Test server setup

Curio · 30 Oct 2012 at 00:19

Going to start teaching myself some basic server admin type stuff for the small company I work for. The goal is to eventually be able to move away from our IT support company for the basic stuff. I'm probably going to do a certification at some point, but wanted to start getting some hands-on experience without destroying our server

So, got a spare PC at work (2.6GHz Dual Core, 4GB RAM) and want some advice on how to setup a useful test station. I'm still technically a student so can get all the MS stuff for free through Dreamspark. Stuff I would like to get to know is RDS and Exchange.

Spec me up please! :cool:

Curio · 31 Oct 2012 at 16:43

Thanks guys.

Quick silly question....this is why I need practice LOL...

If I plug this test system into the network here at work will it cause any problems? I want it to be isolated from everything else. Thanks.

Curio · 31 Oct 2012 at 18:26

mrbell1984 said:
oooo don't do that! Since you said you need practice that is the last thing you need to do.

Too late - I plugged it in and now the whole network is down :mad:

.....I jest

OK, so just keep it completely off-line then?

Curio · 31 Oct 2012 at 18:58

mrbell1984 said:
Use a switch between them or something? Depends how you are setting it up in the first place?... tell us.

Haven't really set anything up yet. Right now the test machine is sitting next to me and isn't plugged into anything. We have around 12 PC's and they're all just going straight to the switch in the server "room" - I only have the 1 RJ45 socket in my cubicle for that.

To be honest I haven't done any planning - just realized I had a spare machine and access to free software and got excited. That's why I need you lot

Curio · 31 Oct 2012 at 20:26

mrbell1984 said:
Get a second switch if you want to play because if you are only just starting off you want something OFF a live network. Especially when you start playing with AD/DHCP/DNS.

OK, so the test server would go into the switch and then I would just unplug my main PC's network cable from the wall and into the switch when I wanted to mess around?

Also, if I have some VM's running on the test server, I assume they can talk to each other like it's simulating a "real" network? In other words, could I do this without hooking the test machine up to anything?

Thanks for the advice!