I think i need a Lab!!

Hello fellow (potential) beast slayers.

I have the 70-291 booked in little under 4 weeks, and i need a new angle of revision. I know that sheer hard work and plenty of hours swatting is the only real way to be sure of passing any of the Microsoft exams, but this particular exam is proving difficult for me to really feel comfortable with. I'm reasonably experienced with hands on dealings with Windows Server, but the nature of my job means i rarely come into contact with situations involving multiple domains, mulitple sites and lots of DNS and Routing so this time i really need a lab environment.

So what i'm asking for really is any advice on examples of Lab environments. I've never used them before and wondered if anyone out there that has setup their own can share some of their knowledge on what particular environment helped the with some of the DNS and Routing questions that they came accross in their exam.

Thanks in Advance.

Robert Z

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Comments

dynamik

Are you working with VMs?

Daniel333

Vmware/Virtual PC is going to be your friend on this one.

What I did was create two domains/networks and bridged them with a Windows 2003 remote access server. Worked out pretty well. Really there wasn't much on there as far as multiple domains.

bjaxx

Daniel333 wrote:

Vmware/Virtual PC is going to be your friend on this one.

What I did was create two domains/networks and bridged them with a Windows 2003 remote access server. Worked out pretty well. Really there wasn't much on there as far as multiple domains.

Daniel, i'm going through labs, seems like this one worked well for you.

Can you go into more detail on your lab configuration?

Maybe a layout and ip scheme?

undomiel

I'll second the virtual environment here. I used virtualbox and basically set up three 2003 servers in it and played around with DNS, DHCP and RRAS. I did pick up a lot of experience in it from my work environment as well though so I wasn't going off purely lab experience but the lab experience was a definite help.

RobertKaucher

VMs are great, but you can also use a combinaton of old PCs and VMs. Ask around and you would be suprised how many old PIIIs and early PIVs you can come by from friends and family. When I was studying for my MCSE I had 4 older computers ranging from PIIIs to Athalon 64s plus my laptop where I could run VMs. Throw in a couple of cheap switches/routers and you can create a lab that simulates a multi-domain, multi-site environment. Labbing up is especially important for the 291 and 293. These two tests have objectives that are hard to master just from reading, you really have to get your hands dirty.

* Set up an L2TP/IPSec VPN that goes accross a router.
* Set up a domain with a "Human Resources" server that is confidential and that requires IPec.
* Put a bunch of network cards in one PC and use RRAS to similate multiple sites and subnets. Configure one as a branch office w/DHCP being served on another subnet. You'll have to install a relay agent.
* Put a DNS server on your home network. Create zones for common sites you visit. I think YouTube and Google allow stubzones, for example.

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