Using Virtual Labs in a Production Environment

kctxau

We are setting up a VLAB for a variaty of tests/experiments but it needs to be connected to the production tree. The host is XP and connected to the production tree. It will host a w2k3 server and a couple of xp/vista clients
The server will be an AD/DNS/DHCP server. If the server uses a non-routable TLD ie .LOCAL, will the dhcp service be able to issue addresses to the production tree? It would seem obvious, but we did not want any chance of issuing addresses outside of the test setup.
Thank-you,
Keith

astorrs

kctxau wrote: »

We are setting up a VLAB for a variaty of tests/experiments but it needs to be connected to the production tree. The host is XP and connected to the production tree. It will host a w2k3 server and a couple of xp/vista clients
The server will be an AD/DNS/DHCP server. If the server uses a non-routable TLD ie .LOCAL, will the dhcp service be able to issue addresses to the production tree? It would seem obvious, but we did not want any chance of issuing addresses outside of the test setup.
Thank-you,
Keith

DHCP will issue leases to any client that makes a request on the same broadcast domain, so if it is on the same subnet as production - yes - the DHCP server in the "VLAB" will conflict with your production network.

blargoe

Do the VM's themselves need to be on your production network, or just the host? If just the host, you could put the VM's on an isolated virtual network inside the hypervisor and manage the VM's through the management interface on the host.

kctxau

Thank-you for the replys!
Only the host needs to be/will be on the production tree. The VMs can use shared folders on the host for any data needs. We need to have an isolated test environment, but the host must remain on the production tree. Will the "virtual networks" provide true isolation from the host and production tree, with folder shares enabled between the VMs and host? Our goal will eventually be to buiild a virtual system consisting of a 2k3 server, a 2k8 server a 2003/2007 Excange server, and a few Vista and XP clients. An internal self contained bubble so-to speak, that provide a platform for DNS, DHCP, ADC (and more) to test migration of 2k3 to 2k8 servers, xp-vista/w7, and Ex 2k3 to Ex 2k7. If we can get that working as desired we will get considerably more experimental I'm not concerned with the available hardware, apparently someone has endless funds.

astorrs

If you use an internal network like blargoe suggested the VMs will be isolated. Can you let us know which virtualization hypervisor you are using so we can point you to the appropriate documentation on how to setup and isolated virtual machine network?

kctxau

So far we tried both VPC2007 and VirtualBox. Both have their plus and minus points.
The most noticeable difference is installing Vista or W2K8 as a guest on an XP host. Installing either Vista or W2K8 on VPC2007 took approx 4 hours each. Also, the performance of each of those two was a bit slow. Installing either Vista or W2K8 on VirtualBox took the normal install time for each, and the performance was at least 30% better than with VPC2007, maybe more. We can run both VPC and VB at the same time, but havn't tried networking the clients between the two. Not sure thats even workable.
VMWare has many features, but my gosh its a pain in the butt to work with. I'm sure that once someone has spent an aggravating amount time to master it, it is a fine product. The goal though is to test migration, not try to master VMWare. Too bad, I was considering purchasing it at the discounted price.