Question about virtualization options for MCSE studying

[Jr. Woodchuck]

I read the Virtualization FAQ but i'm still a bit confused.

What I would like to do is take a computer with windows XP on it and install Windows Server 2003 as a virtual o/s. I would like both operating systems to act as if they are a network with one another and use it as an environment to study for my MCSE certs.

My question is how do I go about doing this? I don't need specific steps, I can figure that out on my own. Specifically, will VMWare Server going to be suitable for my needs.

Am I making this more difficult then it needs to be? Should I just go ahead and pull out an old box from the closet and install Windows Server 2003 on that?

 

[sabregen]

xp desktop is fine. load up vmware server. i would NOT recommend tying your host OS of Windows XP to your virtual Win2k3 box. I would recommend making a separate XP VM, that way, when you decide to fold the environment, your host machine is not tied to an AD instance that is no longer in use. Joining an AD is easy...backing out can be a PITA

 

[criccio]

xp desktop is fine. load up vmware server. i would NOT recommend tying your host OS of Windows XP to your virtual Win2k3 box. I would recommend making a separate XP VM, that way, when you decide to fold the environment, your host machine is not tied to an AD instance that is no longer in use. Joining an AD is easy...backing out can be a PITA

This.

Sabregen, can VMware Server do virtual LAN's? That would be perfect for his situation. Thats what I did with VMware Workstation when I was playing around with Windows 7 and Server 2008R2. Put them both in a virtual LAN so 7 could join the domain and have Server 08 to all the DHCP, DNS, etc..

 

[lopoetve]

It can, I believe - I honestly don't use server. If you can swing it, I prefer workstation/etc that do more realtime emulation - they're a lot more 'fun' to work with while testing things.

 

[criccio]

Agreed, server seems like it would be cumbersome to work with locally with no gui to speak of. Hell, you could always use VirtualBox. Although I'm not sure that will allow virtual LAN's.
Posted via [H] Mobile Device

 

[Jr. Woodchuck]

Alright so the recommendation is get VMWare Workstation. Create a virtual XP and a virtual 2003 Server environment and I should have no problem networking.

Awesome thanks!

 

[SpaceHonkey]

VMware Server does have a gui if you download ESXi to get the Virtual Infrastructure Client. VMware Server does not allow you to setup a vSwitch, so no VLANs. You get Host-Only, NAT, and Bridged. That should be good enough though...

 

[swatbat]

It is worth bringing up that Microsoft has a bunch of virtual pc images setup already for things like this. They also have it to demo products. Might want to consider virtual pc for this reason.

 

[criccio]

It is worth bringing up that Microsoft has a bunch of virtual pc images setup already for things like this. They also have it to demo products. Might want to consider virtual pc for this reason.

Taken from another thread. You can be the judge of its relevance.

Stop using VirtualPC, for one thing. Use VirtualBox, infinitely superior in almost all respects. VirtualPC is old now - and since you're using Vista as your host OS, you're using the old version (VPC2007), you'll be way better off doing your testing and playing around with VirtualBox.

VPC2007 doesn't support VT-x, which your quad CPU does have, and VirtualBox will so that'll give you a nice boost in performance right off the bat when running the VM. There's other aspects as well, but suffice to say... move on from VPC2007, it had its time in the sun and is now better relegated to older OSes like XP if necessary. It's not cut out for Windows 7 as a guest OS.

Hope this helps...