RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Brian Desmond]

I've put stuff up there. Biggest issue is going to be cost and the semi 
non-persisted storage that EC2 uses.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com<mailto:br...@briandesmond.com>

c   - 312.731.3132

From: Sam Cayze [mailto:sca...@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 12:54 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

Curious, has anyone ever built a test lab in the Cloud, utilizing Amazon EC2 
for example?

Viable solution?

Sam

From: Brian Desmond [mailto:br...@briandesmond.com]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 1:18 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

I have an IcyDock cage. It came with the cables, brackets, etc which I was 
pretty impressed with. Just had to wire it up to my SATA controller.

I also have a big Buffalo NAS with piles of junk on it. I know VMWare supports 
NFS of some sort so at some point if I need to expand I might look in to that.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com<mailto:br...@briandesmond.com>

w - 312.625.1438 | c   - 312.731.3132

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:25 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch


Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into 
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended 
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the past, 
but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not conducive to a 
test environment, and the way things are these days, who knows how much longer 
%work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my own, I need a test 
environment. Building such while being employed is much easier to do 
financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that 
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know why 
I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at work. 
Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for TechNet 
Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being LOUD 
compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I had not 
heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan
On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link" 
mailto:jonathan.l...@gmail.com>> wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
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with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

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RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Shauna Hensala]

No - but on the face of it, it sounds like a grand solution!  Good thinking.


From: sca...@gmail.com
To: ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:54:23 -0600



Curious, has anyone ever built a test lab in the Cloud, utilizing Amazon EC2 
for example? Viable solution? Sam From: Brian Desmond 
[mailto:br...@briandesmond.com] 
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 1:18 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch I have an IcyDock cage. 
It came with the cables, brackets, etc which I was pretty impressed with. Just 
had to wire it up to my SATA controller. I also have a big Buffalo NAS with 
piles of junk on it. I know VMWare supports NFS of some sort so at some point 
if I need to expand I might look in to that.  Thanks,Brian 
desmondbr...@briandesmond.com w – 312.625.1438 | c   – 312.731.3132 From: 
Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:25 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch Carpentry, huh? Well, my 
boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely 
helps me to put things into perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB 
picked up on the intended hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to 
actually be ashamed!I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a 
home lab in the past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office 
is not conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who 
knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my 
own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much 
easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.On a more technical 
note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that particular model Netgear 
over Linksys or anything else?Brian - curious, what brand/model is your 
external SATA cage? I don't know why I didn't think about a TechNet 
subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I 
even found a discount code online for TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 
off!Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being 
LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I had 
not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.Again, thanks to 
EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.JonathanOn Jan 13, 2011 1:10 
PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:~ Finally, powerful 
endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that 
ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~

~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~



---

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or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com

with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin   
  
~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Sam Cayze]

Curious, has anyone ever built a test lab in the Cloud, utilizing Amazon EC2
for example?

 

Viable solution?

 

Sam

 

From: Brian Desmond [mailto:br...@briandesmond.com] 
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2011 1:18 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

I have an IcyDock cage. It came with the cables, brackets, etc which I was
pretty impressed with. Just had to wire it up to my SATA controller.

 

I also have a big Buffalo NAS with piles of junk on it. I know VMWare
supports NFS of some sort so at some point if I need to expand I might look
in to that. 

 

Thanks,

Brian Desmond

br...@briandesmond.com

 

w - 312.625.1438 | c   - 312.731.3132

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:25 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan

On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[C.E. Gene Connor]

It's not very often I get a chance to help you guys out? But, if it is cheap
hardware you are looking to buy. I have used these for years and have also
turned other in the same spot as you. You may be able to get stuff cheaper
off ebay. But, do you trust the seller?

http://www.pacificgeek.com/
<http://www.pacificgeek.com/>http://www.surpluscomputers.com/
<http://www.surpluscomputers.com/>
http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/category/0

<http://www.weirdstuff.com/cgi-bin/category/0>as for software I would go
with action pack. And yes you do need to be verified you are a real
business.

On Fri, Jan 14, 2011 at 2:17 AM, Brian Desmond wrote:

> *I have an IcyDock cage. It came with the cables, brackets, etc which I
> was pretty impressed with. Just had to wire it up to my SATA controller.*
>
> * *
>
> *I also have a big Buffalo NAS with piles of junk on it. I know VMWare
> supports NFS of some sort so at some point if I need to expand I might look
> in to that. *
>
> * *
>
> *Thanks,*
>
> *Brian Desmond*
>
> *br...@briandesmond.com*
>
> * *
>
> *w – 312.625.1438 | c   – 312.731.3132*
>
> * *
>
> *From:* Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:25 PM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>
> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
> perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
> hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!
>
> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>
> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>
> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>
> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>
> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>
> Jonathan
>
> On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>



-- 
Gene C.

Misc. B.S.
http://genec-lori.com/

PackRat GarageSale
http://genec-lori.biz/

Genes-Computers Inc.
Yulee ,Fl
Established 1981, Microsoft OEM Registered member, system builder & Active
registered Microsoft Partner
Active Charter Partner of The Association of System Builders and Integrators
If you think you're beaten, Then you are!
If you give up the fight, Accept it !!

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
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RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Brian Desmond]

I have an IcyDock cage. It came with the cables, brackets, etc which I was 
pretty impressed with. Just had to wire it up to my SATA controller.

