Networking - HELP!!! :-)

[Orangeb]

Dear All,

I recently changed my goals totally about what I wanted to get back into, work wise. I figured Counselling wasn’t for me anymore, so seeing as I always was god with computer etc as a kid and growing up, i would go for something basic to start with, like first line IT support, and then take it from there.
The problem is I have gone through YouTube watching courses on basic networking etc, and then Active Directory (I thought learning the original basics, even though it’s gone cloud based now, would be helpful). BUT I keep over thinking the basics - if a server is something physical, what turns it into a Domain controller - it must be software - but so must windows server X or whatever, so where does the DC controller ‘sit’? Ontop of the server, so to speak? So when you put a virtual machine into action, where does that sit? It’s not physical, as there is no physical entity. I’m not explaining it fantastically - I need to be able to draw what I mean.
I am looking for very basic definitions of where things go in a basic network. Does everything go from the server upwards - so the server is the grounding? How does everything on a network look - if a diagram could be drawn?
If anyone could offer some advice, that would be fantastic.
Many thanks for reading,
Matthew

 

[radderfire]

It's probably best to determine which basic networking qualifications are required in order to help get you a job, and then get the learning material to obtain those qualifications.

 

[Tetras]

BUT I keep over thinking the basics - if a server is something physical, what turns it into a Domain controller - it must be software - but so must windows server X or whatever, so where does the DC controller ‘sit’? Ontop of the server, so to speak? So when you put a virtual machine into action, where does that sit? It’s not physical, as there is no physical entity. I’m not explaining it fantastically - I need to be able to draw what I mean.
I am looking for very basic definitions of where things go in a basic network. Does everything go from the server upwards - so the server is the grounding? How does everything on a network look - if a diagram could be drawn?

I'm not into networks, I still use crossover cables, but in the absence of a better explanation.

A domain controller is something that controls a domain and that's it.

The point about: "Is this server physical, virtual, network based?", I mean... it doesn't matter, because the only important point is: do the clients connecting to it consider it acting like a domain controller.

It can be a fairy waving a magic wand if it does the job, the client doesn't care.

In terms of the software, Windows server is an operating system and it comes with certain features, which come with their own software to perform those features.

Is Windows server a domain controller? No. Is it possible for Windows server to act as a domain controller? Yes, with the right software and the necessary configuration.

"Does everything go from the server upwards - so the server is the grounding?" - It is very hard to answer that because you need more context. You can't define these details, if you don't know the structure of the network.

The easiest way I'd try and think of it is: "Which of these parts of the network have X responsibility and which parts of the network depend on that responsibility?".

If you have lots of dependencies between a single physical server and lots of physical clients, then you have one of those classic top-down hierarchies with the server at the top and the clients underneath.