About to start my server Journey

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Hi I have searched but I am sure this has been asked before, so if it has appoligies. I currently work as a network engineer and have so far mainly been focused on getting my CCNA with cisco, however I now would like to broaden my knowledge by starting to learn some server related things to make myself more an alrounded infrastructure engineer. For cisco they have packet tracer, can someone please give me some advice on any virtual software like PT where I can start labs with server environments.
many thanks in advance

 

All you can do is setup some VMs using virtualbox (free) the little I know about servers came from just general online videos and googling, built out a few domain controllers etc even got a sync going from my server to office 365. Google/youtube are your best friends, lookup Paul Cuningham he even offers free server and Exchange courses.

 

Seeing as you'll probably be going for server 2012 R2 exams, you're probably best just installing the OS directly onto a computer, then use Hyper-V for all of your labbing. You'll get 180 days before you need to re-install so should give you enough time to knock out 70-410.

If you go for another virtualisation solution, you'll need to do nested virtualisation, which with VM-Ware isn't difficult, but it'll eat into your RAM.. which can be at a premium sometimes. The flip side is you won't have to re-install your host OS, but I'm finding installing Server 2012 as the host works great. Good for moving files around too because you can copy stuff straight from the host to the guest and vice versa.

I'm going for CCENT soon once I pass 70-417, so we've got some pretty interesting crossover there. Good luck!