Whats the best way to setup ?

Hi Chaps.
I have ran a single DC for the 70-270 and 290 exams bu tnow i want to work with the
291 i will need to replace my hardware to cope (AMD XP1700 and 3 Gb Ram no use).
Can someone advise the best way to start ? I like the Virtual.PC 2007 but if i buy
a dual core etc should i install with XP Pro and setup a couple of DC'S and clients all virtual or
should i install with 2003 from the start and add extra DC'S and clients through the
V.PC.2007 after ? Any basic help would help save me some time.
Just unsure if you can mix and match !!
Mucho thank
D.S.

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Comments

dynamik

You can set it up however you want. I run Vista as my host OS and have VMs for all my servers. The only advantage of using Server 2003 as your host OS is that it would be a more efficient use of memory (at the expense of convenience if you typically use a client OS). However, you can easily have 4-8 VMs running on a free gig of ram, so if you have 2+ GB, there's really no need to go that route.

Have you tried running more VMs on your current machine? Memory is usually the most significant limiting factor, and you have more than enough. Your CPU really isn't that big of deal since the VMs aren't doing anything most of the time. I can load up a few VMs on my 1.6ghz Pentium-M/1GB notebook without problems. You should also be able to upgrade that CPU cheaply. It looks like you can get a significant upgrade for under $100 (if your motherboard supports it): http://www.pricewatch.com/microprocessors/

docspawn

Thanks for your reply Dynamik, i really dont know why my setup is so slow but
i cant waste time for sake of a couple £100. My motherboard is max'd out so i
guess i'll just buy up new gear and start again. Cheers D.S.

docspawn

For setting up a few DC's on mu V. PC. 2007 can i used the same Evaluation Sever cd i got
with the M.S. study book or will i have to download a few with different s/n 's ? Maybe a stupid question but there we go !
D.S.

Magnum2544

Also, you could try using VMWare. It is what my college uses for our IT program, and everything always runs great. I know you can download VMWare Server for free on the VMWare site. I'm not 100% familiar with Virtual PC as I haven't used it for a year or so but I know VMWare is capable of limiting the resources used by different guest OSs, and you could also run different networks at the same time as you can set VMs to different VMNets such as VMNet 1, 2, 3, 4, 5...etc.

VMWare is my suggestion.

baconface

docspawn wrote:

For setting up a few DC's on mu V. PC. 2007 can i used the same Evaluation Sever cd i got
with the M.S. study book or will i have to download a few with different s/n 's ? Maybe a stupid question but there we go !
D.S.

I found that I was able to use the eval CD from the MS book twice on 2 VMWare setups. On the 3rd attempt it refused to register the copy.

I contacted MS Support and told them I was using the eval copy on a virtual server and they gave me a new code.

Dracula28

How do you guys do the modem related excercises in VMware? I'm at chapter 9 in the training kit, and is says that I should have two different modems connected to the pcs, so I just got curious about how you guys get around that.

Of course in the real world, dial-up connections are a dying breed, and will be outdated pretty soon, or am I wrong?

royal

You can pretty much emulate a modem for doing stuff like RRAS with regular NIC to NIC connections. Don't waste your time trying to even bother with phone modem stuff anymore. Good chance you wont' even see modem stuff on the exam; maybe 1 question max.