quickly set up a virtual environmet???

squeakstar

Hey chaps,
getting through my course work and finding how little my work place is embracing the features of server 2003 environment - can anyone advise best way of setting up a virtual domain?

Just quickly need to know the approach you took to do so - do you use virtual pc, virtual server or vmware, and if you've tried all 3 which gave the best performance?

I wanna set up at least a domain controller server and maybe an additional one, plus a few clients to simulate computers in different OUs.

Appreciate any advice from dudes that have already gone there!

cheers!

squeak

mog27

I use vmware and it works really good. Make sure you have enough RAM though. 1GB min and preferably 2GB. I saw something else recently that is like vmware but open source and free called virtualbox. http://www.virtualbox.org/

Might want to check that one out.

tonydotigr

I use Microsoft Virtual Server to simulate a domain environment and it works great. Most of the default settings fit my needs.

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

Before I ran a seperate server and laptop, VM is the way to go. Be aware of the steep system requirements when running multiple VMs on one PC. I have a Core 2 Duo w/ 2GB of RAM and I don't have any problems running two VMs at once.

If you got questions let me know!

squeakstar

So in a nutshell, how does it run?

Does the Virtual Server/VMware host and encasulate the server and client OS, flicking between the two as required, or do they run as seperate "programs"?

Or alternatively, can one run the server and hold a client in vmware that connects to the real server within the server as a client? (i'm thinking this may not cane the pc so much???)

tonydotigr

Most of your questions can be answered here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/virtualizationfaq.mspx

squeakstar

cheers for the link!

So my plan is thus - i already have a dual boot to server 2003 and gonna install virtual pc 2007 to run xp client within it.

Hopefully i'll be able to sign up my virtual pc as a domain member etc and play with stuff as though it was a real client. i'm thinking this is gonna be the best performance scenario anyway.

anyone see any obvious flaws in thatlet me know, much appreciated.

Oh and i know this aint exactly exam topics but i thought you guys would already be in similiar scenarios and be able to share your knowledge and aswell, think this post would be useful for others.

thanks guys !

Sie

squeakstar wrote:

So my plan is thus - i already have a dual boot to server 2003 and gonna install virtual pc 2007 to run xp client within it.

Hopefully i'll be able to sign up my virtual pc as a domain member etc and play with stuff as though it was a real client. i'm thinking this is gonna be the best performance scenario anyway.

If you mean you are running Server 2003 as the host machine and XP as the virtual machine?

You then want to connect the virtual machine (XP) to the host machine (2003)?

If thats the case then yes that is possible, Thou personally i would run two virtual machines, one for each but that is dependant on system resources.

PS: i have used Virtual PC and VMWARE and both are great thou I currently use VMware as at the time i found it easier to configure the little bits and pieces i wanted.

[EDIT - Just checked what forum this was posted in and as you are doing the 70-290 I would definetly run the 2003 server as the virtual machine as that is the one you will change most and you can use various instances or 'snapshots' for various configurations allowing you to switch between them in a matter of mins. /EDIT]

squeakstar

[EDIT - Just checked what forum this was posted in and as you are doing the 70-290 I would definetly run the 2003 server as the virtual machine as that is the one you will change most and you can use various instances or 'snapshots' for various configurations allowing you to switch between them in a matter of mins. /EDIT][/quote]

ooh cool idea - nice one thanks!

pac58

If you are striclty limited in terms of available resource, I would suggest Innotek Virtualbox.

I am running it on XP Home Edition with a fairly generous amount of RAM (1GB) and about 20GB free disk space. The guest OS is Win2K3 Enterprise and it seems okay.

It's a bit tricky to set up and the only issue is about transferring data from host to guest. Have not managed to do that via network but can do it via various USB devices e.g. flash drives and external USB drives. These drives can be mounted on either the host OS or the guest OS but not both at the same time.

Networking is again a bit tricky you need to created a TAP device (just jargon) and then bridge between it and your Local Area Connection. Run the resultant virtual network interface under DHCP and it will pick up an address from your DHCP server. Printing also seems to be relatively straightforward to get up-and-running.

There is an add-on called Guest Editions which you install by mounting a small ISO image as a virtual CD Drive and then run the Guest Editions install. It gives improved interface between the host and guess environment e.g. passing mouse control seamlessly between them.

There is also an option for shared drives (Transient) which can be used as a swap area between the host and guest OS. This requires the install of Guest Editions which I have done. I still have not found out how you use it after that.

Avoid mounting USB devices like a mouse or a wireless adapter or you are in for a lot of unecessary time-wasting.

Hope this might help some of you out.

Cheers, PCPlod.

squeakstar

cheers PAC.

Did have a look at virtual box, but i've plumped for MS Virtual Server running XP clients in a server 2003 host on a spare partition - already had the server OS set-up so was the quickest way to get going really and haven't found the experience too draining on resources - running amd 3200xp w/ 1gb ram

made drive images too so i can revert back if i mangle the OS up.

its giving good performance anyhow though haven't pushed it too hard yet, i'll probably create another one or two clients for simulating situations as i get that far. Managed to set up DHCP, DNS and AD and got the virtual client signing up to everything and becoming a fully fledged domain member - yay!