I also have a big Buffalo NAS with piles of junk on it. I know VMWare supports 
NFS of some sort so at some point if I need to expand I might look in to that.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com

w - 312.625.1438 | c   - 312.731.3132

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:25 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch


Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into 
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended 
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the past, 
but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not conducive to a 
test environment, and the way things are these days, who knows how much longer 
%work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my own, I need a test 
environment. Building such while being employed is much easier to do 
financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that 
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know why 
I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at work. 
Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for TechNet 
Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being LOUD 
compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I had not 
heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan
On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link" 
mailto:jonathan.l...@gmail.com>> wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to 
listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com>
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Brian Desmond]

I generally don't make improvements to my lab environment at home unless I am 
working on a project where I need to learn something or I anticipate needing to 
be able to speak to something at a customer environment. The only major 
improvement I've made to it in quite a few years was getting SCCM working for 
patching and inventorying all my VMs. I hadn't patched them in years 
(literally). They're now all up to date and such. Given I have dozens of them 
it's actually kind of nice having a picture of where things stand sometimes. 
For the most part everything is a disaster in terms of config, best practice, 
etc. I actually don't mind this as when I toss a script on there to test it 
usually will smoke out some error conditions that aren't uncommon in a customer 
environment.

I've been using the thing for years now though so over time I've just continued 
to add stuff to it and let it evolve. It's pretty rare that I'm sitting at home 
on a weekend or whatever and decide to go mess with any of this stuff or try 
and improve it less I'm working on work.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com

w - 312.625.1438 | c   - 312.731.3132

From: Sean Martin [mailto:seanmarti...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:42 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

A little late to the show here. You've gotten some some really good advice. 
I'll just add that it is very easy to start small and grow from there. I bought 
a Dell studio PC a little over a year ago for under $800. It came with two 
750GB sata drives in a RAID 0 (not great for redundancy, but I've got backups 
of my critical data) and 8GB RAM. For about $100, I picked up a VT capable 
processor from Newegg which allowed me to host 64bit VMs (using VMWare server 
2.0). My only intent for using Virtualization was to build the necessary 
environments for training. I've got DCs, Exchange 2010, Forefront, WSUS and a 
couple of Windows Client VMs. I'll admit things start to crawl while they're 
all running simultaneously, but it has served my needs quite well.

Unfortunately, I was pretty amped when I was originally setting everything up. 
After a few weeks of actually using it for study/training purposes, the novelty 
wore off. That probably speaks more to my own lack of discipline, but I just 
wanted to throw that out there because the last thing you want to do is throw a 
bunch of time, energy and money into a test lab that will go unused. As of 
others have pointed out, life takes priority, and it's a lot more fun :)

- Sean
On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM, Jonathan 
mailto:ncm...@gmail.com>> wrote:

Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into 
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended 
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the past, 
but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not conducive to a 
test environment, and the way things are these days, who knows how much longer 
%work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my own, I need a test 
environment. Building such while being employed is much easier to do 
financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that 
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know why 
I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at work. 
Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for TechNet 
Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being LOUD 
compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I had not 
heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan
On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link" 
mailto:jonathan.l...@gmail.com>> wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to 
listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com>
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to 
listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Andrew S. Baker]

Your very welcome...

-ASB: http://XeeSM.com/AndrewBaker

Sent from my Motorola Droid
 On Jan 13, 2011 6:26 PM, "Sean Martin"  wrote:
> By the way, Andrew, thanks for the recommendation on the Netgear. I was
> going to ask the list what they would recommend as a replacement to my
> incredibly old Linksys that has finally started to die. Reading your
review,
> and the reviews on Newegg, convinced me to stop by my local BestBuy and
pick
> one up. Seemed pretty reasonable at $83. I did notice several folks
weren't
> real happy with Netgear's Support and RMA processes, so I decided to go
with
> the $15 replacement plan from BestBuy.
>
> I just hope it can withstand sitting in my truck in 13 degree weather
until
> I get home in a couple of hours.
>
> - Sean
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Andrew S. Baker 
wrote:
>
>> Hey, Jonathan
>>
>> I've been seriously impressed with the Netgear. Excellent performance (5
>> GbE ports), and it supports DD-WRT, which I am using to make the
>> functionality even more robust. I have multiple SSIDs setup with
different
>> security configurations, plus the device supports Syslog and 802.11x
>>
>> Lots of features, and under $80.
>>
>>
>> *ASB *(My Bio via About.Me )
>> *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan  wrote:
>>
>>> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter. ;-)
>>>
>>> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things
>>> into perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the
>>> intended hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be
>>> ashamed!
>>>
>>> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
>>> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
>>> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
>>> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on
my
>>> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is
much
>>> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>>>
>>> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
>>> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>>>
>>> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't
know
>>> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have
one at
>>> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online
for
>>> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>>>
>>> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers
being
>>> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and
I
>>> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>>>
>>> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>>>
>>> Jonathan
>>>
>>> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>> ~  ~
>>
>> ---
>> To manage subscriptions click here:
>> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
>> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
>> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
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> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

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~   ~

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RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Mike Gill]

Yep, removable. They are rated 6dbi though and aren't too shabby for
factory. 

