password securely too.

We will show you to do these tasks and more. Transcription logging for forensics, strong encryption code signing, application whitelisting of scripts, IPSec port control, and Just Enough Admin (JEA).

As more and more of our systems are moved up to the cloud, PowerShell will become even more important. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Hyper-V and VMware already support PowerShell administration for many tasks.

Attendees to TN-965: Windows Security Automation with PowerShell will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Date/Locations:

Date/Time Event
01/06/2025 - 01/10/2025
08:00 -16:00 		TN-965 Windows Security Automation with Powershell
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
04/28/2025 - 05/02/2025
08:00 -16:00 		TN-965 Windows Security Automation with Powershell
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
07/07/2025 - 07/11/2025
08:00 -16:00 		TN-965 Windows Security Automation with Powershell
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX
11/03/2025 - 11/07/2025
08:00 -16:00 		TN-965 Windows Security Automation with Powershell
TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX

Duration: 5 days

Intended Audience
This course is intended for IT Professionals already experienced in general Windows Server and Windows Client administration or already experienced in administering and supporting Application servers and services including applications like Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL. It is broadly intended for students who want to use Windows PowerShell to automate administrative tasks from the command line, using any Microsoft or independent software vendor (ISV) product that supports Windows PowerShell manageability.

Course Objectives:

PowerShell Overview and Tips

    • Getting started running commands
    • Using and updating the built-in help
    • Execution policies
    • Fun tricks with the ISE graphical editor
    • Piping .NET and COM objects, not text
    • Using properties and methods of objects
    • Helping Linux admins feel more at home
    • Aliases, cmdlets, functions, modules, etc.
    • Customizing your profile script

What Can We Do With PowerShell

    • PowerShell remote command execution
    • Fan-out remoting and security
    • File copy via PowerShell remoting
    • Capturing the output of commands
    • Parsing text files and logs with regex patterns
    • Searching remote event logs faster with XPath
    • Mounting the registry as a drive
    • Exporting data to CSV, HTML and JSON files
    • Parsing and mining nmap port scanner XML output
    • Running scripts as scheduled jobs
    • Pushing out scripts through Group Policy
    • Importing modules and dot-sourcing functions
    • http://www.PowerShellGallery.com

Write your own scripts

    • Writing your own functions
    • Passing arguments into your scripts
    • Function parameters and returning output
    • Flow control: if-then, do-while, foreach, switch
    • The .NET Framework class library: a playground
    • How to pipe data in/out of your scripts

Continuous Secure Configuration Enforcement

    • How to use Group Policy and PowerShell together
    • Automate with INF security templates
    • How to customize INF templates
    • Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM)
    • SECEDIT.EXE scripting
    • Building an in-house security repository for SecOps/DevOps
    • NSA’s Secure Host Baseline GPOs

Group Policy Precision Targeting

    • Managing Group Policy Objects (GPOs) with PowerShell
    • LSDOU, Block Inheritance, Enforced GPOs
    • Group Policy permissions for targeting changes
    • ADMX templates for mass registry editing
    • Deploying PowerShell startup and logon scripts
    • WMI item-level targeting of GPO preferences
    • GPO scheduled tasks to run PowerShell scripts
    • Remote command execution via GPO (not remoting)
    • Empowering the Hunt Team to fight back!

Server Hardening for SecOps/DevOps

    • Server Manager scripting with PowerShell
    • Adding and removing roles and feature
    • Remotely inventory roles, features, and apps
    • Why Server Nano or Server Core
    • Running PowerShell automatically after service failure
    • Service account identities, passwords, and risks
    • Tools to reset service account passwords securely

PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)

    • DSC is Configuration Management built in for free
    • Using DSC for continuous reinforcement of settings
    • Writing your own DSC configuration scripts
    • Free DSC resource modules: www.PowerShellGallery.com
    • How to push DSC configurations to many targets
    • DSC background job processing in push mode
    • Examples: sync files, install roles, manage groups
    • Auditing a remote target against a DSC MOF template
    • “ApplyAndAutoCorrect” mode for continuous enforcement

PowerShell Just Enough Admin (JEA)

    • JEA is Windows sudo, like on Linux
    • JEA is Windows setuid root, like on Linux
    • Restricting commands and arguments
    • Verbose transcription logging
    • How to set up and configure JEA
    • Privilege Access Workstations (PAWs)

PowerShell and WMI

    • Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service
    • What is WMI and why do hackers abuse it so much?
    • Using PowerShell to query WMI CIM classes
    • WMI authentication and traffic encryption
    • Inventory operating system versions and installed software
    • WMI remote command execution versus PowerShell remoting
    • PowerShell security best practices
    • PowerShell transcription logging to catch hackers

Prerequisites:

  • Previous Windows Server and Windows Client management knowledge and hands on experience.
    Experience installing and configuring Windows Server into existing enterprise environments, or as standalone installations.
  • Knowledge and experience of network adapter configuration, basic Active Directory user administration, and basic disk configuration.
  • Knowledge and hands on experience specifically with Windows Server 2012/Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8/Windows 8.1 would be of benefit but is not essential.

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TN-5425: Networking with Windows Server 2016

 

Course Overview:

Course two of a three course series to obtain a Server 2016 MCSA certification. This 5-day course provides the fundamental networking skills required to deploy and support Windows Server 2016 in most organizations. It covers IP fundamentals, remote access technologies, and more advanced content including Software Defined Networking.

The course leads directly to preparing for the(MCSA):Windows Server 2016 exam “70-741: Installation, Storage, and Compute with Windows Server 2016”.  It also maps to Microsoft’s course 20741A, and is part of the Server 2016 MCSA certification. 

Attendees to TN-5425: Networking with Window Server 2016 will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 Days

Course Objectives:

  • Plan and implement an IPv4 network
  • Implement Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
  • Implement IPv6
  • Implement Domain Name System (DNS)
  • Implement and manage IP address management (IPAM)
  • Plan for remote access
  • Implement DirectAccess
  • Implement virtual private networks (VPNs)
  • Implement networking for branch offices
  • Configure advanced networking features
  • Implement Software Defined Networking

Prerequisites: 

  • A basic understanding of networking fundamentals
  • Experience working with Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012
  • Experience working in a Windows Server infrastructure enterprise environment
  • Knowledge of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model
  • Understanding of core networking topologies and architectures such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) and wireless networking
  • Basic knowledge of the TCP/IP protocol stack, addressing and name resolution
  • Experience with and knowledge of Hyper-V and virtualization
  • Hands-on experience working with the Windows client operating systems such as Windows 8.1 or Windows 10
  

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