Advice for systems

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by DiamondGeezer, Dec 17, 2004.

  1. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    With the upcoming start of my cert adventures I'd appreciate advice on any software and hardware requirements that i'll need as the courses progress. Here are my current sys specs...

    AMD A64/3400
    1Gb Crucial Ballistix DDR 500
    560GB Total Storage
    A-Bit KV8 Mainboard
    Sapphire Radeon 9800XT/256mb
    Windows XP Pro

    Its been mainly used as a gaming machine for probably too long now. I did'nt list every piece inside the rig as I did'nt think it was relevant. I know I'm gonna need another machine at least for networking but i can pick up parts quite readily.

    Thanks in advance for any input. :p
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  2. tripwire45
    Honorary Member

    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    With that big a hard drive and a gig of RAM, I'd consider buying and installing VMWare Workstation. That way, you could create several virtual computers and servers as virtual machines and network them without having to buy more hardware.

    That's just my opinion of course, but that's how I do all my studies and writing. Here's the LINK so you can take a look.
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  3. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    So with Vmware creating virtual machines on my current system does it act as an operating system along with my current Os ( xp ) ? If so then this means i dont need to shell out for win 2000 or server 2003. Sounds all good and economical and i dont want to appear ungrateful but how then do I get to know how the other NT operating systems work.

    If I'm totally off track just say Dave ( thats me ) SHUT UP, and you can draw me pretty pictures.
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  4. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    lol. what vmware does is it sets aside a portion of your hard drive (specified by you) onto which you install an OS. this os runs inside vmware, which is a program (meaning you load it once ure into windows), you need the full installation discs for whatever OS you plan on installing into vmware. but once its running it acts (using the virtual hardware its assigned) as normal, so you can look around the OS, see what does what, manage any services etc. it allows you to get the feel for the os, and learn how to do things on it, without having to purchase a separate pc for each. although you do, in order to be legal about these things, need to purchase the full OS.

    it also has the benefit (i believe) of meaning that viruses and spyware cant spread out of the virtual OS. so i spose if you wanted to get infected with a heap of viruses and see how they worked you could - but dont quote me on that!

    Fergal
     
    Certifications: ITIL Foundation; MCTS: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010, Administration
    WIP: None at present
  5. tripwire45
    Honorary Member

    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    I'm sorry. I thought that the VMWare site would have been documented well enough to explain their product. Ok, in a nutshell, your XP Pro machine would be the host. When you fire up the VMWare software, you can select which type of operating system (Any flavor of Windows, many flavors of Linux, Novell, etc...), how big a hard drive, who much ram and so on. The basic limitation is that of course, you need to have a boat load of ram and a lot of HDD space to pull it off.

    Let's say you have a gig of ram. You'll probably want 256 megs to run the host, leaving the other 3/4 of the meg to run VMs. If you create 3 VMs, each with 256 megs of ram, it will work. Now lets say you have a 200 Gig HDD, even if you give each VM a 20 gig HDD, you've got tons to spare.

    The VMs live in ordinary folders and files in your Documents and Settings folder. If for whatever reason, an install gets botched or you just hate the machine want to destroy it, just delete the folder it lives in and it's gone.

    You can even add hardware to a VM. Let's say I wanted to add a second NIC to a server. I just power down the device and go into the VMWare controls for the device and you can add the NIC. You can add other pieces of hardware, remove them, change the ram allocation. The current version even has USB support so if you are running a VM and you plug a USB device in to your host machine, the VM will detect it.

    It is an incredibly beautiful solution to allowing you to run a small network in a limited space on a single piece of hardware. Microsoft recently bought a company that produces a similar piece of software called Virtual PC. I hate to be cynical but I do a certain amount of work with Linux boxes and need to be sure my virtual software will support Linux as well as Windows. VMware is somewhat pricy but in my opinion, well worth it.
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  6. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    Thanks trip and fergal, dont mean to be a pain in the ass, I'm trying to take it all in and work at the same time, its got really busy tonight and the servers are running at nearly 100% of their capacity, machines are failing everywhere and its down to muggins here to get them back in circulation. I'll check out the for sale sections to see if anyone has cheap OS's for sale.

    Thanks again. :D

    Speak to you soon.
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  7. Phoenix
    Honorary Member

    Phoenix 53656e696f7220 4d6f64

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    also a note to remember is the majority of microsoft servers are available as free trials!
    so you should be good there, this includes anything from Windows 2003 to Exchange and SQL, Project, etc, they are all available as free trials

    Good luck mate, I have an article on VM Ware written somewhere, your rig should be more than enough as i use mine, and its prime use is a gaming machine also :)

    Let us know if you have any more questions, we will be happy to help
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCITP, VCP
    WIP: > 0
  8. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    Will it be like a 30 day trial or something close to that time frame ?
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  9. Phil
    Honorary Member

    Phil Gigabyte Poster

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    They're usually about 180 days, plenty of time to build then break to your hearts content :)
     
    Certifications: MCSE:M & S MCSA:M CCNA CNA
    WIP: 2003 Upgrade, CCNA Upgrade
  10. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    Lovely jubblie, I'll get downloading in the morning.

    Cheers mate.
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  11. tripwire45
    Honorary Member

    tripwire45 Zettabyte Poster

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    Believe me, you aren't. The whole nature and purpose of this site is to help each other out. Your questions are completely appropriate. No worries.
    :)
     
    Certifications: A+ and Network+
  12. DiamondGeezer

    DiamondGeezer Bit Poster

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    Thanks Trip, but i hope you realise............ there is no escape now :twisted:
     
    WIP: mcp/ccna
  13. AJ

    AJ 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 Administrator

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    lol @ DiamondGeezer


    All part of the service m8 :biggrin
     
    Certifications: MCSE, MCSA (messaging), ITIL Foundation v3
    WIP: Breathing in and out, but not out and in, that's just wrong

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