Server 2012 r2 Home lab setup. Need a little help

So I am trying to setup my own physical server at home so I can learn more about server administration and get a job in it

Everyone seems to only have Hyper-v and VMware server install videos on youtube that help a little bit.

Here is how I have been trying to set it up.
1. My ISP is hard wired to my Netgear router, however DHCP is enabled on my router. <--may cause a problem?
2. My Desktop Server 2012 r2 connects to my Netgear router over its WiFi NIC, it is not hard wired. I have a second onboard NIC that is only for hard wire but is currently disabled.

I have been having issues with this setup.
My questions are:
1. Will this setup work, am I missing something?
2. Do I have to disable DHCP on my router or can I just set a reservation IP on my netgear router so my server can use it as a static IP?
3. Do I need to use both of my NIC cards on my system for this to work?

The server WiFi NIC is connected to my netgear router with these TCP/IP settings.
192.168.1.8 <-IP set for my Server 2012 r2 and reservation on my netgear router
255.255.255.0 <-SM
192.168.1.1 <-DG
192.168.1.8 <-DNS on my server 2012 r2

running ipconfig shows these above settings are correct

However, my DHCP Server name is called "169.xxx" from APIPA due to it not being able to talk to a dhcp server. Yes I have disabled the secondary NIC card, IPv6 is enabled and I have google searched this a lot.

my setup for DHCP on my server 2012 r2
Router- 192.168.1.8 <-Authenticating with 169.xxx APIP - see the above
DNS - 192.168.1.8 <- Authenticating with 169.xxx APIP - see the above
DNS name - works
scope- 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.254

no ip reservations were set on my dhcp configuration for my server- probably need to do that so there isn't an IP conflict on the scope delegation with the 192.168.1.8 IP address.

Any help is greatly appreciated with this.

Yes I run dcdiag to see whats going on and best practices for errors etc.

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Comments

Welly_59

What are you hoping to achieve with the server?

If you statically assign an ip to the nic then it won't respond or ask for any dhcp messages.

Also you don't need to worry about ip conflicts. When a device gets offered an ip via dhcp it will send out an arp request to the ip its been offered. If it gets a response it knows its a duplicate ip and tells the dhcp server 'no thanks. Gimme another'

Mr.Robot255

Are you giving your server and your Router the same IP address ? would the server not need its own ip address and the Router/DG its own.

Mr.Robot255

This is a good series (you might have already seen it)
i used it a while back to do a basic setup of server 2012 r2 it might be of help with your issue i'm not sure.

eli the comuter guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIFKmJ4wufc&list=PLJcaPjxegjBVnEN8c6O8w1mNit4WGeAWN

Nik 99

I reckon you should change the DHCP scope on your router, say 2-100 (whatever really) then set static IP's outside the scope for all your server stuff. It would be better if you had granular control on the router and could place your lab in a seprate network altogther.

Your going to want a 2012 R2 GUI and ServerCore at the very least. GUI to learn the interface, ServerCore to get used to working on powershell and command prompt. If you've got extra ram and a decent processor you could just install the hyper v role (Providing your version is standerd or datacentre) and set up any extra servers as needed.

SlayerX

Nik 99 you make a good suggestion. The better idea may to be just setup my own separate network, run Hyper-v then add some VMS. How would I go about setting up just my server? I know how to install hyper -v, create VM's and virtual switches in it so no worries.
Do I still need to connect my Server 2012 to my home LAN for this to work or how would I do this? Would I need to use a loop back? 127.0.0.1

I'm open to any help. I did watch the eli computer guy videos that helped a little.

SlayerX

just want to have a domain so I can setup GPO - shared folders and connect some Vms to it and play with it.

NetworkingStudent

Maybe this would help?

How To Create A Windows 2012 Hyper-V Home Lab Environment in VMware

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lG3vXlo2q7M

Published on Jan 20, 2013
This video will show you how to create the ultimate Windows Server 2012 home lab environment in VMware Workstation 9, however it works forward in newer versions. I've been using this setup to teach with for a number of years in VMware Workstation and before that I had something similar in Virtual PC dating back to 2005. I do recommend purchasing an SSD for your fast storage where the VMware files will be stored and having enough RAM to run 3 Virtual Machines at a time is useful. This video shows how to setup the lab environment which allows for use of nested Hyper-v inside of VMware workstation or just use it as a VMware lab for Windows Server 2012/R2.

I created my Windows server labs using this video. I have VMware. I don't have a SSD drive, but I wish I did, because VMs load a little slower than I would like them to.

Nik 99

I think the most important thing is are you using the evaluation copy of server 2012? If yes, then if you don't connect to the internet to activate it then it will shutdown within an hour. Still manageable tbh cuz after it shuts down just restart it again. If your running the VM's on an SSD the startup will take less then a min. Only other reason to connect to the net is to see if your DNS server role is working properly. If you can put your lab on a seprate network and still get a internet connection, then go for it. I actually built my own PFsense router to do exactly that for my home lab.

If the version your using is standerd or datacentre you could just install server 2012 R2 directly onto your machine, then install the hyper-v role and run the VM's like that. I actually use virtualbox for the moment, but I may also just use 2012 and hyper-v. VMware workstation works too, choose whatever you like the most.

To get your internet connection going:
Hyper-V create an external virtual switch
Virtualbox (I think this will work for Workstation too) change your virtual adapter to bridged
You will still have to configure everything within the VM's for the correct IP address, mask, gateway and dns server.

SlayerX

Thanks for all the help guys! I got it setup on a VMware workstation.

AvgITGeek

The Evaluation version of Server 2012 R2 is good for 180 days but in order for the license to get activated, you need to allow it to phone home. After a reboot you should see the countdown timer on the desktop. After those 180 days are up you can reactivate it once for another 180 days.