70-640 home virtual Lab creation

staggerlee

Hi looking for some advice in setting a virtual set on my home machine to practise on.

What virtual software do you use (i believe VMware has a free version?) I know threes a MS free version as well.

How many Servers do you set up on your practise area?

I’m currently on the official MS course; if it’s possible for me to get these virtual machines do you think these are better worse than setting up my own?

Thanks for any advice.

S

BradH

Windows Virtual PC - Intergrates the best in Windows 7 and also allows you to utilise USB and other devices connected to your PC whereas Microsoft Virtual PC doesn't.

Works well and you can have multiple networks/hard drives...etc which is all you need as you need to concertrate on getting it up and running rather than have to worry about the software that is running it.

Highly recommend it.

earweed

Depends on whaqt book you're using and your computer.
I'm using the MS Press Training kit book and VMWare Workstation.

Each server requires 512MB and most of the labs don't require more than 2 or 3 servers. Two of the labs require more (one has 4 and one has eight)
Those two labs are prompting me to set up a home network in order to be able to do them. I have 4 older cpmputers I was trying to sell but will keep til I'm done. My main computer only has 2 GB so I'm limited to running 3 servers on the VM.

MentholMoose

staggerlee wrote: »

Hi looking for some advice in setting a virtual set on my home machine to practise on.

What virtual software do you use (i believe VMware has a free version?) I know threes a MS free version as well.

I used VMware Workstation (not free) when studying 640. Since then I've also used Sun VirtualBox (free), which I recommend.

staggerlee wrote: »

How many Servers do you set up on your practise area?

Three is probably fine for the 640 exam.

staggerlee wrote: »

I’m currently on the official MS course; if it’s possible for me to get these virtual machines do you think these are better worse than setting up my own?

Create your own from scratch to gain familiarity with the build process. The more you do yourself, the more likely something will go wrong and require troubleshooting, which is a great way to learn!

staggerlee

[FONT=&quot]Thanks for the replies,

Is there much difference between Virtual pc, virutalbox and VMware? I guess all I need is the ability to roll back to preferable different states.

Options to install on are either [/FONT][FONT=&quot]a win 7 (64bit) enterprise edition with 6gb (At work), at home I’m working on a rather old xp pro (sp3) 2gb, I could VPN to my pc at work, but I’ve no idea what the lag would be like on that.

Installing 3 Servers 2 Clients, Shouldn’t need to run more than 2 at a time?? Which machine should I go with? [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Any suggestions, advice greatly appreciated. [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

-Foxer-

I have a copy of VMware Workstation that I use (not free). It works well, but I haven't really tried any of the other ones, so I can't compare.

I set up 2 servers, and so far I haven't needed more than that. I finished the 70-640 exam, and I'm half way through the 70-642.

Most of the time I only have one of the VM's powered on. It's pretty rare when I've needed both of them, although many of the labs want you to have two, none have needed 3+ yet.

earweed

not really much difference between vmware and virtualbox except the price. I just switched to VMWare to get exposed to a different VM. Your home unit should do you fine for most of the labs.
I've got similar limitations on my PC but I've been able to do all but a couple labs, and I'm going back to do those after I have a home lab set up.
If you do the labs in the MS Press training kit you could prob just do the two sets of labs which require more than 3 servers on your work pc. The lag prob wont be any more than you'll experience at home trying to run 3 servers at once.
Review the book and at the beginning of each chapter they have a section on before you begin. You'll want to take snapshots of server 1 as a domain controller and server 2 as a member of that domain. The rest of the labs, when they use more servers, you have to install them from scratch.
Just for your own interest you may want to get a copy of Server 2k8 R2 and play with it on your work computer.

BradH

I chose Windows Virtual PC and the reason is I want something that just works.

I have worked with ESX and GSX servers and VM Workstation and Server before. But it's not why I am studying at the moment. If I was studying a VPC then it would be VMWare all the way.

I want a no mess no fuss solution which is why I am using the MS VPC. Easy and simple to install. Run's 2008/7 etc efficiently and I can intergrate local devices with it too natively.

I think that's what people need to focus on. The topic and the exam. Not having to screw around constantly with their VM Software which isn't part of the exam. My time is too expensive as such towards other things (3 kids and a nagging wife! ) so when I sit down, I just want it to work.

