In this course, you are introduced to general Windows Server concepts like active directory, group policy, security, networking and IIS, access control, and much more. Now that you understand the basic concepts, we will delve a little deeper and look in more detail, by examining the offerings of different versions. This Course Project will be a research report that will cover five of the differences between Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2012 that interest you the most. Be sure to provide a clear and thorough description for each of the five areas that you choose in the report.

For Week 4, you will need to submit a comprehensive outline of the report which reflects a substantial amount of research already done. The report itself will be assigned in Week 5, to be submitted at the end of Week 6.

Some example topics to be researched include, but are not limited to, the following.

• Hyper-V
• Active directory (including DS and RMS)
• IPAM (IP address management)
• ReFS (operating system)
• SMB (server message block) 3.0 file storage
• Network services (IIS) and support for cloud-based strategies and web applications
• Dynamic access control

Guidelines

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Once you submit your outline, your instructor can provide you feedback about your choices.

Identifying the appropriate scope and a plan for detailing it are important parts of this project. This should be considered when creating your outline. Due to the limited amount of time you have for completing the project, be careful not to be too ambitious in the detail of your coverage. Your instructor can help you with this.

The project has two milestones that need to be completed in the process of completing your final project. They are described below.

Milestone 1: Project Outline (20 points)

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You will need to submit a detailed outline reflecting your initial research. This should be in an outline format with clear but brief descriptions of what will be covered. This means that you will need to know what the differences are between the versions already in order to create the outline. Do not focus on what has not changed, but instead, put your focus on what has changed and the impact of those changes. This requires an understanding of the topics as much as possible. The idea is to communicate that you have done sufficient initial research to provide you with a solid understanding of the differences so that you can write the report. It should be detailed enough to convince your instructor that you are on the right track and that you have a clear idea of the report contents. For example, the outline should not say "research differences between ..."-the research should already have been done so that you are outlining the comparison already and how you will cover it. A solid outline should help your instructor determine if the scope of your project is achievable in the time allotted. You should submit this to the Dropbox for the Course Project activity in Week 4.

Milestone 2: Project Report 

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This will be the culmination of the work you have done. Your submission is a project report.

The project report must be a Microsoft Word document that includes the following three sections.

• It should have a section with the finalized outline agreed upon with your instructor.
• It should have a section that is the description of differences. In this section, you should describe five areas of your choosing (see list of examples above for reference), as well as the impact that the changes have made. Use your understanding of what you have learned in this course from lectures, the textbook, labs, and research. The report needs to be in your own words, citing any and all sources used. Do not fill the pages with charts and tables from websites. One or two small ones are OK, but the focus here is for you to know how to discuss the differences if asked; for example, in an interview. Use the proper APA format for citations as described in the plagiarism and undergraduate citations section in the Syllabus. It needs to be four to five pages long, double spaced, one inch margins, using a 12-point font.
• It should include a summary section where you will reflect upon your professional opinion of the differences as well as any opinions and experiences you found in your research; for example, from other professionals' reviews of the newer version.

Project Submission

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Your initial outline version should be submitted to the Dropbox for the Course Project outline activity in Week 4.

Your project report and final outline version should be collected together in a zip file named LastNameFirstInitail-FinalProject.zip. You should submit this to the Dropbox for the Course Project Research Paper activity in Week 6.