WGU and Virtual Lab Set Up

eansdad wrote: »

I'm starting WGU in Oct and was wondering what type of virtual lab set up would be best to set up VMWare, Xen or Hyper-V? I have some experience with VMWare but nothing more then setting up single stand alone VMs. I have access to plenty of Dell 780s and can run them with 8GB ram and 1 TB hard drives.

I'd also like to hear about what everyone else is running.

I personally plan on using Hyper-V, but that's only because work is.....but I'd definitely let others chime in on the best virtual solution....

As was advised to me and others however, you don't want to use 1TB hard drives. You want to keep the capacity low (i.e. 250GB) so that your VMs don't have performance issues. The higher the capacity, the more work your HD has to do.

That was fine with me...250GB are very inexpensive.

I run a virtual lab with Hyper V. I use 4 1 Terrabyte Drives in raid 10. I also boot off SSD 4 of them.

thenjduke wrote: »

I also boot off SSD 4 of them.

SSD is very sweet....shame I won't spend that much for the amount of space you get, but I definitely recognize the tradeoff.

MentholMoose

Drive size doesn't affect performance in and of itself. Having large drives does let you store a lot more VMs than will perform acceptably, though. You could easily fit 50 basic VMs on a 1TB drive, but try to boot more than a couple at once and it will fall apart. A good and popular option is to get multiple smaller or cheaper drives and either put them in a RAID array, or use them standalone and carefully plan which VMs go on which drive. Since the OP has access to multiple OptiPlex 780 desktops, using multiple machines will help if each one can only take one or two drives.

For the RAM, 8GB is fine, though more is better, and the speed doesn't really matter for labbing. The virtualization platform used can make a difference, though. Some make better use of RAM than others. If the OptiPlex 780s can only take one hard drive, it would be better to use multiple 780s with 8GB of RAM than upgrading one beyond 8GB (if it's even possible), unless that one drive is an SSD.

The CPU should support 64-bit, Intel VT or AMD-V, and NX. These are needed for the best host and guest compatibility. Hyper-V won't work without all three, XenServer requires the first to work at all and needs the second to run Windows guests, and ESX/ESXi also requires the first to work at all while the second is necessary for running 64-bit guests.

MentholMoose wrote: »

Drive size doesn't affect performance in and of itself. Having large drives does let you store a lot more VMs than will perform acceptably, though. You could easily fit 50 basic VMs on a 1TB drive, but try to boot more than a couple at once and it will fall apart. A good and popular option is to get multiple smaller or cheaper drives and either put them in a RAID array, or use them standalone and carefully plan which VMs go on which drive. Since the OP has access to multiple OptiPlex 780 desktops, using multiple machines will help if each one can only take one or two drives.

Maybe I wasn't sure the exact reason, but I wasn't terribly incorrect. But you definitely made the oringinal case/point stronger for going with smaller drives as opposed to TBs. Of course the SSD option is nice too, but I seriously can't justify that expense. Regular SATAs will just have to do.

I could have gotten 1.5TB drives all day, but I definitely want to boot multiple VMs at once....especially when I need to create a small AD domain with at least two DCs or whatever my lab requires.

For WGU what does everyone recommend as far as size for a virtual lab? I was hoping to do a single system virtual box but I can built a small cluster if needed. The other problem I had was portability since I would be using it both at home and work.

Also I think I'm going to go with Hyper-V.

eansdad wrote: »

For WGU what does everyone recommend as far as size for a virtual lab? I was hoping to do a single system virtual box but I can built a small cluster if needed. The other problem I had was portability since I would be using it both at home and work.

Also I think I'm going to go with Hyper-V.

ED,

If you are going for the NDM track, then you want a box (PC or server) that will let you run a couple of VMs without seeming like you are waiting for an eternity. Personally I'm doing this:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/off-topic/57592-my-own-home-lab.html

I haven't gotten the box yet (hopefully by week's end), but I plan on going nutty on it with W2K8 and VMs by the time it gets here. Remember, you will get access to MSDNAA and DreamSpark when you start WGU. Those Optiplexes you got might be enough too. (I don't have those specs in front of me...do they have hardware virtualization through the Bios? I know my Optiplex 765 at work does).

