MCSA 2012 Lab with Dell PowerEdge 2950 III
PsychoCisco
Member Posts: 44 ■■□□□□□□□□
Hi All,
I'm totally new to this whole MCSA certification thing. I'm hoping to get certified by the end of this year. What I would like to know is how do I go about setting up a lab. I've read so many threads on this specific question but still unclear as to what to do.
I've bought a Dell PowerEdge 2950 III to accomplish this task.
Specs are;
2 x Xeon E5410 2.33 GHz Quad Core Processors 2 x 12MB Cache
16 GB RAM
2 x 146 GB SAS HDD 15000 RPM
PERC 6/i Controller
2 x Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Now I can install four more HDDs but not sure if I need more.
Anyway my questions are is it correct if I install Server 2012 as my main OS on the first HDD and create multiple VMs on Hyper-V or other virtualization software. Should I install Standard Edition (as there's many editions) as the main OS?
Also how many VMs do I need?
Should I install a few VMs on the first HDD and the rest on the second HDD?
If I have missed anything please let me know
Any input would be highly appreciated
I'm totally new to this whole MCSA certification thing. I'm hoping to get certified by the end of this year. What I would like to know is how do I go about setting up a lab. I've read so many threads on this specific question but still unclear as to what to do.
I've bought a Dell PowerEdge 2950 III to accomplish this task.
Specs are;
2 x Xeon E5410 2.33 GHz Quad Core Processors 2 x 12MB Cache
16 GB RAM
2 x 146 GB SAS HDD 15000 RPM
PERC 6/i Controller
2 x Gigabit Ethernet Ports
Now I can install four more HDDs but not sure if I need more.
Anyway my questions are is it correct if I install Server 2012 as my main OS on the first HDD and create multiple VMs on Hyper-V or other virtualization software. Should I install Standard Edition (as there's many editions) as the main OS?
Also how many VMs do I need?
Should I install a few VMs on the first HDD and the rest on the second HDD?
If I have missed anything please let me know
Any input would be highly appreciated
Comments
As for configuring the OS, it depends on what licensing you've got. If you have a TechNet subscription then installing Server 2012 and then using Hyper-V would be a good way to learn the exam objectives. But if you are using a trial then you probably want something that you don't need to reinstall every 6 months or so - so a TechNet subscription would be a good investment before it disappears before the end of this month. But you could get by using just trials as well.
Server 2012 Standard edition is fine for most labbing. You shouldn't need any more than 3 or 4 VMs for most labbing but it's not a hard set rule, just keep an eye on your available RAM and adjust according to the number of VMs you are running.
Good luck with the studies!
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Cheers
This video will give you an idea of how Hyper-V Server works.
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
I would also like to know as I've got two NIC ports on the server and also got a few usb to Ethernet adapters and a Cisco Lab setup which consists 3 routers and 3 switches
will I be able to connect these VMs via those NICs and create scenarios such as connecting two servers in two different geographical locations?
The extra NICs could come in handy if you are playing around with GNS3 as well.
The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Alternatively, I am doing all my labbing on a Windows 7 computer. I am using Virtual Box, and I am currently running two computers with Server 2012 and a client with WIndows 8 on it. Not been having any problems.