Virtual Box/VMware for labs...

Hey all, I'm way behind the curve here but I'm messing w/ VM/Virtualbox for labs for the first time. I've never had to use a lab, until the beast. Is there an FAQ or guide for Virtbox? I've set up 3 servers but it's asking for a bootable media. I'm lost. am I missing something? do I actually need a full blown copy of server 2003?

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Comments

Essendon

You do actually need a copy of the OS. Here's the link to the 2003 OS > Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - Windows Server 2003 R2 VHD . This is a pre-cooked file that works with Microsoft's VirtualPC. You can go ahead and use this product, but for FWIW, I'd go with using VMware. VMware is available as a free download here > VMware Server

And here's a link to Serve r2008 r2, in case you decide to go with it > Download Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1

94jedi

^ Thanks very much for the help! I did a bit of searching last night and sort of got the "jist" of the whole process. I have a much better understanding now and thank you very much for the links above!

robdog

You might want to tryout vmware. It's free, but you will need some storage space for your image. Good luck w/ creating your lab.

Devilsbane

Otherwise many books will come with a free 180 day trial in the back. A lot of people have used these in their labs. 180 days is more than enough for your exam and then you can just start fresh with your next.

94jedi

great advice, thanks guys!

brunobliss

you never had to use a lab until now

: i are confused heheh

vmware is the best BUT for this one i'm using vpc as the apipa addressing was not working correctly with vmware, probably for some minor reason but i just didn't have time to waste on figuring it out and getting used to the way it works.

Devilsbane

brunobliss wrote: »

you never had to use a lab until now : i are confused heheh

vmware is the best BUT for this one i'm using vpc as the apipa addressing was not working correctly with vmware, probably for some minor reason but i just didn't have time to waste on figuring it out and getting used to the way it works.

VMWare has a built in DHCP. If you want to have your own DHCP server (or have no DHCP server to get APIPA) then you will need to disable this.

brunobliss

well, thank you for the heads up

but i was planing to using wmware from now on anyways as i see no further use for APIPA

94jedi

brunobliss wrote: »

you never had to use a lab until now : i are confused heheh

vmware is the best BUT for this one i'm using vpc as the apipa addressing was not working correctly with vmware, probably for some minor reason but i just didn't have time to waste on figuring it out and getting used to the way it works.

Yep, never needed one until now! I've always had live (non-production) servers at my disposal so I could play/test at will. Plus, I took my tests a bit later in my career so I relied heavily on my existing experience. Kind of got burned by that on 70-290 but I eventually passed.

brunobliss

i'm having a hard time figuring out how to study for 70-236 (exchange 2007)

manual says i must use 2003 server r2 64bits, but microsoft seems to no longer have that available for download, i always end up in the 2008 server page ... is that precoocked VHD the 64 bits version?