Introduction

Activities are in-class exercises that bridge the gap between lecture reading and graded labs. Each activity is tied to a specific lecture and assumes you have read the corresponding chapter beforehand. They are designed to be completed during a class session (60-90 minutes) with instructor support available.

Activities differ from labs in scope and stakes. A lab is a multi-step project that you complete over a week, often building infrastructure you will use in later assignments. An activity is a focused exercise that reinforces a specific set of concepts from a lecture, giving you hands-on practice before you encounter those concepts in a larger context.

Activity	Tied to Lecture	What You Practice
Install Arch Linux from Scratch	Linux Server Planning and Configuration	Partitioning, filesystems, bootloaders, users, packages, networking, systemd
Windows Server and Active Directory on AWS	Windows Server Administration and Active Directory	AD DS promotion, domain join, OUs, users, groups, Group Policy Objects