70-290 - setup server environment at home?

I'm starting to learn MCSE. Currently working on 70-290 module.

For those who have self-studied this module, can I have your valuable advice please?
How did you learn it? How do you setup your home computer to have Windows server 2003 environment? Do you use WMware?

My computer may need upgrading in order to install Windows Server 2003. It's P4 2.40Ghz, 768mb ram, 60Gb hard disk (free only 10gb).

The company i'm currently working for has a test server (unused). I'm thinking of using it to learn this module. Perhaps i can ask IT manager to allow me to have remote access to the Test Server from home? That way i don't have to setup the server at home. What do you think?

Once again, your valuable comment is greatly appreciated.

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dynamik

I use VMWare Workstation 6. It's $189 though, so if money's tight, you can go with Virtual PC 2007 for free. I prefer VMWare because it has more features, but VPC will certainly get you by. You might want to check out the VirtualBox thread as well: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=190635

You might be able to get by with the single server for 290, but you're definitely going to want to go the virtual route later on. It's nice to have multiple machines going, so you can practice things like joining client machines to a domain or setting up things like DNS, RRAS, etc. I'd practice with more than one machine if you could, but any hands-on experience you can get is still good.

Your system isn't in that bad of shape. The CPU isn't that big of deal since your VMs aren't going to be doing much more than just pinging each other, replicating a small amount of data, etc. Memory is going to be your most precious resource. I can get four 2003 servers (192MB RAM allocated to each) and two xp clients (128MB RAM allocated to each) running comfortably with 2GB of RAM on Vista. I give each 4GB of disk space, but you can get by with less. It looks like you're going to be pretty tight even dropping down to 2GB though. What memory do you have in there? DDR400? It looks like you can get your machine in shape for a little over $150.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014+4025&name=%2425+-+%2450
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052407862%201052308477&bop=And&Order=PRICE

You can download a 30-day trial of VMWare Workstation as well as trial server software from MS. You can probably get a couple machine's going on your current system, so give it a trial run to see you think the investment would be worth it.

elvant

The company i'm currently working for has a test server (unused). I'm thinking of using it to learn this module. Perhaps i can ask IT manager to allow me to have remote access to the Test Server from home? That way i don't have to setup the server at home. What do you think?

I think every superior always feel happy about their junior who have passion on learning. Even if I need to stay back in order to do my own practice lab.

Lee H

Perhaps i can ask IT manager to allow me to have remote access to the Test Server from home? That way i don't have to setup the server at home. What do you think?

Part of the exam content is being able to install server 2003 yourself, so i feel you should setup your own lab in your home, you would only need 1 client to do all the exam senarios

Lee H

nel

i would download the free vmware software: http://www.vmware.com/download/server/

It is more than capable of doing the job you need. i used it with upto 8-10 vm's running on my laptop. your pc should be ok for this but i think you may need more ram and possibly more hd space (depending on the number of vm's and your current data you have.) This will fullfil your requirements.

i run mine on a centrino 1.8ghz and 2gb ram, XP, 60gb hdd. i find i have plenty of spare ram, i use the minimum amount for each vm an dthey work ok. i find disk space an issue and currently looking at getting a WD passport to store my vm's on.

Good luck with the study. anything else pm me.

chrisknight

I have spare server hardware that has my 03 server installed on it. However, my client machine is running xp home so I cant join a domain with it, and I dont want to get rid of it.. I used parallels:
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/workstation/
It allowed me to install XP pro as a VM, as well as fedora. Parallels is cheap, & works.

shednik

dynamik wrote:

I use VMWare Workstation 6. It's $189 though, so if money's tight, you can go with Virtual PC 2007 for free. I prefer VMWare because it has more features, but VPC will certainly get you by. You might want to check out the VirtualBox thread as well: http://www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=190635

dynamik, is there a reason you use workstation over server? I've used both and didn't see to much of a difference where it would sway me to not use server. Plus VMWare server is free...just wondering.

dynamik

Q: How is VMware Server different from Workstation? Will Workstation also be free?

A: VMware will continue to charge for Workstation and has no plans to drop its price. Workstation has unique, advanced features that are not available in VMware Server. These features include the ability to manage multi-tier configurations and multiple snapshots. Workstation is a productivity tool used by developers and technical professionals on an individual PC. VMware will continue to develop compelling features on this product that dramatically streamline software testing and development.

http://www.vmware.com/beta/server/download.html

The snapshot functionality is great. You're right though, server is another free, very capable, virtualization platform. I actually went to install the Beta of 2.0, but it wouldn't let me since I had workstation installed. I guess they don't play well together. Also, from what I remember, you're not going to find snapshots in other products such as Parallels. I believe VMWare has a patent on those.

RobertKaucher

While VMs are a great way to lab on a budget, I think nothing is really better than an actual lab. If you are studying for the MCSE I would suggesting asking family and friends if they have any old computers and getting some cheap switches and at least one Linksys or Netgear router. I have gotten Server 2003 to run ok in a lab on a Celeron 700 Mhz with 512 MB RAM. One unit I got totally for free is an HP Netserv Pentium III with 1 GB RAM. Actual server (dual processor support) with SCSI drives. All I did was let a friend know I was looking for old PCs for a test lab.

Nothing can substitute actaully setting up the environment to really get information to stick in your mind.

But if you have to use VMs only they are a good option as well.

stlsmoore

VM is becoming more common in real-time environments though. I've been to a lot of companies that's about to implement it including my own. So it would be good to mix real hardware and VM.

dynamik

RobertKaucher wrote:

Nothing can substitute actaully setting up the environment to really get information to stick in your mind.

May I ask why you feel this way? VMs aren't simulators; they provide full-blown OS environments. You go through the installation and every other task just like you're on a physical machine. There is absolutely no difference as far as any Windows administration is concerned. I can't think of any benefit that physical machines would have offered me in any of my MS studies up to this point. I do feel that hands-on experience with cabling, hard-drive installation, etc. is important, but that's really A+/Network+ material.