Question regarding setting up test lab

kashmo

Guys, I'm just starting to study for this exam. As my primary resource, I plan to use the latest edition of the AIO book. My question is what kind of lab would be sufficient? I've got an additional laptop I can use to setup a virtual lab using VMWare (8-core i7, 8gig of RAM, running Windows 7 as the host OS), and I'm trying not to purchase unnecessary OS licenses. Of course I need a VM of Kali running (no problem since it is free), but what additional OS's will I need inside my virtual environment? Would it be sufficient to have Kali, some flavor of a Windows workstations (7, 8, etc.), and some flavor of Windows Server (2008, 2012)?

Should I have my employer purchase the premium subscription to the CEH CBT Nuggets training since it comes with access to a virtual lab - will that suffice? Can I really use their virtual environment to run through the exercises in the AIO book, or is it more restricted to use with the CBT Nuggets training exercises?

Thanks!

SMBgurus

Only because I was stupid and paid for their iclass/ilabs on a package sale for $999 and failed to realize the 6 months of ilabs started by going through the system check and then figured I'd leave it and do labs after the video's and read the coursework. Well you can't print the PDF's and they're several thousands of pages full of color and hardly words on each page so even with 3 monitors its impossible to keep up with the instructor and use the PDF let alone think of making any notes (being an ethical exam only after I found out it was 850$ for printed material and that my labs are expire the same week I went to start it and had no help from ecouncil on why do you tell me to test my system 1st thing you suggested in the iclass account email activation, but not use the labs subscription until video and doc's are reviewed, but start the timer during the system check? The rest of the courseware is active for 1 year, so I also assumed the labs came after and people would require less time and that was why the 6 months included, but its not and after the sales girl agreed the pdf's looked like a hippie designed them and a waste of pages, she would not provide my adobe LC2 account with any permissions beyond read, but I could buy the print out for $850 and lab extension for $200, but the discount special for 10% off is only for bundles...) A bit pissed about that I figured it wasn't unethical to gain access to a pdf to mark notes to it as it is licensed to me for a year and all the tricks, copy/paste, even highlight are disabled, well hacking their LC2 server wouldn't have been good either. Called again and figured I'd just buy the lab extension, but realized the iClass is about to expire since I bought this mid partner training and accreditation renewals, but the budget for personal InfoSec Exam's was $3500 (basically 1 mid/expert 1, saw the sale bought it and planned CCNA Security, Sec+ and SSCP would all work self study no problems if they don't update exam) well good thoughts while CEH was hot in 2013 early 2014 but essentially wasted time/money for me. I did find out you if you call in they should let you purchase the DVD toolkit 6 DVD's I believe and it's only $99 and has everything needed for their official labs and you'll be fine with 90 server enterprise and workstation trials on VMware Pro 11, though 10 and 8 should work as well. That'll give you the same lab setup they use, the tools, some which don't exist or are unsafe like truecrypt now, but exactly what they utilize and allow for practice of concepts though most questions are on nmap and tools in general used for a scenario and why I'd say go this route and/or pay for their ilabs 199$ which is the same setup and it guides you through the steps with screen hints and such if you can't figure out the approach they're looking for. No reason to spend much considering the numerous free ethical hacking courses that exist now.

Also note they told me in Jan to save my voucher till March because a new CEH v9 was planned and this way I don't issue the v8 voucher and get rushed into taking it since apparently they haven't told anyone about it and the terms in their packages essentially all have different time frames and of course extensions you can purchase, had I done more research into EC-Council and their certifications I would have just stuck with the CISSP just felt like useless CBK book knowledge I've followed from 02 and couldn't justify an 8 hour pencil in 400 question exam and pay to prove myself back then as it wasn't needed and was stubborn waiting for practical/technical certification and the CEH was marketed and reviewed as a practical exam (we all know its far from it now and just show's people to use tools and execute very simple attacks and should be associate or intern ethical hacker) but made the failure and assumed it must be better then CISSP and an up an comer going off of salary reports, market, and at the time v8 being very popular and considered by most organizations CISSP interchangeable or better at the v8 release which took a year for the industry to realize a CEH who just took a CEH w/o years of experience isn't going to fill the pen-tester role they just hired them for =/

kashmo wrote: »

Guys, I'm just starting to study for this exam. As my primary resource, I plan to use the latest edition of the AIO book. My question is what kind of lab would be sufficient? I've got an additional laptop I can use to setup a virtual lab using VMWare (8-core i7, 8gig of RAM, running Windows 7 as the host OS), and I'm trying not to purchase unnecessary OS licenses. Of course I need a VM of Kali running (no problem since it is free), but what additional OS's will I need inside my virtual environment? Would it be sufficient to have Kali, some flavor of a Windows workstations (7, 8, etc.), and some flavor of Windows Server (2008, 2012)?

Should I have my employer purchase the premium subscription to the CEH CBT Nuggets training since it comes with access to a virtual lab - will that suffice? Can I really use their virtual environment to run through the exercises in the AIO book, or is it more restricted to use with the CBT Nuggets training exercises?

Thanks!

UnixGuy

@SMBgurus: interesting review!