GagHalfrunt

I use Hyper-V; by experimenting with it you are in effect learning stuff that you will need to know in the later Win2008 exams.

Thrasonic

I know this post is a couple months behind but I thought I'd share anyway. I have a dedicated PC at home that has Server 2008 installed on it. It's a P4 2.8 GHz machine and has 4 GB RAM. On that PC I've been running MS Virtual Server and it was working fine. I use LogMeIn Free on all of the virtual machines so I can access them from work if I'm spending my lunch hour doing lab exercises. Recently, though, on my personal PC at home that runs Linux (AMD dual processor 1.9 GHz with 3 GB RAM) I decided to try out VirtualBox. It seemed to work better than MS Virtual Server. I installed LogMeIn Free on each of the VM's I created on the Linux box so I could get to them from work if needed and it worked out great. I recommend VirtualBox myself. If I redo the labs from the 640 MS Press book (which I likely will) I'll probably install VirtualBox on the dedicated machine as well instead of using MS Virtual Server.

Lunchbocks

I was planning on installing 2 VMs on my laptop for the labs. I have a Toshiba A505 with 4 GB of RAM and a 500 GB HD running Windows 7 Home Premium. Would I be better off running VMWare Server or VirtualBox? It's my understanding that I cannot run MS Virtual PC on Windows 7 Home Premium; is that correct?

Stuppored

staggerlee wrote: »

Hi looking for some advice in setting a virtual set on my home machine to practise on.

What virtual software do you use (i believe VMware has a free version?) I know threes a MS free version as well.

How many Servers do you set up on your practise area?

I’m currently on the official MS course; if it’s possible for me to get these virtual machines do you think these are better worse than setting up my own?

Thanks for any advice.

S

I'd just buy a separate box with a good 64bit processor and minimum 4 gb ram with a 1tb hard drive and gigabit intel nic and throw ESXi on it and use the client on a separate machine. Seems so much more stable/reliable than trying to make your current laptop/desktop the server! I recommend using wired over wireless for this kind of setup as 54Mbps didn't seem to cut it...

Lunchbocks

That was my first plan. Does the motherboard/cpu have to support virtual technology? Money is limited at the moment as I am between jobs, so server class boards are out of the question. Finding an affordable MB/CPU combo that both support VT has been a bit of a challenge. I want to run ESXi 4.0.

whutupper

I use the free version of vmware and have had no problems.

Platform: amd x2 3ghz, 8GB ram, windows 7 64bit; with this setup I'm able to squeeze 2 DC's and a member server (2008 & 2003 server) all running at once with 2GB ram each.

(may or may not be common knowledge) when running vm's you can gain a small but noticable performance improvement if you use RDP instead of interacting directly with the virtual machines themselves.

Lunchbocks

By free version, do you mean VMware Server or ESXi?

earweed

Lunchbocks wrote: »

By free version, do you mean VMware Server or ESXi?

Server is free. Version 3.0 now enables you to create your own VM's so it'll probably be fine for this. I used VMWare workstation (which was free for me) since server, at the time, didn't create it's own VM's. I just passed the 70-640 and I only had to use 2 or 3 VM's at once and my system barely supported them. Mine doesn't support VT and only has 2 GB Ram. I used 512MB for each VM.

Lunchbocks

OK Thanks. I was hoping to run ESXi, but apparently for that to work you need to have VT support on the MB and CPU. I currently have Server 2008 running on an older box with 2 GB of ram. I think I am going to install VMware Server and add 2 more VM's for my labs. With the host machine, that will give me three servers.

earweed

Should be enough. I'm building a box to run ESXi so I can do some better stuff later. Gotta make do with what you have now though.

Hyper-Me

Dell Inspiron 580 with Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD and Server 2008 R2 Enterprise installed.

Devilsbane

I use my laptop for everything. Windows 7, i7 820qm, 8GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA dedicated graphics. I have had 3 or 4 vm's going at the same time and couldn't notice a difference. It was expensive, but I refuse to be tied down to a cerain machine.

I can cram some studying in anytime, anywhere. I have my VM's and my ebooks at my fingertips.

whutupper

Lunchbocks wrote: »

By free version, do you mean VMware Server or ESXi?

VMWare Server

earweed

Devilsbane wrote: »

I use my laptop for everything. Windows 7, i7 820qm, 8GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA dedicated graphics. I have had 3 or 4 vm's going at the same time and couldn't notice a difference. It was expensive, but I refuse to be tied down to a cerain machine.

