2008 server revision/labs

antc

antc

antc

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Evening all,

Just a quick question to start with. As per the title im beginning my revision for my server 2k8 exams. I am wondering if the best method for setting up labs is to build a dedicated machine to run the vms (perhaps i could get some exposure to esxi along the way) or to just install vmware of some flavour onto my desktop pc and run the labs that way?

What would people recomend?

If the suggestions are to go for a standalone machine would it be a good idea to look at one of the hp ml115 or to build my own machine?

Cheers

Ant
 
If you have the money it might be worth a seperate machine just so you can put on your CV you have experinace in ESXi, but if monies tight the there is no reason you couldnt do it virtually assuming your machine is beefy enough. I'd probably do it virtually in virtualbox but Im tight like that!

There isnt really that much to ESXi
 
My vote would be ESXi, I have a dell optiplex gx620 running 3.5, it has 2 vm's on there and its perfect for your situation, cost me about £100 plus some extra ram :)
 
I'm currently going through my 2K8 exam material using VMWare server on my desktop machine.

If you have the spare hardware, ESXi would probably be better, but don't worry if it's going out of your way a bit. As mentioned previously, there's not really much to ESXi and although it's good to put on your CV, its no where near the complexity of ESX
 
Thanks so much for the replies so far! Great stuff.

Can i ask two more questions -

1. for those running on a stand alone machine what specs are you running for esxi
2. if running a fully virtual setup on your desktop pc which version of vmmare are you using?

Cheers.
 
I'm also going through 2k8 MCITP studying at the moment. As I don't have any spare hardware kicking around and wanted to spend as little as possible (ie nothing) I opted to go with Sun's (free) Virtual Box on my desktop PC.

It's been absolutely rock solid so far, very easy to configure and I've had no problems with performance even when running 4 vms at once. For reference, the desktop specs are:

Windows 7 Ultimate
Phenom II 710 with 4th core unlocked
4GB DDR3 RAM
1GB HD4870
500GB SATA II HD
 
antc said:
2. if running a fully virtual setup on your desktop pc which version of vmmare are you using?
Click to expand...

I actually wasnt too impressed with VMWares desktop software. Like others have said Suns VirtaulBox is probably the best one out there. I use it all the time at work to play about with different ideas. I'd be lost without it. In my opinion it is the best one you could have to virtulise on a desktop.

On my home machine running a AMD 5300 (@2.4GHz I think) 4GB of DDR2 I could run 3 or 4 VMs, if you dont mind sitting patiently waiting for the server OS to load and budget your RAM you'll be fine!
 
hi a little bit off topic but for those people studying for the server 2008 exams are you doing it self study with microsoft books?
If so what books would you recommend as the best?
Cheers
 
antc said:
1. for those running on a stand alone machine what specs are you running for esxi
Click to expand...

ESXi 3.5
Optiplex GX620 SFF
P4 HT 3.0GHz
2GB Ram
80gb sata

My advice would be to try and get a single physical disk for each vm as when both are running/booting they can be become very slow.
 
I was looking at doing exactly the same thing, i was looking into getting a Dell server (T110) in order to do it, as it is on the vmware HCL, and has plenty of grunt for under £650.
 
Are those tests up to date as I heard recently that M$ have changed them up a bit and the questions aren't the same anymore, might have heard wrong though.
 
Sp00n said:
Are those tests up to date as I heard recently that M$ have changed them up a bit and the questions aren't the same anymore, might have heard wrong though.
Click to expand...

I was under the opinion the questions are pulled from a pool so not sure how they can be valid or am i wrong ?

Just quoting from the 70-642 Microsoft Self paced Training kit.
 
I dunno, it's just something I heard, I need to do my AD course but i Just dont have the time. Will be looking out for material soon though.
 
I'll post back here after tuesday. Although each exam is different, windows 7 has people saying "only 50% of my questions were from this test".
 
Showboat said:
I'll post back here after tuesday. Although each exam is different, windows 7 has people saying "only 50% of my questions were from this test".
Click to expand...

49 questions, everyone of them i had seen from the 80 questions on examcollections.... Scored 1000. Get on it quick!
 
I'm currently doing my MCITP and have got my labs running on my laptop using VMWare Server. Ideally when I've got a bit of cash and when I've sorted my computer room out in my house I'll get a spare PC and set it up on there, but until then my laptop does the job. Its an old Vostro 1500 but I've upgraded it to an Intel T9300 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM hard drive and it copes fine! :)
 
Street said:
I'm currently doing my MCITP and have got my labs running on my laptop using VMWare Server. Ideally when I've got a bit of cash and when I've sorted my computer room out in my house I'll get a spare PC and set it up on there, but until then my laptop does the job. Its an old Vostro 1500 but I've upgraded it to an Intel T9300 2.5GHz, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200RPM hard drive and it copes fine! :)
Click to expand...

How many VMs can you run concurrently without it giving up the ghost ? More than 3-4 ??
 
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