VMWare Qn-I am preparing for MCSA 2003 Messaging

So to get hands-on practice May I use any of these Virtual product(like VMWare) to setup home lab;I have a PC having celeron 2.0GHZ processor,128MB RAM;

Please suggest me a free soultion.

Thank you.

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Comments

Ricka182

You can get a free trial of Virtual PC here. It lasts 45 days. Next, buy more memory. 128 is barely enough for 1 PC, let alone that plus a virtual machine. I would recco a minimum of 512mb, but a Gig would be better. And get a good book to study with.

newbienewb

That means I can have Windows Server 2003(on virtual pc) and my existing windows 2000 professional as a client?

12thlevelwarrior

virtual server is a free download from MS, check their site for details

rossonieri#1

hello,

the good thing running a virtual machine - is that you can almost put any supported OS in it. but the bad thing is you only have a celeron machine and 128MB of RAM (not enough), and be sure to have a plenty of free HDD space.

cheers.

JDMurray

I recommend trying both VMWare and Virtual PC and seeing which one you like better. I prefer VPC's user interface, but VMWare runs noticeably faster on my hardware.

And you will need a fast CPU (>3GHz) lots of free RAM space (>512MB), especially if you are running multiple virtual machines on a single computer.

http://www.vmware.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

jpeezy55

What can you do if you don't have a copy of the OS to use for your image either in VMWare or Virtual PC? I have XP, Server 2003, Netware 6.5, and Windows ME (why, I don't know). But is there any place that you can download the images from? Even if they came from a trial it would be worth it. I know you can't download a full working copy of Server 2003 or any proiduct without infringing on some legal issues there. But, I was just wondering about it, not so much for me, but for others...and me if it works out that way...

JDMurray

Check the documentation for each package, but I think you'll find that you must have a genuine and valid boot media for the OS you need to make an image of it. I've never done it any other way with VMWare or VPC. Let us know if you find differently.

jpeezy55

That's what I thought...it would be nice if there was a way to get images you need without having to pay full price for the retail version just to use it in VMWare or VPC.

Oh well, wishful thinking...

JDMurray

jpeezy55 wrote:

That's what I thought...it would be nice if there was a way to get images you need without having to pay full price for the retail version just to use it in VMWare or VPC.

Well, realize that although the OS is running in a virtual machine, it's still fully-functional and not crippled in any way. You can use a virtual machine for almost anything that that you can use a real machine for. The only limitations currently are multi processor and 64-bit process instruction emulation, and advanced DirectX 3D rendering. Therefore, it's not worth it to an OS vendor to give a discount for a "virtual machine-only" version of their OS.

jpeezy55

I understand completely...I guess for some people it would seem frustrating to have the VPC software, but nothing to do with it. I have about 6 copies of the 180-day Trial of Server 2003 (got one with each book in the MCSE Certification track) and those work just as good for training and studying. You can always back-up your databases and bring them into another trial version if you have to install one after the 180 days and keep running, so it's not too bad to work with those, I figure if I can't grasp the concept after 3 years then I am in the wrong business!

The VPC is my only means of using Server 2003 since my place of work uses Novell and I'm kept in the dark about that, no communication. (I'm one of only 3 people in the tech department, but I get to do nothing but change ink cartridges and repair the ocassional computer. It's really sad to work here, but to have the experience listed on a resume is good).

12thlevelwarrior

i know this is not extremely relevant to what you are talking about, but didn't know if you heard M$ gives you 4 free virtual machines if you install virtual server or esx server on top of 2003 enterprise R2, of course the core install must be a legit, purchased copy