I'm going for the Security track. I believe the 780s have settings for virtualization in the bios, these have the Core 2 E8400s (3.0GHZ).

earweed

If going the security track you have way less concern about a virtual lab. You may however want to set up an actual Cisco lab at home (check out the cisco forums). WGU provides the simulators for the cisco labs you'll be doing but a live lab is actually better for the Cisco track. The only VMing you would probably be doing would be for the OS course and that you could probably do on your regular PC and VMWare workstation.

I actually wanted to do the Security track, but when I saw it was Cisco oriented, I unfortunately had to pass. The simulators have definitely improved, but from every Cisco guy I have ever spoken to, nothing beats real gear. And real gear, even on the cheap, is expensive.

I am looking at the Security track actually. I might transfer over. Not sure yet. I might as well finish up the courses I have though.

JoshD779

Right now I'm using VirtualBox for XP Pro, Vista Business, Server 08 Enterprise, and Ubuntu (just for fun) on a Win7 host. VirtualBox is very simple to use and configure. I installed it on a machine I built specifically with virtualization in mind. I'm using a single 1TB HD and 8GB RAM, but I plan on installing a couple more drives very soon to configure a RAID array.

I don't know how other virtualization software works but if you go with VirtualBox, make sure to install guest additions on each virtual machine. It's very simple to do and makes the virtual experience much better.

MentholMoose

JoshD779 wrote: »

I don't know how other virtualization software works but if you go with VirtualBox, make sure to install guest additions on each virtual machine. It's very simple to do and makes the virtual experience much better.

All other virtualization platforms have the same requirement. However, Microsoft included the Hyper-V integration components into some of it's newer OSs like Windows 7, so you don't need to install them on those OSs when using Hyper-V.

I have access to a Cisco Catalyst 2960G. Would that be workable or do I need something better. Having a program being run by partners (Cisco and M$) I can see it being slanted toward their products, hence why no Linux training in any of the IT paths. A lot of what will be seen will be those products but familiarity with others is also a plus.

On the plus side I found a Dell Poweredge 2800 (Dual Xeon CPUs, 2GB RAM and 500GB Hard drive raid 10). It was an old storage server that had been virtualized. I know it is a little lacking in RAM but I'm sure I can scrounge up some more.

earweed

Yeah I'd probably want at least 4 GB to run a few VMs for you Windows 7 class. That's the only thing you'd really need that for.
You should probably check the cisco forums to see what would suffice.

Well, I'm loading up a 780 with 8Gb RAM and a 1TB hard drive (its a SFF case so I can only use 1 drive). If it gives me problems I'll swap in a 250GB drive.

On a side note...If I can't get access to Cisco equipment should I switch to the Systems Administration BA then follow the Masters program or just use the sims?

earweed

People have been doing ok with just the sims. From what I've read though you should be able to get enough Cisco gear for just 300-400 Dollars.You shouldn't base your major on a thing like that but on what is in store for you in your career.

tpatt100

Was going to purchase a Dell T110 for a Vmware esxi box but decided to go with the build off the hcl list.

qwertyiop

tpatt100 wrote: »

hcl list.

That was redundant

L0gicB0mb508

qwertyiop wrote: »

That was redundant

Please excuse me, I'm going to run to the ATM machine.

How good is the sim that WGU gives you (CCNA 640-802 Network Simulator)?

This is the machine I have at home. AMD Phenom 6 Core. 16 GB Ram on Gigabyte 890FX motherboard. 4 Terrabytes of Hard Drive Space for VM. and 4 SSD Drive to boot the Windows 7 off of. I am running about 8 VM with just Windows 2008 at the moment and I barely realize they are always running. I do have to change the cooling to some watercooling soo.

thenjduke wrote: »

I do have to change the cooling to some watercooling soo.

Watercooling?!

I definitely wanted no part of that....ever. I'm sure improvements have been done to mitigate any damage to parts in case there were any leaks, but that was always my fear of watercooling. I'm not a gamer, so I never saw a need for it anyway....