Ideal Training PC

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Hi
I Just wanted to find out what other trainees have set up at home? I Have a Dell(boy) P4 2.2Ghz with 256MB RAM and a 40Gb HDD running XP Home, since I started my A+ I have been considering setting up my PC as a multiboot, I think the need for this may become even greater when I start my MCSE? Do you think my PC would handle having Win98, Win2000Pro, and WinXP on it at the same time?
I find a lot of the time studying It would be beneficial to actually do what I am reading about etc.
What does everyone else do?
Cheers
Mark

 

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Firstly, is there any chance of getting chance of a second PC (no great spec) in order to grasp the very basics of networking, as your gonna need this at some point ?

Other than that, your main box is more than adequate at this stage.


Now - take to the stage, Phoenix ...

 

If you are in a position to upgrade your present machine then memory would be the quickest and easiest upgrade. A second machine (even a cheap second hand low spec unit) is a must for practise. Failing that try to get hold of a program called VMWare that lets you run virtual machines.

 

I have a reasonably high spec Laptop from my work thats set up with XP Pro but it's all configured for their network so that it updates automatically and syncronises every time I dock it. I take it I am unable to use that?
I am trying to get my hands on an older PC at the moment and was considering building a high spec box for as little as possible, but with Xmas just round the corner this looks unlikely. I can do some of the stuff at work on the training PC's but it's just finding the time, I work from my car most of the time.

 

You could use your work laptop for exercises always assuming that:

Work don't mind
You can enable seperate hardware profiles
It has a NIC or Wirless NIC (and you a wireless access point at home)
You can risk trashing it and having to take it back to work to have it re-built.
You can change domain memberships as and when.

TBH i'd be a bit surprised if your IT dept allowed you to do this, I doubt we would at work without asking for a very large disclaimer from you!!!

A friendly IT dept may well have "spare" laptops (or even desktops) they are prepared to lend you for this. I would ask your manager to have a friendly word with IT, after all they can only say no.

 

I was contemplating adding a section to my vmware article about an 'ideal training rig' that utilises vmware, infact i was considering selling such devices, but i havnt gotten around to it yet

ideally for the mcse you will want vmware, its an asset thats second only to a real production enterprise network

for vmware to run with a number of machines at once you will ideally want 2GB of memory, and a P4 HT / Ath64/Opt based processor, purely for the increases in the processor architectures, not the 64 bit power, the athlons have Hyper-Transport and onboard memory controllers, and the HT p4s have well, hyperthreading and dual logical processors (great for vms)

 

I agree you need to source yourself another PC to network with. Also with dual boot systems I was always told that it's best to keep each OS on a seperate physical hard drive as it can cause problems otherwise.