ghen

The main thing to learn when just starting out with Windows server environments is it runs almost like a plugin system. You have the core operating system that comes with a bunch of plugins like Active Directory and Terminal Services. Then you add stuff like DNS and DHCP onto that as their own little modules as needed. Everything that you need for basic server operations is in the start menu under administrative tools.

The way my schooling went for server 2003 was we got a huge crash course of the OS as a whole and then delved deeper into each module later. This is kinda overwhelming at first, but its definitely the best way to learn as you understand how everything interacts better once it finally settles in.

Whats your major?

PS: If its broken... Check the event log! The Event Log is your best friend =)

Hopefully you get schooling on 2008, I like it better and I predict it will be picked up in the business sector about as easily as 2003 was since its not full of large structural changes like server 2000 (it was necessary: NT sucked, but the changes were huge!)