 

-- 
Mike Gill

 

From: Steven Peck [mailto:sep...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 1:46 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Are those antenna's removable?  I have a point to point bridge with some old
Linksys WAP54g's that need replacing and would rather keep my existing
external antenna's.

Steven Peck
http://www.blkmtn.org

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Mike Gill 
wrote:

Just got one of these: 

http://ubnt.com/powerapn

 

from here:

http://www.invictuswireless.com/Ubiquiti_PowerAPN_PAPN_PowerAP_N_Power_AP_N_
p/powerapn.htm

 

Has a 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer built in. No GigE ports, but if you're just
using it for an AP/gateway you shouldn't notice. Runs SSH out of the box and
has an easy web GUI. Invictus is local to me but the owner is very
knowledgeable.

 

-- 
Mike Gill

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 3:37 PM


To: NT System Admin Issues

Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
(aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
the few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup, and I think
it's about time that I change that. We've had numerous discussions on this
list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I'd like to hear
some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on
a budget - I don't have thousands to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

 

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):

 

*   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

*   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

*   (my wireless router just recently died)

*   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
tying together to make a 4 post rack)

 

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for it.)
Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
and Linux too...

 

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~


~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Durf]

I have found Netgear to be good on the storage side as well. Their NAS line,
since the purchase of Infrant, seems to be quite solid.

--Durf

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 6:26 PM, Sean Martin  wrote:

> By the way, Andrew, thanks for the recommendation on the Netgear. I was
> going to ask the list what they would recommend as a replacement to my
> incredibly old Linksys that has finally started to die. Reading your review,
> and the reviews on Newegg, convinced me to stop by my local BestBuy and pick
> one up. Seemed pretty reasonable at $83. I did notice several folks weren't
> real happy with Netgear's Support and RMA processes, so I decided to go with
> the $15 replacement plan from BestBuy.
>
> I just hope it can withstand sitting in my truck in 13 degree weather until
> I get home in a couple of hours.
>
> - Sean
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Andrew S. Baker wrote:
>
>> Hey, Jonathan
>>
>> I've been seriously impressed with the Netgear.  Excellent performance (5
>> GbE ports), and it supports DD-WRT, which I am using to make the
>> functionality even more robust.   I have multiple SSIDs setup with different
>> security configurations, plus the device supports Syslog and 802.11x
>>
>> Lots of features, and under $80.
>>
>>
>>  *ASB *(My Bio via About.Me )
>> *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*
>>
>> *
>> *
>>
>>
>>
>>  On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan  wrote:
>>
>>> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>>>
>>> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things
>>> into perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the
>>> intended hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be
>>> ashamed!
>>>
>>> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
>>> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
>>> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
>>> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
>>> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
>>> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>>>
>>> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
>>> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>>>
>>> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't
>>> know why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have
>>> one at work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code
>>> online for TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>>>
>>> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers
>>> being LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity,
>>> and I had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>>>
>>> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>>>
>>> Jonathan
>>>
>>>   ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>> ~   ~
>>
>> ---
>> To manage subscriptions click here:
>> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
>> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
>> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>



-- 

--
Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day.
Give a fish a man, and he'll eat for weeks!

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Sean Martin]

By the way, Andrew, thanks for the recommendation on the Netgear. I was
going to ask the list what they would recommend as a replacement to my
incredibly old Linksys that has finally started to die. Reading your review,
and the reviews on Newegg, convinced me to stop by my local BestBuy and pick
one up. Seemed pretty reasonable at $83. I did notice several folks weren't
real happy with Netgear's Support and RMA processes, so I decided to go with
the $15 replacement plan from BestBuy.

I just hope it can withstand sitting in my truck in 13 degree weather until
I get home in a couple of hours.

- Sean

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Andrew S. Baker  wrote:

> Hey, Jonathan
>
> I've been seriously impressed with the Netgear.  Excellent performance (5
> GbE ports), and it supports DD-WRT, which I am using to make the
> functionality even more robust.   I have multiple SSIDs setup with different
> security configurations, plus the device supports Syslog and 802.11x
>
> Lots of features, and under $80.
>
>
>  *ASB *(My Bio via About.Me )
> *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*
>
> *
> *
>
>
>
>  On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan  wrote:
>
>> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>>
>> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things
>> into perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the
>> intended hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be
>> ashamed!
>>
>> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
>> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
>> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
>> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
>> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
>> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>>
>> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
>> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>>
>> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
>> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
>> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
>> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>>
>> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
>> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
>> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>>
>> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>>
>> Jonathan
>>
>>   ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jon Harris]

I agree thanks for the ideas.  I was and still am considering purchase of an
i7 based laptop with either 8 or 16 GB of RAM as a portable lab.  The better
half kept killing the desktops I got to the house.

Jon

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan  wrote:

> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>
> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
> perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
> hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!
>
> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>
> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>
> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>
> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>
> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>
> Jonathan
>   On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link" 
> wrote:
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jonathan]

TNITQ413 was the code I found...supposedly expired Oct 31, 2010, but showed
a discounted price when I submitted it when other codes bombed. I believe
the codes are based on country, and this one is apparently for US only. It
may only be good for new subscriptions.

