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Secure Server Access with Windows Defender Firewall

You are working on securing your Windows Servers, and as part of the effort, you want to configure a domain isolation policy between the employee workstations and the application servers. You want to make sure that the employees can only log into an application server from a domain-joined client workspace. In order to do this, in this hands-on lab, you are going to configure a Group Policy to enforce Windows Defender Firewall rules between client and server VMs.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 1h 15m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 27, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Configure the Active Directory Domain Services Environment

  2. Challenge

    Configure Group Policy for Windows Defender Firewall Rules

    • Create a Group Policy Object and link it to the server organizational unit
      • Edit the policy to Require authentication for inbound connections and request authentication for outbound connections to the server VM
    • Create a Group Policy Object and link it to the client organizational unit
      • Edit the policy to Request authentication for inbound and outbound connections to the client VM
    • Update the Group Policies on the virtual machines

  3. Challenge

    Confirm Firewall Rules Have Been Applied

    • Confirm that you can only directly remote into the client VM and not the server VM
    • From the client VM, confirm that you can remote into the server VM using the private IP address or the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN)
Pluralsight Skills - Labs - Pluralsight
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

What's a lab?

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.

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We will provide the credentials and environment necessary for you to practice right within your browser.

Guided walkthrough

Follow along with the author’s guided walkthrough and build something new in your provided environment!

Did you know?

On average, you retain 75% more of your learning if you get time for practice.
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