which computers for hands on training?

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I'm want to certify for MCSA and I want to know what material I need to study the practical test. Do I buy a server or can I use a powerfull pc and if so what specifications should it have at least? How many machines do I need?

 

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I'd suggest getting a PC with lots of Hard disk space and lots or RAM.

You can then run your labs virtually using either MS's Virtual PC or VMWare workstation. MS's Virtual PC is free, but not quite as good as VMWare. Personally though I prefer Virtual PC for my PC's as I find it's interface nice and easy to use. (Only on my Windows work PC that is, at home I run VMWare Fusion)

If you buy the Official MS Press study guides you usually get an evaluation copy of the software to run as well.

 

hey

although i have a del poweredge in my home lab i use my best pc as my exchange server and main AD server. my powerdege acts only as a member server (and wsus server). (takes bloomin ages to reboot and i am sooooo inpatient.

 

That's IT and computers for you, but nowadays its fast PC's that we all want with huge storage and CPU processing power.

 

well my home lab consists of

a laptop with
core duo 1.73
2gb ddr2
80gb hdd

that runs most of the labs i need nicley

well it managed to hold up today when i was building the labs for the MCSE course 2279 i had to have 8 servers running at once things slowed down cos they were all fighting for the hdd at once.

i also have a spair pc with
athlon xp 1700+ but somethings broken so it will only run at 1.1ghz
512 mb ram
2x 80 gb hdd raided
20gb boot volume
runs win 2k3 server but i dont like letting my virtual pcs on the network as it tends to crash my router.

so all you need is a pc with lots of hdd space lots of ram and a fast ish processor

Intel HT, core duo or core 2 duo anything fast ish will do.