This is the site where I found it -
WWW.retailmenot.com/view/technet.Microsoft.com
On Jan 13, 2011 4:17 PM, "Joseph Heaton"  wrote:
> Jonathan,
>
> Congratz on the online code for Technet. Everytime I look for one, it's
already expired.
>
> Joe L. Heaton
> Windows Server Support Group
> Information Technology Branch
> Department of Fish and Game
> 1807 13th Street, Suite 201
> Sacramento, CA 95811
> Desk: (916) 323-1284
>
>
>
>
 Jonathan  1/13/2011 12:24 PM >>>
> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter. ;-)
>
> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things
into
> perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
> hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!
>
> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on
my
> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>
> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>
> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one
at
> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online
for
> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>
> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>
> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>
> Jonathan
> On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>
>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Steven Peck]

Are those antenna's removable?  I have a point to point bridge with some old
Linksys WAP54g's that need replacing and would rather keep my existing
external antenna's.

Steven Peck
http://www.blkmtn.org

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Mike Gill wrote:

> Just got one of these:
>
> http://ubnt.com/powerapn
>
>
>
> from here:
>
>
> http://www.invictuswireless.com/Ubiquiti_PowerAPN_PAPN_PowerAP_N_Power_AP_N_p/powerapn.htm
>
>
>
> Has a 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer built in. No GigE ports, but if you’re just
> using it for an AP/gateway you shouldn’t notice. Runs SSH out of the box and
> has an easy web GUI. Invictus is local to me but the owner is very
> knowledgeable.
>
>
>
> --
> Mike Gill
>
>
>
> *From:* Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 3:37 PM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
>
>
>
> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
> on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):
>
>
>
>- 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
>form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
>
>
>- Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
>
>
>- (my wireless router just recently died)
>
>
>- 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
>tying together to make a 4 post rack)
>
>
>
> I’d like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
> Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
> probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don’t have much need for it.)
> Ultimately, I’d like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
> basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
> and Linux too...
>
>
>
> Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
> MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
> going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
> A+, MCSA, MCSE
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>
> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Mike Gill]

Just got one of these: 

http://ubnt.com/powerapn

 

from here:

http://www.invictuswireless.com/Ubiquiti_PowerAPN_PAPN_PowerAP_N_Power_AP_N_
p/powerapn.htm

 

Has a 2.4GHz spectrum analyzer built in. No GigE ports, but if you're just
using it for an AP/gateway you shouldn't notice. Runs SSH out of the box and
has an easy web GUI. Invictus is local to me but the owner is very
knowledgeable.

 

-- 
Mike Gill

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 3:37 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
(aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
the few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup, and I think
it's about time that I change that. We've had numerous discussions on this
list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I'd like to hear
some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on
a budget - I don't have thousands to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

 

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):

 

*   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

*   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

*   (my wireless router just recently died)

*   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
tying together to make a 4 post rack)

 

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for it.)
Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
and Linux too...

 

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Joseph Heaton]

Jonathan,

Congratz on the online code for Technet.  Everytime I look for one, it's 
already expired.

Joe L. Heaton
Windows Server Support Group
Information Technology Branch
Department of Fish and Game
1807 13th Street, Suite 201
Sacramento, CA  95811
Desk: (916) 323-1284
 
 


>>> Jonathan  1/13/2011 12:24 PM >>>
Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan
 On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

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~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Andrew S. Baker]

Hey, Jonathan

I've been seriously impressed with the Netgear.  Excellent performance (5
GbE ports), and it supports DD-WRT, which I am using to make the
functionality even more robust.   I have multiple SSIDs setup with different
security configurations, plus the device supports Syslog and 802.11x

Lots of features, and under $80.


*ASB *(My Bio via About.Me )
 *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*

*
*



On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 3:24 PM, Jonathan  wrote:

> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>
> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
> perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
> hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!
>
> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>
> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>
> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>
> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>
> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>
> Jonathan
>
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Sean Martin]

A little late to the show here. You've gotten some some really good advice.
I'll just add that it is very easy to start small and grow from there. I
bought a Dell studio PC a little over a year ago for under $800. It came
with two 750GB sata drives in a RAID 0 (not great for redundancy, but I've
got backups of my critical data) and 8GB RAM. For about $100, I picked up a
VT capable processor from Newegg which allowed me to host 64bit VMs (using
VMWare server 2.0). My only intent for using Virtualization was to build the
necessary environments for training. I've got DCs, Exchange 2010, Forefront,
WSUS and a couple of Windows Client VMs. I'll admit things start to crawl
while they're all running simultaneously, but it has served my needs quite
well.

Unfortunately, I was pretty amped when I was originally setting everything
up. After a few weeks of actually using it for study/training purposes, the
novelty wore off. That probably speaks more to my own lack of discipline,
but I just wanted to throw that out there because the last thing you want to
do is throw a bunch of time, energy and money into a test lab that will go
unused. As of others have pointed out, life takes priority, and it's a lot
more fun :)

- Sean

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 11:24 AM, Jonathan  wrote:

> Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)
>
> Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
> perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
> hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!
>
> I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
> past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
> conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
> knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
> own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
> easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.
>
> On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
> particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?
>
> Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
> why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
> work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
> TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!
>
> Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
> LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
> had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.
>
> Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.
>
> Jonathan
>   On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link" 
> wrote:
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
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or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jonathan]

Carpentry, huh? Well, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.  ;-)

Thanks for the input, everyone. This definitely helps me to put things into
perspective. As for being "ashamed", well, ASB picked up on the intended
hyperbole. I have much ?better? things of which to actually be ashamed!