I can cram some studying in anytime, anywhere. I have my VM's and my ebooks at my fingertips.

Not all of us have have a powerful laptop to work with. Your laptop's more up to date and powerful than my desktop. My only laptop is my daughter's little pink netbook and I definitely don't carry that everywhere, (Although I do take it to clients that I have locally and get a good laugh for it)
The bo I'm building will be financed by a small ofice network I'm putting together for a client and then my next expense will be a really good laptop so I can do whatever I want lounging out in the yard,

stonedtrout

Hey has any one used a virtual server such as these?

Cloud Servers - Powerful Cloud Computing Servers by Rackspace

Cloud Servers - Overview | OneStop Network

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)

I know you would not get the true break fix feeling but i think from a setup/admin it may be beatifically.

I get to go to MCITP boot camp this summer and looking for some extra study tools. I've been a little lazy on my cert tracks and hoping that will help get get back on track.

earweed

Is that boot camp through work or something? I hear that if you show up without having already done some major studying or have experience with Server 2k8 that it probably wont prepare you for the test.

stonedtrout

earweed wrote: »

Is that boot camp through work or something? I hear that if you show up without having already done some major studying or have experience with Server 2k8 that it probably wont prepare you for the test.

The call it boot camp but it's the same instructor lead training you would go to if you singed up with Microsoft. Classses 6425B, 6419A, 6430B

Configuring and Troubleshooting Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services

Configuring, Managing and Maintaining Windows Server 2008 Servers

Planning for Windows Server 2008 Servers

It will be a total of 164 class room hours, so I'm not really sure boot camp is the best word for it but that's what they call it. I'm really pretty excited tonight is the first night of class. It's a trial program so depending on the success of us in testing will dictate if it's offered again.

Oakparktech

Hello Everyone,

I would like to advance my career and want to setup a home lab to practice, probably pursuing MCITP. I search online and found this post and decided to join. I don't have much experience with Virtual machines but willing to learn. Should I use VMware Server, ESXi or Hyper-V? I don't mine investing some cash to advance my career. I don't spend much time at home since I visit father at nursing home. I would either setup on my laptop or use logmein to access PC.


My machines:
PC =quad-core 8GB 120GB SSD and HD.
Asus laptop Intel i5 8GB HD.


Also, if you would mine sharing exactly how to setup my test lab. Example: 30GB for each VM , host and guest etc.

thank you.

Valor85

I use Oracle Virtualbox (free) to host my VMs. I also recommend getting pfSense to setup your own isolated network for test environment.

PD75

I bought the MS Press book for 70-62 and use Oracle VirtualBox which is free. Have had no problems using the software. The MS Press book gives you a step by step guide on setting up your network.

Yrret

I've never tried VirtualBox, but heard it's pretty good. I'm using Hyper-V on Win8 right now. You can take snapshots with it, and it's built in to Win8. Unlike MS VirtualPC, Hyper-V allows you to take as many snapshots as your hdd can hold.

EasyMac308

I bounce between studying at work and home, and really, I don't have much space at home to leave a desktop running (family of four in a small house). So, I've got a Thinkpad T61 that I carry with me (separate from my daily use laptop). It has a T7300 CPU, 4GB of RAM and two 500 GB hard drives (I had been running a 500 GB primary and a 160GB in the media bay, but ran out of space...). I use Hyper-V on 2008 R2 for virtualization.

My number one complaint about this arrangement is that widescreen low-res laptops are terrible if you start stacking up toolbars. 768 vertical pixels just aren't enough. I hate having to scroll up and down to get to the start menu of a VM or whatever. Once you enable RDP on your guest OS you can RDP from the host which makes it better,

Performance-wise, I can get a few VMs going at once, but much more than four lightly used ones and I have issues. It's enough for now, though.

MikeLee

I know this thread is old, but i am also interested in getting into vmware, so i need to setup a virtual lab for practice...what laptop brand can you guys recommend along with specs so that the lab can run smoothly...i'm hoping to spend no more than $700 on a laptop with i7(haswell?), 8g ram, 500hd(or preferably SSD)..and no issues with drivers for nics, etc..when setting up lab, etc...basically a 'compatible' laptop that i can take to the office or anywhere to do my studys since i would like to take the exam though i know you still have to signup for a class. Thanks.