Testing environment for the 70-215 exam...

I want to setup a network environment to practice scenarios for the 2000 Server exam. Currently I have a router with one XP home edition and one XP Pro attached.

I was thinking about buying a machine or two just to help practice. I would probally run 2000 Server on one and 2000 Pro on the other. What my question is should I just run the two computers on a network seperate from my XP environment for practicing purposes? (I figure for testing I don't need to connect to the Internet)

Or is there some benfit to just attaching everything to the router and forming one LAN for all four machines? I am wondering If I can get away with just one testing computer instead of buying 2...What would be better?

Thank you,
Anthony

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bellboy

have you tried to see if any of your xp machines could be used as dual-boot machines with win2k? i am not sure if win2k can be installed after xp in a dual-boot (it may be possible to dual-boot it with the xp home computer).

you could always buy 2nd user units. the min spec for win2k is p1-133, i think

AnthonyJD81

No I haven't tried a dual-boot setup. I use the XP home as my main pc everyday. I have everything backed up but...I don't wanna chance having downtime while I have to reinstall everything if something was to happen.

I will prolly just buy one more machine and add it on the network we have now and just start with that. Then maybe add a second...

What do you mean by "you could always buy 2nd user units"...what are those?

I plan on gettin some processor over 1GHZ...Celeron or P4 around 1.5 and up possibly or this nice AMD system I have been looking at on ebay :P

RussS

As I was going to be doing A+ and Network+ almost together I decided to build a small network. I started with an old 486 running DOS, a P120 W3.11. a 266 Celeron W95, Celeron 400 W98, Pentium 1G W2000, Celeron 1.7 XP. The older units I sourced from 2nd hand/junk shops and rebuilt them to a satisfactory standard fairly cheaply. I sold most of them off after I finished those courses and now have 3 x 1G Celerons and 2 x 1.7G Celerons - these have drives in removeable bays so I can swap OS to suit the scenario I wish to create. I have been given a few older drives the are too small for general useage, but are still handy to keep the older systems on and I have now built up a W2K server and a Linux server as well.
Some of my friends thought it weird that I had DOS and 3.1, but over the Dec/Jan period I was doing some work experience at a hospital up north and they had everyting from Dumb Terminals up to XP and included everything in between. I guess there must be lots of places out there that still run old stuff because the cost of upgrading is so great, or because like in this case a lot of the Application Software has certain requirements.

Webmaster

Have you looked at my post here: www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1550#1550 P42GDell? I think the evaluation version of 30 days could be of some help...

If you want to dual-boot between Win2k and WinXP jsut install them on separate partitions and it should work out fine, they both use NTFS version 5 so there's no need to worry about the filesystem either.

A "2nd user units" user unit as in an oldie with a 133CPU or 200 MMX for example with 128 MB for a couple of bucks which you can use for Windows 2000 Professional.... and every previous OS. Like RussS mentioned, you might run into Windows 3.x even. Knowing how to connect older versions to a modern Windows network (installing TCP/IP, configuring NIC, setting workgroup...) can be an important item on resumes, and you don't need a 1.5 GHz for that

AnthonyJD81

Webmaster wrote:

Have you looked at my post here: www.techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1550#1550 P42GDell? I think the evaluation version of 30 days could be of some help...

yeah i did read it and thanks. I bookmarked that site for future reference. I already own 2000 Server and Pro, I don't need the trial versions althought I have the trial versions aof a bunch of stuff from when I was in school. They came with my books.

Webmaster

i c, but I was referring to the vmware trial...

AnthonyJD81

Webmaster wrote:

i c, but I was referring to the vmware trial...

O sorry...so what advantages did you notice using this software rather than just doing it without any third-party support? Ease of management and configuration???

Webmaster

vmware is unique... it is NOT for dual-booting... it enables you to run several instances of Windows and/or Linux at the same time allowing you to for example create a network with 3 clients and 1 server on just 2 machines with a crosscable even (on 1 pc even if you have the RAM)

You'll be able to run a (virtual) Windows 2000 server (and many other versions) in a window... you can see it boot, count memory everthing...

AnthonyJD81

Hey I got a great machin at the computer show yesterday. It is a Dell Optiplex Pentium 2 500MHZ, 64MB, 6.5G, 10/100 NIC, floppy drive, CD-ROM and the system is less than 3 years old. I got it for $99 plus I bought an extra 64MB of RAM for $9. I think I made out pretty well so now jsut gotta install Server and off to the races... :P

mindles2day

bellboy wrote:

have you tried to see if any of your xp machines could be used as dual-boot machines with win2k? i am not sure if win2k can be installed after xp in a dual-boot (it may be possible to dual-boot it with the xp home computer).

you could always buy 2nd user units. the min spec for win2k is p1-133, i think

You can install 2kpro/k server on the 2 boxes for a daulboot, but when you install it will over write the ntldr,mstkl and boot.ini files for xp. you will not loose any day on xp, but you will have to reinstall xp again the option will be repair so it will update ntldr,mstkl and boot.ini files not over write them.You will also have to apply service packs and hotfixes all over Alway install the older os first unless you have PM. The vnware is also very good. I would take the server test first then pro. thats my 2cents. good luck[/quote]

Azriel924

I run XP also and it is difficult to set up 2000Server to dual boot after XP Pro is installed. I just bought another hard drive and installed Server on it. Just change cables and boot the OS you want. Very easy cheap solution. Works for me anyway.

dalanbell

I have setup a dual boot for windows 2000 server on my machine, unfortunately if you have XP already on a system, 2000 professional cannot be installed without a huge degree of difficulty. If you have another machine you can install that onto then you could get away with just having to get one extra machine.

ghaouf

at my school we dual booted (should be 7 booted)
dos, linux, 98, 2000 pro, 2000 server, xp, and nt all at one computer with one hard drive i know it seems insain but it is a good experement and if you are studing for a vendor nutral certification you might do that

thanks