Just embarking on my MCSE 2003 track.

What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at home?

Lab Requirements for 2003 by Keyboard

Keyboard
Fri Apr 08 16:57:18 CDT 2005


>-----Original Message-----
>Just embarking on my MCSE 2003 track.
>
>What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at
home?
>
>

rats and a white lab coat? some beakers would be nice
too... and a bunson (?sp) burner.

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Rowdy

Rowdy
Fri Apr 08 18:05:17 CDT 2005

"Keith" <@.> wrote in news:uE7HB4HPFHA.3296@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl:

> Just embarking on my MCSE 2003 track.
>
> What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at home?
>
>

okay., lemme think real hard about this one??

hmmm...............

Perhaps Windows 2003 server!

--
Rowdy Yates, MCNGP #39
http://www.mcngp.com/
http://profiles.yahoo.com/rowdy_yates_mcngp

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Neil

Neil
Fri Apr 08 18:40:31 CDT 2005

did you hear Rowdy Yates <rowdy_yates_mcngp@nospam.yahoo.com> say in
news:Xns9632C2295F609rowdyyates2124@207.46.248.16:

> Perhaps Windows 2003 server!

nice...

--
Neil MCNGP#30

- Join USENET: Meet exciting, unusual people and flame them.

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Steven

Steven
Fri Apr 08 18:40:30 CDT 2005

Three computers would be a nice lab. If you don't want a separate monitor
for each you can use a KVM switch. What I have is removable drive trays in
my computers and then I can swap drives [cold swap] that are configured in
triple boot for various operating systems and configurations. I can quickly
have about any scenario I want - multiple domain controllers, separate
forests, child domains, other operating systems, VPN server, a SUS server,
etc. Most study guides will have lab practices that can help you out as you
go along. Hands on is the way to go. --- Steve


"Keith" <@.> wrote in message news:uE7HB4HPFHA.3296@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Just embarking on my MCSE 2003 track.
>
> What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at home?
>



Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Neil

Neil
Fri Apr 08 18:44:30 CDT 2005

did you hear "Keith" <@.> say in news:uE7HB4HPFHA.3296
@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl:

> What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at home?

A short kid named Dexter to help out is always a plus
(vmware/VPC, copies of Server2k3 180 day eval version, WinXP Pro (is
there an XP eval?) and a computer with LOTS of RAM)

--
Neil MCNGP#30

- 4 out of 5 doctors agree - Hillary's hazardous to health.

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by catwalker63

catwalker63
Fri Apr 08 19:18:56 CDT 2005

Neil <guess!!!@gmail.com> prattled ceaslessly in
news:Xns9632C8D01AA0Eneilmcsegmailcom@207.46.248.16:

> did you hear "Keith" <@.> say in news:uE7HB4HPFHA.3296
> @TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl:
>
>> What would everyone recommend I have set up for my lab at home?
>
> A short kid named Dexter to help out is always a plus
> (vmware/VPC, copies of Server2k3 180 day eval version, WinXP Pro (is
> there an XP eval?) and a computer with LOTS of RAM)
>

There's an XP eval, 180day, with the new MS Press training kit. Only
activates on one machine, virtual or normal, though. Grrrr. Large hard
disks are also a plus for virtual machine setups. There's a 180day eval
version of ms virtual server but you have to have at least xp as the host
and it has stiffer hardware reqs then msvpc or vmware. I'm using an eval
version of vmware (30day) and it works pretty good. Steven U's idea for
swapping HDs is good in some respects, but I like the virtual method much
better. If you have a ton of RAM, you can get a lot more virtual
machines going then you'll probably have room for or money for in
reality.

--
Catwalker
aka Pu$$y Feet
BS, MCP, MCSA
MCNGP #43
www.mcngp.com
faq.mcngp.com
"If man could be crossed with the cat, it would improve man, but it would
deteriorate the cat." Mark Twain

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Neil

Neil
Fri Apr 08 20:06:33 CDT 2005

did you hear catwalker63 <_catwalker63_@hotmamamail.com> say in
news:Xns9632B0254BF9Bcatwalker63athotmail@216.196.97.136:

> Steven U's idea for
> swapping HDs is good in some respects

they are but they lose the interactive protion occasionally. trays are
typically about $20 and drives are whatever drives are. They were great
in the classrooms 5 years ago too, but now VPC makes them obselete. There
are some tricks as well to running more VPCs on a single bix but is is
always best to have at least 1Gb of RAM when you want to do multiple
VPCs. Robert Moir (who posted here recently) is an MVP for VPCs and his
pages (http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html) also link
to Ben Armstrong's (MS product manager for VPC) bloag. there are some
good tips and tricks listed there. If you want a few tips for improving
performance here are a few - defrag, defrag and defrag. Not just the host
OS but the guest OS as well. Makes a huge difference in perf. Follow the
directions on Roberts page to run virtual PCs at maximum speed and give
equal CPU time to each. Also compact the guest OS vhd. YES YOU HEARD ME.
There are some tools that will prepare a vhd for compacting and then
there are tools to compact the vhds. The key is to minimize the disk
access. Although compacting the vhds means that there will be the
required CPU decompression this is small potatos compared to lots of disk
activity.

Now, go forth and virtualize...

--
Neil MCNGP#30

- Message brought to you by sufficient coffee ingestion.

Re: Lab Requirements for 2003 by Frodo

Frodo
Sat Apr 09 02:54:48 CDT 2005

I'd go for VMWare, not virtual PC. Get yourself a nice fast workstation with
2 or 4 GB RAM - this way you can run a bunch of VMs at the same time.




"Neil" <guess!!!@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9632D6B96E18Dneilmcsegmailcom@207.46.248.16...
> did you hear catwalker63 <_catwalker63_@hotmamamail.com> say in
> news:Xns9632B0254BF9Bcatwalker63athotmail@216.196.97.136:
>
>> Steven U's idea for
>> swapping HDs is good in some respects
>
> they are but they lose the interactive protion occasionally. trays are
> typically about $20 and drives are whatever drives are. They were great
> in the classrooms 5 years ago too, but now VPC makes them obselete. There
> are some tricks as well to running more VPCs on a single bix but is is
> always best to have at least 1Gb of RAM when you want to do multiple
> VPCs. Robert Moir (who posted here recently) is an MVP for VPCs and his
> pages (http://www.robertmoir.co.uk/win/VirtualPC2004FAQ.html) also link
> to Ben Armstrong's (MS product manager for VPC) bloag. there are some
> good tips and tricks listed there. If you want a few tips for improving
> performance here are a few - defrag, defrag and defrag. Not just the host
> OS but the guest OS as well. Makes a huge difference in perf. Follow the
> directions on Roberts page to run virtual PCs at maximum speed and give
> equal CPU time to each. Also compact the guest OS vhd. YES YOU HEARD ME.
> There are some tools that will prepare a vhd for compacting and then
> there are tools to compact the vhds. The key is to minimize the disk
> access. Although compacting the vhds means that there will be the
> required CPU decompression this is small potatos compared to lots of disk
> activity.
>
> Now, go forth and virtualize...
>
> --
> Neil MCNGP#30
>
> - Message brought to you by sufficient coffee ingestion.