I haven't had the burning desire or time to work with a home lab in the
past, but definitely need to, and now is the time. The office is not
conducive to a test environment, and the way things are these days, who
knows how much longer %work% will be there. If I decide to branch out on my
own, I need a test environment. Building such while being employed is much
easier to do financially, as opposed to the alternative.

On a more technical note, ASB - why specifically did you recommend that
particular model Netgear over Linksys or anything else?

Brian - curious, what brand/model is your external SATA cage? I don't know
why I didn't think about a TechNet subscription (*headdesk*) - I have one at
work. Duh. Thanks for the reminder. I even found a discount code online for
TechNet Pro (no media) that knocked $88 off!

Steven - multiple good points about documentation and 'real' servers being
LOUD compared to desktops. I need to learn more about multiplicity, and I
had not heard of Virtual Box. I'll have to read up on that as well.

Again, thanks to EVERYONE for your input. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan
 On Jan 13, 2011 1:10 PM, "Jonathan Link"  wrote:

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jonathan Link]

Yeah woodworking!

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 12:55 PM, Steven Peck  wrote:

> I figured it was hyperbole as well.
>
> That said, I have a home lab setup to play with technology.  Sometimes I
> play a lot and sometimes I ignore it.  However, because I have it available
> I can play with it.  Some situations like learning a new technology because
> you want to prepare to leave your current employer on your own schedule
> would dictate prudence rather then using your current companies existing
> test environment.  Others because you really enjoy playing with the
> technology.  I, myself, go through phases of interest mixed with family,
> woodworking, gaming, sca, etc.
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Sam Cayze  wrote:
>
>>  +1.
>>
>> My employer pays for everything as for as test labs require because they
>> realize how much it will benefit them, and I keep it all at work.
>>
>> When I am home, work shuts off, unless I am behind, need to do afterhours
>> work, or there are fires.
>>
>> I have a $200 dollar, 5-year desktop at home (Albeit I do have a fancy
>> work laptop).  That’s it.
>>
>>
>>
>> The only problem is that if I ever find myself without a job, I lose
>> access to my test bed.  However, the costs to set one up are pretty cheap.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sam
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Daniel Rodriguez [mailto:drod...@gmail.com]
>> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 8:49 AM
>>
>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>> *Subject:* Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>>
>>
>>
>> Agreed!
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer 
>> wrote:
>>
>> From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
>> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”
>>
>>
>>
>> Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication
>> because you don’t have a home lab setup?
>>
>>
>>
>> I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of
>> my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less,
>> quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.
>>
>>
>>
>> The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home,
>> or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.
>>
>>
>>
>> As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
>> set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
>> interests/hobbies.
>>
>>
>>
>> My $.02
>>
>>
>>
>> J
>>
>>
>>
>> Don Guyer
>>
>> Systems Engineer - Information Services
>>
>> Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
>>
>> 431 W. Lancaster Avenue
>>
>> Devon, PA 19333
>>
>> Direct: (610) 993-3299
>>
>> Fax: (610) 650-5306
>>
>> don.gu...@prufoxroach.com
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
>> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
>>
>>
>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>>
>> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>>
>>
>>
>> My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and
>> then have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA
>> controller that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running
>> right next to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at
>> any one time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance,
>> etc.  In addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best
>> you can afford that's on the HCL.
>>
>>
>>  --
>>
>> *From:* Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>>
>> You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
>> need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.
>>
>>
>>
>> My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU,
>> but barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.
>>
>> It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
>> support 16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or
>> MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board
>> that gives yo

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Steven Peck]

I figured it was hyperbole as well.

That said, I have a home lab setup to play with technology.  Sometimes I
play a lot and sometimes I ignore it.  However, because I have it available
I can play with it.  Some situations like learning a new technology because
you want to prepare to leave your current employer on your own schedule
would dictate prudence rather then using your current companies existing
test environment.  Others because you really enjoy playing with the
technology.  I, myself, go through phases of interest mixed with family,
woodworking, gaming, sca, etc.



On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 8:41 AM, Sam Cayze  wrote:

> +1.
>
> My employer pays for everything as for as test labs require because they
> realize how much it will benefit them, and I keep it all at work.
>
> When I am home, work shuts off, unless I am behind, need to do afterhours
> work, or there are fires.
>
> I have a $200 dollar, 5-year desktop at home (Albeit I do have a fancy work
> laptop).  That’s it.
>
>
>
> The only problem is that if I ever find myself without a job, I lose access
> to my test bed.  However, the costs to set one up are pretty cheap.
>
>
>
> Sam
>
>
>
> *From:* Daniel Rodriguez [mailto:drod...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 8:49 AM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Agreed!
>
> On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer 
> wrote:
>
> From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”
>
>
>
> Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because
> you don’t have a home lab setup?
>
>
>
> I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of
> my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less,
> quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.
>
>
>
> The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home,
> or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.
>
>
>
> As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
> set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
> interests/hobbies.
>
>
>
> My $.02
>
>
>
> J
>
>
>
> Don Guyer
>
> Systems Engineer - Information Services
>
> Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
>
> 431 W. Lancaster Avenue
>
> Devon, PA 19333
>
> Direct: (610) 993-3299
>
> Fax: (610) 650-5306
>
> don.gu...@prufoxroach.com
>
>
>
> *From:* N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
>
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then
> have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller
> that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next
> to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one
> time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In
> addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can
> afford that's on the HCL.
>
>
> --
>
> *From:* Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
> You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
> need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.
>
>
>
> My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU,
> but barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.
>
> It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
> support 16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or
> MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board
> that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
>
> Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
> off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and
> put them into a RAID array –or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the
> most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and
> keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home
> Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs
> hold everything that doesn’t require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG,
> Exchange 2010).
>
>
>
> B

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Sam Cayze]

+1.

