Newbie - Need help lab setup for 70-270 excercises

Dev13

I just started studying for 70-270. Bought Sybex Windows XP book. Started looking at first few excercised and it talks about RIS server Domain controller Win 2000 or 2003 server.
Now i have only 1 workstation with dual boot , XP home and Win 2000 on it.

In order to complete the excercises and follow the steps do i need Win2000 CD Domain sever, DHCP server, Windows XP professional CD, PXE based boot RAM...blah blah.

How did you guys did the exercises?? Please advice

royal

I would get either Virtual Server or Vmware Server, both of which are free. I would also register for a free copy of Windows Server 2003 Evaluation. This will allow you configure a virtual environment. I would also get an Evaluation Copy of Windows XP to virtualize.

Dev13

ok, clarification. I have subscription to MSDN, so i can get all these products free including Virtual PC & Win 2003. My question was.. can just 1 workstation be used to setup all these things needed. Do i have uninstall Win xp home and Win 2000 i already have on my workstation?
In a way i am looking for steps to setup lab. like
(1). Get Virtual PC
(2). Install Win 2003 server on it.
(3). Setup Domain server
(4). ......

Do i need to do all this ..or am i overdoing stuff?

royal

You can use your regular workstation and keep it in tact.

Lets just say you're using Virtual Server.

1. Boot up your normal box
2. Install Virtual Server
3. Go into Virtual Server configuration.
4. Create a new virtual server
5. Create a new virtual server hard drive
6. Link that virtual server hard drive to that specific virtual server.
7. Do any other miscellaneous configuration.
8. Now you virtualize your CD-rom. Basically you can do this a few ways. If you have a copy of Windows Server 2003 on a CD, you can emulate your virtual cd to use your host's CD. If you have an iso of the Windows Server 2003, you can mount the iso to act as the virtual server cd. This way, when you boot, the virtual cd will load windows server 2003 just as if you were doing it on a physical box.
9. You then install the operating system and you have a virtualized operating system.
10. Repeat steps 1-9 to create a 2nd virtualized operating system enviornment.

The virtual software gives you network card support for your virtual enviornment. They give you a few options depending on what you want. For instance, virtual server will install a network card adapter on your virtual server that is basically linked to your network adapter on your host machine. This means, when you boot up your virtual operating system, it will pull DHCP settings as if it were just another physical box on your network. Another option is Internal Network which will completely segregate it from your host machine's network and it will be completely separate. You can also configure Virtual Server dhcp to give ip configuration to your virtual servers. This way your virtual servers can talk to each other. No matter what setting you choose, all Virtual software will let you network your Virtual Servers together.

sconklin

I took this exam and passed about one year ago, there where about 5 RIS questions on my entire exam, all basic stuff too. I wouldn't sweat worrying about setting up a RIS server at home/lab. Just use virtual PC and load XP pro, you'll be fine. I used M$ Press and Sybex exam cram did fine. Good luck