MCITP VM setups

DaeleshThar

I'd like to make a thread about how people are setting up/using their VMs. There's plenty of information out there in various threads but some of it isn't spelled out well for someone new to this, like me, who is just getting into the server side of the equation and does not have experience setting up things like VM servers, sysprep'ing images, using differencing disks etc.

I've seen various configurations thrown around for how people are creating/managing their VMs. It'd be great if people could give a breakdown of their strategy and how they did it. Not looking for step-by-step but if you could give a good starting point of how you did it or links to how to do it, that'd help a lot.

Trying to keep the "what hardware to buy" questions out of this thread if possible.

Also wondering what people are using for the Server 2008R2 images and client images. Is it the d/l from here; Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation Free 180-Day Trial ? Technet? Other?

Part of the reason I ask is I know the way I'm doing it isn't good and likely causing/going to cause me issues. I d/l'd the VHD from the above link at Microsoft and made copies of it, using those to make new VMs as needed. I've run into SID issues in one of my configurations I was trying (can't remember what it was, maybe adding a second domain to a forest).

Thanks,

Jamie

theshadow1234

Hi. Nice Thread. I am running an I7 Tower/16gb ram with 2 Sata Drives, 1 for VMs and the other for Data. I use virtualbox for my vms. I have 3 internal private networks that i use for my lab practices. I have one vm that i use with RRAS installed so I can vpn to these private networks and access them from anywhere i go as long as there is an internet connection. I keep all my technet isos on my data drive when setting up my vms.

thanks

Pishof

I just have one rig with a Phenom II with 8GB RAM and an older C2D6600 with 4GB RAM.

Both run full licensed VMware Workstation with support for snapshots.

I use the free Dreamspark provided copies of Win2k8R2 Server and my own volume license for win7 VMs.

I'd recommend doing full installs of X amount of operating systems on virtual machines so you don't run into SID or GUID type issues.

I find it handy using snapshots at certain points so I can easily revert back to clean unique installs on each virtual server; saves a bunch of time.

Oh, and I also have production environments I can play in.

LAN_Guru

From the MS Press 70-643 2nd edition book:

"You should use the Hyper-V virtualization platform on a single physical computer as the computer lab environment for this training kit. Hyper-V is a feature of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and is a topic that is covered on the 70-643 exam. Because the task of setting up this computer lab environment in Hyper-V helps you develop knowledge and skills required for the 70-643 exam, using an alternative virtualization software platform such as VirtualBox is not recommended."

I have a Microsoft Action Pack and also have a Technet subscription. My lab server hardware is a 1U quad-core E3-1230 Xeon server with 16GB RAM and four 500GB enterprise class SATA drives in a RAID 10 configuration running a fully licensed copy of Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. All lab setups are VM's running in Hyper-V.

I have gotten where I spend a couple of hours to setup my lab VM's before I start studying for an exam using the lab setup instructions in the front of the book and the "Before you begin" in the front of each chapter. I actually do fresh installs and can have several installs going at the same time (from ISO images) and can walk away for an hour or so while they copy and expand the files, etc. I then change the computer names, configure networking, (run dcpromo and configure AD, DNS, etc. if called for), etc.

I also have sysprepped "base" Server 2008 R2 Enterprise and Windows 7 Enterprise VHD's in case I need to roll-out an extra VM in a hurry. I originally was using the "base" images to create all VM's but received a duplicate SID related error one time so I started doing clean installs for every VM. The error probably occured before I sysprepped the "base" images so it may no longer be an issue but clean installs don't take very long and I use the VM's for several days to a couple of weeks. After I have passed an exam, I delete the VM's, VHD's, etc. that I used while preparing for that exam.

DaeleshThar

Thanks for the replies! Currently I'm using Hyper-V to host the VMs, same thinking as listed in the book LAN_Guru mentioned. Using a Technet license for the that server. I'm going to try out syspreping to create a base image and also try out a differencing disk to see how the space and performance is with 3-4 servers.

wweboy

Dell XPS 420
Q6600 Quad Core
8gb of ram
320 GB dedicated sata drive

All running VMWare Workstation and I use Technet for licensing.

Triple3

I use a OEM i7 2.66ghz machine with 12GBs of RAM.

Got both VMware player and Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 installed in the box. Both are evaluations from MS.com.
The x64 Server 2008 R2 runs on VMware player while the x32 S2008 R1 vhd is on virtual PC 2007.

elTorito

Hehe. I'm running my 'lab' on a Core2 laptop with 6GB RAM.

With VMware Workstation, I somewhat comfortably run:

- 1x Windows Server 2008 DC (DNS + DHCP)
- 1x Windows Server 2008 DC (DNS + WDS + SQL Express)
- 2x Windows 7 Enterprise

However, I run all VMs with the minimum of RAM allocated. The first DC gets 768 MB, the second gets 1534 MB, and both Windows 7 VMs get 640 MB. Performance is acceptable, but I'm positive I'll be running into exercises that I cannot perform on this setup.

I've been thinking of purchasing another setup soon for an ESX/ESXi install, with the following specs:

- Intel Core i7 (6 cores)
- 24 GB RAM
- SSD as local storage

+

- Gigabit switch
- 4-6 bay NAS for VM datastores


I got offered an enterprise-level Xeon server and Cisco Catalyst from work, but these things make so much noise that I can't comfortably put them anywhere at home, unless I dedicate a room for computer equipment and do some long distance cabling. Plus, the desktop that I'm eyeing has better specs anyway.

Miikey87

I converted my old Desktop (Core Two Duo) into my Hyper-V R2 Server Box. I purchased another NIC and increased the RAM to 8GB. I usually run 2-3 VM's plus a desktop at the same time to complete all of my testing without too many issues (CPU seems to be the issue if I get intensive). Using my USB KVM and my multiple monitor setup, I switched back and forth during the install, didn't want to constantly climb under the desk and back up. I Manage it all now from my Windows 7 new desktop using the Hyper-V Manager from RSAT.

This meets all of my current needs, however i'm sure with Server 2012 sometime in the next year i will probably turn my current system into test box. Being a white box build, I haven't had the change to really get into VMware yet. Hopefully I will take one of the servers from work and play with that in the future.

DaeleshThar

I tried out differencing disks this weekend and they seemed to work really well. The base image I created (using this Try Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Trial for the install, then sysprepped it) was around 8gb in size and each child disk was around 1-2gb, depending on roles added. Would work very well for SSD use with the low space usage.

On another software note, I'm using Input Director to handle keyboard and mouse between my two systems (Hyper-V lab box and my main desktop). Works great. I do have a physical keyboard and mouse for the lab box in case of software issues or if I have my main desktop powered off (using that as the master system).