My employer pays for everything as for as test labs require because they 
realize how much it will benefit them, and I keep it all at work. 

When I am home, work shuts off, unless I am behind, need to do afterhours work, 
or there are fires.

I have a $200 dollar, 5-year desktop at home (Albeit I do have a fancy work 
laptop).  That’s it.

 

The only problem is that if I ever find myself without a job, I lose access to 
my test bed.  However, the costs to set one up are pretty cheap.

 

Sam

 

From: Daniel Rodriguez [mailto:drod...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 8:49 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Agreed! 

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer  wrote:

>From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
>few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”

 

Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because you 
don’t have a home lab setup?

 

I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of my 
workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less, quite 
frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.

 

The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home, or 
anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.

 

As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all set. No 
need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside interests/hobbies.

 

My $.02

 

J

 

Don Guyer

Systems Engineer - Information Services

Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group

431 W. Lancaster Avenue

Devon, PA 19333

Direct: (610) 993-3299

Fax: (610) 650-5306

don.gu...@prufoxroach.com

 

From: N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM


To: NT System Admin Issues

Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then 
have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller 
that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next to 
you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one time, 
DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In addition to RAM 
don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can afford that's on the 
HCL.

 

  _  

From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You need a 
decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.

 

My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU, but 
barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.

It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will support 
16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or MOSS 2010 
would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board that gives you 
up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).

Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes off 
one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and put 
them into a RAID array –or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the most disk 
I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and keep 2 x 2TB 
regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home Server, the VHD 
for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs hold everything 
that doesn’t require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG, Exchange 2010). 

 

Brian’s suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end PowerEdge 
(or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.

 

Cheers

Ken

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid 
(aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think it’s 
about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this list 
about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear some 
suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on a 
budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.

 

Here’s what I’ve got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on 
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):

 

*   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop 
form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

*   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

*   (my wireless router just recently died)

*   2 f

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Andrew S. Baker]

*>>As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
interests/hobbies.*

Some of my hobbies actually coincide with my career.  Or, maybe it's the
other way around, since I started the hobby first.

Of course, there's still no reason for the OP to be *ashamed*, but I saw
that as plain ol' hyperbole.


*ASB *(My Bio via About.Me <http://about.me/Andrew.S.Baker/bio>)
*Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*

*
*



On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer wrote:

> From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”
>
>
>
> Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because
> you don’t have a home lab setup?
>
>
>
> I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of
> my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less,
> quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.
>
>
>
> The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home,
> or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.
>
>
>
> As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
> set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
> interests/hobbies.
>
>
>
> My $.02
>
>
>
> J
>
>
>
> Don Guyer
>
> Systems Engineer - Information Services
>
> Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
>
> 431 W. Lancaster Avenue
>
> Devon, PA 19333
>
> Direct: (610) 993-3299
>
> Fax: (610) 650-5306
>
> don.gu...@prufoxroach.com
>
>
>
> *From:* N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then
> have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller
> that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next
> to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one
> time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In
> addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can
> afford that's on the HCL.
>
>
> --
>
> *From:* Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
> You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
> need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.
>
>
>
> My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU,
> but barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.
>
> It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
> support 16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or
> MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board
> that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
>
> Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
> off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and
> put them into a RAID array –or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the
> most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and
> keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home
> Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs
> hold everything that doesn’t require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG,
> Exchange 2010).
>
>
>
> Brian’s suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end
> PowerEdge (or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> *From:* Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to st

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Maglinger, Paul]

+1

I put in plenty of extra hours at work and doing work from home.  It's one 
thing to do it as a hobby, but when I'm at home and not working I have plenty 
of other interests to keep me occupied.

From: Don Guyer [mailto:don.gu...@prufoxroach.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 8:47 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

>From the OP: "I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
>few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup"

Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because you 
don't have a home lab setup?

I'm not ashamed at all that I don't have one setup. At the moment, one of my 
workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less, quite 
frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.

The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home, or 
anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.

As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I'm all set. No 
need to "burn out" outside of work, gotta have outside interests/hobbies.

My $.02

:)

Don Guyer
Systems Engineer - Information Services
Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
431 W. Lancaster Avenue
Devon, PA 19333
Direct: (610) 993-3299
Fax: (610) 650-5306
don.gu...@prufoxroach.com<mailto:don.gu...@prufoxroach.com>

From: N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then 
have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller 
that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next to 
you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one time, 
DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In addition to RAM 
don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can afford that's on the 
HCL.


From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
You don't really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You need a 
decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.

My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It's a quad core CPU, but 
barely uses anything, so don't worry too much about this part.
It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will support 
16+ GB of RAM, so I'd look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or MOSS 2010 
would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board that gives you 
up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes off 
one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and put 
them into a RAID array -or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the most disk 
I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and keep 2 x 2TB 
regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home Server, the VHD 
for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs hold everything 
that doesn't require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG, Exchange 2010).

