MCITP Server Admin hardware/

Im doing the same as you Dashik, Im putting an extra 4GB ram and 1TB HD in the rig in my signature. I might use ESXi OR Hyper -V through WinServer2008R2... in theory WS2008R2 is the better idea as some have said you need to know some Hyper-V for exams.

Im gonna be using RDP from my Netbook to connect to my PC, and have another monitor hooked up to the Netbook displaying the ebooks/videos
 
I have a beast of a games machine so that's not too bad
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Virtualbox?

Why pay out for (relatively crap) hardware you won't see a return on? Not to mention increased noise and power consumption around the house :)
 
s0ck said:
Virtualbox?

Why pay out for (relatively crap) hardware you won't see a return on? Not to mention increased noise and power consumption around the house :)
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I take your point, But I'm thinking £200 ish is a fairly cheap investment in me and I think its fair to say an actual physical network will have its advantages.

I plan to be doing a fair few exams so I'll get plenty of use out of it :D

For one with the two monitors I'll be able to actually see what I'm doing on the other machine(server) as I do it from my pc. also I can upgrade my little router and get practice with that as well :D

In the meantime I'll also do some looking into virtualboxing.
 
It's definitely more fun, initially, sticking it on its own box n stuff but if you're anything like me, the novelty will wear off after about 5 minutes.
Then I get annoyed that I've got an extra keyboard/mouse/monitor and another noisy box by my feet :p
 
If you want a setup for the MCITP stuff then Virtualbox would be a rubbish solution as, previously mentioned in this thread, you will be running multiple servers and clients at the same time so having the maximum amount of resources available is a good idea. Especially if you want to venture into Exchange / SQL / etc.

Hyper-V is a good call but the amount of questions in the exams I had it's probably not worth it and you can always trash the ESXi hardware and install Hyper-V if you really wanted to after you've finished - it's nice to have a play on something new after all. I'd read up about Hyper-V and, in particular, how you manage it with the Virtual Machine Manager.



M.
 
Indeed, I've basically more or less made my mind up on getting the HP Proliant 110 G6 and sticking 4Gb ram in to start with on one Dimm then getting more as time goes on, ending up with either 8 or 16 Gb. Also I can chuck HDD's in and I can set it up so that I back my main pc up over the network to them. So that kind of points towards Win2K8R2 with Hyper-V so I can run Virtual machines and also get the use of the spare space on the HDD's for my backup of my main/games pc :D

If it turns out to be noisy I can always stick it in the spare room and WiFi into it and just get a long cat 5 cable for the odd occasion I might need to hardwire into it. I'm just about to redecorate the whole house so I'm thinking of cat5 around the house anyway :D
 
Anything that has less then 8 GB will not be able to run what you are planning to run, and even then it will be difficult. For Exchange 2010 you need at least a DC in your network and an Exchange server. A 2008R2 DC does not requier more then 512 MB if you just use a core install, which is a nice exercise anyway. Exchange 2010 has however the new HA feature called DAG. So to get that running you need a DC, Exchange with CAS and HUB and two servers with the mailbox role. If you are on a shoe string budget you might place it all on one server and forget about HA. For Exchange to run propperly in a test enviroment you need about 2 GB of RAM.

Also for building multiple forests, multiple domains, multiple sites, you need to be able to install several domain controllers.

A test server is very good investment if you go for your certifications. It will eventualy pay itself back. I remember I had a raise of 800 Euro per month after I got my MCSE and moved to a new employer. (I live in the Netherlands) So If you regard it as a real investment then scrape some money together and buy a real server motherboard that can use a lot of RAM. You don't need a full HP or DELL server but a server motherboard lets you install a lot more RAM then a normal PC motherboard. I have an ASUS motherboard and I can stick 144 GB of RAM in my server. (currently have 24 GB) This means I can use my server for many years to come. In the end it is more efficient to get your certifications fast then to safe money on a very limited server.
 
Ok well I just had a rake around, I can get the HP ML110 G5 as a CTO (Config To Order) bare chassis. Crucial do a compatable 4Gb Dimm for about £50 And I have a 500 GB hdd I can use instead of the 250 they supply in the bare server. Then I was thinking of 4 x 500Gb or 4 x 1Tb hdd's.

Can I get away with using 8Gb ram to start with and the 500GB hdd? then Upgrade the ram and add the raid drives soon after?
 
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What I understand is, that the HP ML110 G5 can only use a maximum of 8 GB of RAM. This means you might just have enough memory to test a very basic setup but you can't upgrade afterwards. Nearly every modern home PC can even use 16 GB of RAM. Even my laptop that I use right now has 16 GB. Like I said, most likely you will be able to get a good raise after you get those certifications. Therefore you should see this as a investment in your career. It wil cost you now perhaps a few thousand pounds to get that far, but when you have those certifications it will give you hunderds of pounds per month extra for the rest of your life.
 
So Books on there way :D I think then an ML110 G6 with 8Gb ram and the 500 Gb hdd, Maybe a couple of 1Tb hdds, should do me to start with.

Can't seem to find any other decent spec base server for around the £220 plus the memory and hdd's. So I reckon around £400 for the Server, 8Gb and the 2 x 1Tb hdd's is not too bad.

I'm going to see if I can get a Config To Order version with just the DVD and CPU, that will save a few £'s.
 
OK all bought :D ML110 G6, 2 x Samsung F1 1Tb hdd's and 2 x 4Gb Dimms on there way for tommorrow. £434.76 delivered. I pick up another 8Gb ram and a couple of hdd's over the next month :D
 
Ok so server is here, Ive chucked the 8Gb ram in and the 2 x 1Tb hdd's. I've left the 250Gb drive that came with it in and added a spare 500Gb drive I had kicking around. I'm thinking 2K8R2 on the 250Gb. The 2 x 1Tb hdd's for VM's and the spare 500Gb is for a backup of my main games pc C: drive and the servers C: drive and stuff.

Also considering getting ESXi 4.1 on a USB flashdrive as the server has a usb port internally and its like £10 so I would be able to have a choice of booting the server into 2K8R2, ESXi, and VMware along with Hyper-V. so that makes it a VERY flexible box indeed.

I'll add more ram to max it out at 16Gb later this month and then I can see if its worth replacing the 250Gb with something bigger and adding an additional 2 x 2Tb drives so I end up with a 4Tb raid and a large hdd for storage of os and images etc.

All I've got to do in the meantime is clear out and reaarrange my workspace (table in the living room ;)) tommorrow :D

All in this looks like it should be a great machine for labs :D
 
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OK well I've just spent the day rearranging my lab area and I'm currently downloading the Server 2008R2 Hyper-V evaluation to install.

Server is up and running, Just needing the OS sorted and to sort the network connection and I'm off and running.

So Current thinking is2008R2 with Hyper-V for VM's. I've got a bootable Flash Drive with ESXi coming to try that as well.
 
Did you get the Dual core or Quad core ml110?

Thinking of doing this so this thread has really gien me a kick up the arse to get it done!

Ash
 
I dont know why you just dont build your own. I built my "VM Lab" rig and cost me £220. Athlon II Quad Core 3.2GHz , 4GB DDR 1600 ram, 1TB HD... this is more than enough to do all the MCITP exams.

I would only have got an ML110 if I was planning on actually having a commercial server
 
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