Preparing for the 70-291 with Virtual Servers

Hello,
I'm about to start preparing for the 70-291 using the Microsoft book http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/5433.aspx

The book recommends that I have two servers networked. Because I do all my practice on a single laptop, I intend to use a virtualisation suite.

I take it I'm not the only one going down this route.
Is this a wise route to go down?
Do you prefer VMWare or Microsoft Virtual PC?
What are your reasons for your choice?

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Comments

Mishra

I use VMware on 64 bit Linux. It is crazy fast and I can't do the same with MS virtual PC. Aside from that I mostly see Virt PC being just about the same performance as vmware server. I think I might have run into a couple of networking issues but I was able to get around it.

nel

VM's are a great way to go! and an essential learning tool for your studies.

Setup at least 2 dc's and 2 workstations for it. i use the free vmware server but there are several pieces of software out there that allow u to use vm's. i just prefer the vmware one because i feel it performs better than others and i like the interface etc.

nel wrote:

Setup at least 2 dc's and 2 workstations for it.

I was under the impression that I could do it all on one computer.

nel

27 wrote:

nel wrote:

Setup at least 2 dc's and 2 workstations for it.

I was under the impression that I could do it all on one computer.

Yes you can, but i mean using virtual machines...

nicklauscombs

27 wrote:

nel wrote:

Setup at least 2 dc's and 2 workstations for it.

I was under the impression that I could do it all on one computer.

you only need one computer if you're using vmware or virtual pc

Thanks for that.
So VMWare is the preferred choice?

undomiel

I'll cast my vote for virtualbox. Absolutely loved it on 64-bit linux hosts and 32-bit windows hosts so far.

Can anyone give me reasons for not going with Microsoft VirtualPC?

undomiel

Because the OSS die-hards in the other corners of the internet will throw popcorn at you?

Mishra

undomiel wrote:

Because the OSS die-hards in the other corners of the internet will throw popcorn at you?

Yeah, if you were on any other forum you would get nut jobs. "OMG Microsoft virtual PC is garbage just like any other MS product! Say away from it at all costs! Total crap"

Then they would continue on making up some story about how they almost lost their house because of MS virtual PC or something.

Seriously if you really want to use VirtPC then go ahead. But I recommend you just use VMware to get experience with it since it is going to be more widely used than VirtPC.

27 wrote:

The book recommends that I have two servers networked. Because I do all my practice on a single laptop, I intend to use a virtualisation suite.

I'm currently installing the first server on a virtual machine on my laptop.
I'm not quite sure how to go about it after this. Do I create a second virtual machine?

HandyMan

I've used MS VirtualPC for my exams so far. It's simple to use and does what you need.

bleScreened

I have used both pretty extensively and I prefer MS Virtual PC because of the Shared Folder feature and hard disk differencing. VMware has snapshots which isn't quite the same. I have only used VMware Server, not workstation. I use ESX everyday in production tho, but for testing I prefer Virtual PC. Right now I have 2 domains in separate forests, 4 2003 domain controllers and 3 windows XP machines loaded. I just isntalled a server 2008 box into the domain so I can test out NAP......YEAH!

Mishra wrote: »

I use VMware on 64 bit Linux. It is crazy fast and I can't do the same with MS virtual PC. Aside from that I mostly see Virt PC being just about the same performance as vmware server. I think I might have run into a couple of networking issues but I was able to get around it.

Right.
I stepped away from this (70-291) to work on CCENT/CCNA.
I will be coming back to this shortly.

If I use VMWare on 32 Bit Linux, can I download something like the VHDs that Microsoft offers for its product?

How will VMWare on 32 Bit Linux perform on a Celeron laptop?