I know that I need to find the books and whatnot to study for the exams, but what kind of hardware will I need to run the software and programs that I'll use to implement and learn the things taught in the book? I use a VERY crappy 5 year old laptop (clock speed 800mhz) with only a 10GB hard drive. I'm assuming I'll have to purchase a modern computer to install and run Microsoft Windows XP Professional (for the 70-270) and Microsoft Server 2003 (for the 70-29x series)? Any help you might have on this forum would be greatly appreciated.
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Studying at home... what do I need?
- Thread starter schm0
- Start date
You can consider getting some cheap used systems since you will most likely be wiping them out to install XP and 2003. You should be able to get a trial version of 2003 to play with (maybe XP too). You dont need top of the line hardware to run them. I would think any Pentium 4 (or decent AMD)and 256-512 MB of ram should be fine.
Make sure they have network cards and get a hub/switch and have fun!
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Make sure they have network cards and get a hub/switch and have fun!
MCSE NT 4.0, A+ & Network +
Free Computer Help and Tips:
paulhthomas
Technical User
definitely go down the hardware route if you can, I'm half way through the 290 series and have done all the practical stuff using Virtual PC. something things in the book, you can't really do with a virtual environment.
You should a trial copy of 2003 Enterprise edition with the 29x books.
Good luck!!!
You should a trial copy of 2003 Enterprise edition with the 29x books.
Good luck!!!
PaulThomas.
I am working through 70-290 with one XP machine and one Windows 2003 evaluation software machine. I've been thinking about the virtial pc option for any future exams - if nothing else to save space!
Which Virtual PC software did you select and why?
I notice MS Virtual PC is fairly cheap ( uner £100 ).
Can you install Virtual PC software on an XP operating system and then install evaluation versions of Windows 2003, XP etc as virtual machines that can communicate with each other?
Dazed and confused
I am working through 70-290 with one XP machine and one Windows 2003 evaluation software machine. I've been thinking about the virtial pc option for any future exams - if nothing else to save space!
Which Virtual PC software did you select and why?
I notice MS Virtual PC is fairly cheap ( uner £100 ).
Can you install Virtual PC software on an XP operating system and then install evaluation versions of Windows 2003, XP etc as virtual machines that can communicate with each other?
Dazed and confused
paulhthomas
Technical User
That's exactly what I used. not sure if there's a newer version of Virtual PC but I've got Virtual PC 2004.
you can then configure virtual pc to only communicate on it's "local" network or if you want the vm's to have internet access you can even set it to use your "real" network so it can use the pc to go out to the internet. if you see what I mean!
you can then configure virtual pc to only communicate on it's "local" network or if you want the vm's to have internet access you can even set it to use your "real" network so it can use the pc to go out to the internet. if you see what I mean!
paulhthomas
Technical User
No payment required, the same software is used for virtual and physical servers.
You can set the VM to boot off the actual cd rom drive and away you go.
You can set the VM to boot off the actual cd rom drive and away you go.
i've never used Virtual PC - I thought I heard that MS made Virtual PC free now - but I havn't checked that at all. Personally I use VMWare
free virtual pc software as well.
"Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"
Stuart
A+, Net+, Security+, MCP
free virtual pc software as well.
"Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"
Stuart
A+, Net+, Security+, MCP
paulhthomas
Technical User
I don't think virtual pc is free, but "virtual server 2005 R2" is free. As are certain versions of VM Ware. I'm not really familiar with VM Ware products but I know tere is a version that runs on windows platforms (as opposed to being it's own platform) that is a free download.
I've used VM Ware in work before now for test labs and it works a treat.
I've used VM Ware in work before now for test labs and it works a treat.
Teknoratti
Technical User
I think you should definitely go the hardware route first. You can always create virtual environments, but the amount of Operating Systems you can have running at one time depends on your hardware. I have a Gateway Laptop, 1 GB RAM, 100GB HD, AMD 64. I have Virtual PC 2004 running with the virtual machines created with all the default settings. I can get 3 VM's up at the same time. The amount of RAM you want for each VM can be adjusted though. I think at one point I was able to get 4 VM's up at one time. 4 should be all you need to run a test environment for the exam. That is, 4 VM's plus your host machine, so that equals 5.
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