Win SRV2003 Practice Guide on VMWARE Server

[lino124]

Hello everyone,

I was told by the company management, that i will be replacing one of our Network Admin who resigned, and as such i should start preparing myself to work on Win server 2003 environment.
I did a course on win srv 2003 sometime back and never realy put it into practice and i forgot must of the things i learned since the course was more theory than practice.

A friend suggested i should use VMWARE server to get my hands on practice. I downloaded and installed vmware server, i also installed win xp pro, but i am bit reluctant installing win srv2003 due to the fact that there my be some issues i should consider before proceeding with the installation.

What i need to accomplish is: Install and configure win srv2003 as if it is in a company environment, install and configure AD, DNS, IIS, DHCP, Exchange server and what ever is necessary anyone can please suggest me what to include as well.

I am doing all this on my Laptop, is it possibel to run all the necessary servers and clients on this virtaul software in just one laptop as if it was in a corporate environment? If anyone as a guide on this please help.

[michaewlewis]

If your laptop has enough horsepower, I don't see why you couldn't do it. I've never done anything with Exchange before, but domain controllers (with AD, DNS, DHCP) and IIS are simple enough to set up if you use the wizard to do it.
I recommend that you buy the MSCE books to help you figure things out.

[lino124]

Thanks for your replay,
My laptop is a HP Pavillion DV 3000 Entertainment PC

Concerning the MCSE book, thats a good idea but my main drawback is that i luck enough hardware to setup a Lab for practice and as such i have to relay on the only resource i have in hand, the laptop and the virtual software. What are the things to consider when using vmware, for this procedure?

[michaewlewis]

I don't usually use vmware, I use Hyper-V mostly. But, you'll need to have enough ram on your laptop to run several operating systems as virtual machines. You might check on craigslist for any old computers people are giving away if you don't think your laptop has what it takes.
It's not that difficult to install an os on a virtual machine. It's almost exactly the same as installing on real hardware. Just start playing around with settings and stuff in the virtual host. If after working with it for a little while you have questions or run into problems, start a new thread here and we'll do our best to help you figure it out.

[faragas]

Do you need help in vmware or building windows server 2003 complete environment please clarify !!

[Sid]

Thanks for your replay,
My laptop is a HP Pavillion DV 3000 Entertainment PC

Concerning the MCSE book, thats a good idea but my main drawback is that i luck enough hardware to setup a Lab for practice and as such i have to relay on the only resource i have in hand, the laptop and the virtual software. What are the things to consider when using vmware, for this procedure?

You can use VMWare (or any other virtualising technology for that matter) to setup your test labs.

In fact, virtual labs can be quicker and easier to setup than physical ones.

What processor speed and amount of RAM does your laptop have?