setup MCSA lab in virtualbox

k31453

Hi,

I have win 7 with plenty of HDD, 8 gb ram.

I want to practice my mcsa. I already installed virtualbox.

so how do you setup svr, router and domain controller and windows 2012 server into vbox.

I want to use following topology in vbox:



Can i able to do that in vbox?

techfiend

Building that environment is possible in virtualbox but with 8GB of ram you are basically limited to 2 running vm's, 3 is pushing it a bit. I'd get at least 16GB of RAM for 6-8 VM's simultaneous, more RAM if you need it. Also an SSD to put the vm's on will save a lot of time.

Louie1277

techfiend wrote: »

Building that environment is possible in virtualbox but with 8GB of ram you are basically limited to 2 running vm's, 3 is pushing it a bit. I'd get at least 16GB of RAM for 6-8 VM's simultaneous, more RAM if you need it. Also an SSD to put the vm's on will save a lot of time.

I was thinking about using a SSD drive for the vm's . My issue is that i have a Lacie external drive that has a regular drive in it. I'm wondering if I'm able to switch that into the SSD drive. The drive itself is connected using the thunderbolt connection on my mac. I know SSD drives are expensive that's why i went with a standard drive.

k31453

Ok I am doing 20412D exercises.. we basically use one of DC, SVR and pc Vms to for every exercise. Also i have SsD. But I have Win7 installed so i am going to use normal hard drive. But i dont know how to configure that topology in vbox. i never used this before.

techfiend

You have to install 2012 R2 on a lot of VM's to set that up on your hardware I'm guessing at least 8 hours, you could probably do 3 at a time with 1.5GB of RAM each but the HDD is going to slow it down quite a bit, having the installation iso on the SSD will help.

A little tip that's not very obvious: use host only network adapters for the virtual network. If you need access to the host network or internet add a secondary bridged or nat network adapter.

TechGuru80

As said you don't have enough ram. You probably want at least 2gb per VM but really 4gb is better. It all depends on what each does. Additionally, you won't be able to get that many licenses without spending a lot. If you want to have hardcore topologies...look into virtual lab providers.

techfiend

2012 R2 'evaluation' while it says 180 days I've been running it for over 2 years and it's still fully functional. I use 1.5GB for max 5 2012 R2 VM's but I also don't put much on them and regularly restore snapshots after the lab is done, rarely see above 70% RAM usage. Instead of installing 2012 R2 multiple times, you could save a lot of time cloning like described at https://srackham.wordpress.com/cloning-and-copying-virtualbox-virtual-machines/ System center has 180 day eval too but I don't really expect him to get to that scale, although it's good thing to get familiar with.

I see 20412D is a fairly expensive course, it actually looks a lot like the labs in the training guide on a much larger scale. The training guide often uses 4 VM's, with a few labs using an extra one.