Recommended lab set up for vmware

skulkerboyo

Hi guys and gals

I'm about to begin the beast. I just passed my N+ this morning and am getting everything in place for my 291 study. For my labs i'll be using VMware. Any recommendations?

Mishra

Have you done the 270/620 or 290 yet?

skulkerboyo

270, 290 A+ N+ all nailed

I'm hoping to get the MCSA out of the way in the next few months (maybe before april) so i can start ont eh 08 track and some redhat stuff

Mishra

For lab work. I would just look through the 291 objectives and start labbing out the topics.

A good DNS and DHCP lab will help greatly if thats all you can do. That means multiple redundant machines, testing DHCP machines transfers, setting up the different DNS zones, and so on.

If you can do more then you should focus on security afterwards.

skulkerboyo

Thanks
Will heed any advice given. Would have given an in depth on myself but couldnt see a new members introduction area. Very no nonsense which suits me.
I've been haunting the forum for a while and have found the materials here very useful. I usually post on another forum but its gone to the dogs imo by tolerating blatant use of **** and not slapping people on the wrist for giving bad advice usually garnered from google for the sake of being seen to answer a question.
Rant over
thanks

undomiel

When I did the 291 I had between 3 and 4 VMs. 2 DCs and 1 or 2 member servers, depending upon what I was experimenting with at the time. As Mishra recommended experiment a lot with DNS and DHCP. Build it up and tear it down many times and also work in multiple subnets. You'll especially want that for practicing RRAS stuff. Check out IPSec as well!

skulkerboyo

thanks

gonzoflick

Not sure how far set you are on using VMware. But I have used Parallels Server 3.0 (free beta 6 right now) for all my VM work and find it far superior to the new VM ware 2.0. It bridges the network connections between the machines much smoother and is noticeably faster.

skulkerboyo

I will most likely try it at home.
I have been given dedicated study time in work hence VMware