Lab Setup suggestions for MCSA Server 2012

Just wanted to see what lab setup members and MCSA holders would recommend I use to study for the MCSA Server 2012. Any examples of labs that you guys used to pass the 410 would be ideal. Starting on the 410 exam, and I have an i5 rig with 16 gigs of RAM ready to setup my lab on. If going the virtual route, how many virtual machines and what type of VMs should I use? Also, should i consider a cloud lab setup, and what is the cost for that, since I am trying to keep costs down to a minimum? Thank you all for your suggestions and guidance.

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poolmanjim

You have a decent lab rig for the 410. Subtract about 2GB of RAM for the Host OS to use and that leaves you with around 14GB of RAM (12GB if you want to leave a buffer). Which means at any given time you can run around 5-12 devices depending on the memory you allocate to each VM. That is a pretty decent amount. For most tasks you can shut down all but a DC, the role server (e.g. File Server, etc), and a client system. Once you go beyond the 410, the number of servers needing to be started at once goes up. You'll be pushing between 7-12 servers booted at a time versus the 3-7 for 410. The 412 is where I am right now and I have been starting and stopping to keep my sizing in check.

I run an old AMD Phenom II x4 with 24GB of memory, a 64gb SSD for the base OS (Server 2012 R2 w/Hyper-V), and a 1TB HDD for the guests.

I currently have 10 VMs running on it with each allocated with 1280MB of RAM. I tend to not go over that number because my disk I/O and CPU will spike into unusable levels.

alan2308

I did the 70-417 (Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012) so my labbing wasn't as heavy as someone doing all three so I can't comment on how many VMs you'll need to run for the 410 and 411. But poolmanjim's assessment of what you should be able to do with that machine is spot on. One thing I will add is that with that many VM's running off of one disk things are going to feel slow, especially at bootup. But it's not unmanageable unless you try getting stingy with the RAM. Myself, I run a rig with two quad-core Opteron 4122's, 20GB of RAM and a 1.5TB RAID1. When I'm labbing something, I can run 10 VM's comfortably, probably more.

And it probably wont be long until I have to dust it all back off, add a couple 2016 VMs in to the mix and start on my next Upgrading Your Skills exam.

techfiend

For the 70-410 I didn't do much labbing, I should have used the training guide but amazon reviews scared me off so I used the Poulton book. For 70-411 and 70-412 I used the training guides which has labs that use 4 VM's. 8 core AMD and 16 GB of RAM in virtualbox worked just fine. If you can install the OS's to the SSD it helps a lot. If you are short on SSD space check out Hyper-V differencing disks.

labazalo

Techfiend, you were able to pass the 410 with no test hardware at all?? What books and training guides/videos/test exams whould you recommend to be able to pass that test. That is really impressive, considering the other comments on this forum in regards to how difficult many individuals found that test.

Louie1277

labazalo wrote: »

Techfiend, you were able to pass the 410 with no test hardware at all?? What books and training guides/videos/test exams whould you recommend to be able to pass that test. That is really impressive, considering the other comments on this forum in regards to how difficult many individuals found that test.

Yes I would like to know this too. I say 90% of users are saying lab, lab, lab.

techfiend

For 410 I think I setup 1 vm to do a few things that I haven't done on the job. I work with 2012 five days a week and have done most of the things covered in 410 multiple times. I used mainly the Poulton book but also read the Panek (not nearly enough) and exam ref (waste of money). The 411 I started running in to more of what I haven't done and did all the labs from the training guide after reading the Panek book, it was much more difficult and I barely passed the first attempt. 412 I studied and labbed with the training guide but I found most of it very uninteresting and convoluted. Instead I decided to take the 409 using the free study guide from Veeam, I used microsoft's virtual labs for system center and setup a small hyper-v environment at work to present to others. 409 was the easiest and the most interesting to me, I probably learned the most from it.

I think the toughest part about the 410 is it's often the tester's first microsoft test. The test questions really try to fool you and I've read they are co-written by a psychologist for a reason. You often have to re-read the question to find out what they're looking for. With clear, concise questions it wouldn't be much more than CCENT difficulty, especially for people with some 2012 experience.

labazalo

Thank you for the feedback! Almost all my experience is with server 2008, but I figured I would go the 2012 route since it is the more recent version. Would you recommend that I take 409 first, or 410? Reason I say this is that virtualization sounds really interesting to me as well, and I'm assuming getting that test first would help me set up a virtual lab much more easily.

techfiend

Good question. Much of the 409 is covered in 410-412 and 409 is likely the easiest but it's also the toughest to lab and has the least amount of study material. I don't regret doing the 409 last but if you have Hyper-V and System Center experience I think you can safely go for it first.