Brian's suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end PowerEdge 
(or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.

Cheers
Ken

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid 
(aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup, and I think it's 
about time that I change that. We've had numerous discussions on this list 
about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I'd like to hear some 
suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on a 
budget - I don't have thousands to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on 
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):


  *   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop form 
factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

  *   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

  *   (my wireless router just recently died)

  *   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about tying 
together to make a 4 post rack)

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange, 
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is 

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jonathan Link]

+1 for being a Luddite of sorts at home.
I dabbled with some stuff, but honestly it felt like work.  One possible
reason is that I was asking more of my equipment than was reasonable (though
not impossible) and it always seemed to require intervention on my part.
All problems are solvable with enough time and money.  Figuring out the
proper ratio of the two is the trick...

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer wrote:

>  From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”
>
>
>
> Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because
> you don’t have a home lab setup?
>
>
>
> I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of
> my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less,
> quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.
>
>
>
> The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home,
> or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.
>
>
>
> As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
> set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
> interests/hobbies.
>
>
>
> My $.02
>
>
>
> J
>
>
>
> Don Guyer
>
> Systems Engineer - Information Services
>
> Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
>
> 431 W. Lancaster Avenue
>
> Devon, PA 19333
>
> Direct: (610) 993-3299
>
> Fax: (610) 650-5306
>
> don.gu...@prufoxroach.com
>
>
>
> *From:* N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>  *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then
> have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller
> that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next
> to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one
> time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In
> addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can
> afford that's on the HCL.
>
>
>  --
>
> *From:* Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
> You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
> need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.
>
>
>
> My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU,
> but barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.
>
> It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
> support 16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or
> MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board
> that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
>
> Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
> off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and
> put them into a RAID array –or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the
> most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and
> keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home
> Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs
> hold everything that doesn’t require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG,
> Exchange 2010).
>
>
>
> Brian’s suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end
> PowerEdge (or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> *From:* Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
>
>
>
> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
> on using this stuff, but right n

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Daniel Rodriguez]

Agreed!

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 9:47 AM, Don Guyer wrote:

> From the OP: “I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup”
>
>
>
> Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication because
> you don’t have a home lab setup?
>
>
>
> I’m not ashamed at all that I don’t have one setup. At the moment, one of
> my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care less,
> quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.
>
>
>
> The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at home,
> or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.
>
>
>
> As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I’m all
> set. No need to “burn out” outside of work, gotta have outside
> interests/hobbies.
>
>
>
> My $.02
>
>
>
> J
>
>
>
> Don Guyer
>
> Systems Engineer - Information Services
>
> Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group
>
> 431 W. Lancaster Avenue
>
> Devon, PA 19333
>
> Direct: (610) 993-3299
>
> Fax: (610) 650-5306
>
> don.gu...@prufoxroach.com
>
>
>
> *From:* N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and then
> have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA controller
> that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing running right next
> to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's running on it at any one
> time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR, surveillance, etc.  In
> addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid controller, get the best you can
> afford that's on the HCL.
>
>
> --
>
> *From:* Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
> You don’t really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
> need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.
>
>
>
> My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It’s a quad core CPU,
> but barely uses anything, so don’t worry too much about this part.
>
> It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
> support 16+ GB of RAM, so I’d look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or
> MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board
> that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
>
> Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
> off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and
> put them into a RAID array –or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the
> most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and
> keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home
> Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs
> hold everything that doesn’t require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG,
> Exchange 2010).
>
>
>
> Brian’s suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end
> PowerEdge (or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Ken
>
>
>
> *From:* Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch
>
>
>
> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
>
>
>
> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
> on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):
>
>
>
>- 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
>form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
>
>
>- Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
>
>
>- (my wireless router just recently died)
>
>
>- 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was th

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Don Guyer]

>From the OP: "I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
the few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup"

 

Why be ashamed? Is someone questioning your skill set or dedication
because you don't have a home lab setup?

 

I'm not ashamed at all that I don't have one setup. At the moment, one
of my workstations at home cannot connect to the WWW and I could care
less, quite frankly. As long as one in my house can, great.

 

The last thing I want to do in my free time is work on computers at
home, or anywhere else for that matter, unless necessary.

 

As long as I have a test environment at my place of employment, I'm all
set. No need to "burn out" outside of work, gotta have outside
interests/hobbies.

 

My $.02

 

J

 

Don Guyer

Systems Engineer - Information Services

Prudential, Fox & Roach/Trident Group

431 W. Lancaster Avenue

Devon, PA 19333

Direct: (610) 993-3299

Fax: (610) 650-5306

don.gu...@prufoxroach.com <mailto:don.gu...@prufoxroach.com> 

 

From: N Parr [mailto:npar...@mortonind.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 9:39 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and
then have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA
controller that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing
running right next to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's
running on it at any one time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR,
surveillance, etc.  In addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid
controller, get the best you can afford that's on the HCL.

 



From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

You don't really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.

 

My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It's a quad core
CPU, but barely uses anything, so don't worry too much about this part.

It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
support 16+ GB of RAM, so I'd look for something like that. Exchange
2010 or MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor
getting a board that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a
minimum).

Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks
and put them into a RAID array -or- consider getting a couple of SSDs
for the most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home
server, and keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs
for Windows Home Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk
storage. But the SSDs hold everything that doesn't require a lot of
space (e.g. Forefront TMG, Exchange 2010). 

 

Brian's suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end
PowerEdge (or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.

 

Cheers

Ken

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to
avoid (aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm
probably one of the few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home
lab setup, and I think it's about time that I change that. We've had
numerous discussions on this list about home vmware setups and personal
SANs etc, and I'd like to hear some suggestions on what I should start
with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on a budget - I don't have thousands
to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

 

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set
on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):

 

*   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2
desktop form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

*   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

*   (my wireless router just recently died)

*   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
tying together to make a 4 post rack)

 

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I
will probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for
it.) Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a
good (albeit basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst
switches. Oh yeah, and Linux too...

 

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally]
obtain 

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[N Parr]

My setup is almost the same except I use a cheap SSD for ESXi boot and
then have a couple WD2002FYPS drives mirrored on an LSI Megaraid SATA
controller that was on VMware's HCL.  You can barely hear the thing
running right next to you and it sips the power.  Have about 7 VM's
running on it at any one time, DC, Exchange, spam filter, vcenter, VDR,
surveillance, etc.  In addition to RAM don't skimp on the Raid
controller, get the best you can afford that's on the HCL.



From: Ken Schaefer [mailto:k...@adopenstatic.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:44 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch



You don't really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You
need a decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.

 

My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It's a quad core
CPU, but barely uses anything, so don't worry too much about this part.

It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will
support 16+ GB of RAM, so I'd look for something like that. Exchange
2010 or MOSS 2010 would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor
getting a board that gives you up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a
minimum).

Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes
off one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks
and put them into a RAID array -or- consider getting a couple of SSDs
for the most disk I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home
server, and keep 2 x 2TB regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs
for Windows Home Server, the VHD for WSUS patch storage and other bulk
storage. But the SSDs hold everything that doesn't require a lot of
space (e.g. Forefront TMG, Exchange 2010). 

 

Brian's suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end
PowerEdge (or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.

 

Cheers

Ken

 

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

 

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to
avoid (aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm
probably one of the few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home
lab setup, and I think it's about time that I change that. We've had
numerous discussions on this list about home vmware setups and personal
SANs etc, and I'd like to hear some suggestions on what I should start
with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on a budget - I don't have thousands
to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

 

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set
on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):

 

*   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2
desktop form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

*   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

*   (my wireless router just recently died)

*   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
tying together to make a 4 post rack)

 

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I
will probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for
it.) Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a
good (albeit basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst
switches. Oh yeah, and Linux too...

 

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally]
obtain MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals
aren't really going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonathan

A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here:
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with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here:
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
To manage subscriptions click here: 
http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Ken Schaefer]

You don't really need CPU power. You need RAM to cater for your VMs. You need a 
decent disk subsystem unless you want everything to crawl.

My home setup is a Dell PowerEdge (a low end model). It's a quad core CPU, but 
barely uses anything, so don't worry too much about this part.
It has 12GB of RAM in it. I think most high end consumer boards will support 
16+ GB of RAM, so I'd look for something like that. Exchange 2010 or MOSS 2010 
would be 2GB VMs. SCOM would also be. So factor getting a board that gives you 
up to 16GB of RAM (or at least 8 as a minimum).
Disk is the next thing to focus on. If you want to run all of these OSes off 
one or two disks, things will crawl. Either get multiple SATS disks and put 
them into a RAID array -or- consider getting a couple of SSDs for the most disk 
I/O intensive VMs. I bought 2 x 120GB SSDs for my home server, and keep 2 x 2TB 
regular drives. The 2TB drives hold the VHDs for Windows Home Server, the VHD 
for WSUS patch storage and other bulk storage. But the SSDs hold everything 
that doesn't require a lot of space (e.g. Forefront TMG, Exchange 2010).

Brian's suggestion of getting something like a Precision or low-end PowerEdge 
(or even an XPS) from the outlet store is a good one.

Cheers
Ken

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, 13 January 2011 7:37 AM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid 
(aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup, and I think it's 
about time that I change that. We've had numerous discussions on this list 
about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I'd like to hear some 
suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on a 
budget - I don't have thousands to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on 
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):


  *   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop form 
factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

  *   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

  *   (my wireless router just recently died)

  *   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about tying 
together to make a 4 post rack)

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange, 
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will 
probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for it.) 
Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit 
basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah, and 
Linux too...

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain MS 
licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really going 
to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

Thanks,

Jonathan
A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Andrew S. Baker]

Get yourself a Netgear WNR-3500L as a replacement router.

If you're going to focus on VMWare, then start with ESXi, get yourself to a
couple of VMWare shows, and see if you can't get a legit copy of the
enterprise stuff that way.

Processing power is not nearly as useful for you as RAM and disk space.

Beyond that, you've gotten great advice from Brian and Steven.  Get
cracking. :)


*ASB *(My Bio via About.Me )
 *Exploiting Technology for Business Advantage...*

*
*



On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 6:37 PM, Jonathan  wrote:

> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
>
>
>
> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
> on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):
>
>
>
>- 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
>form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
> - Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
>- (my wireless router just recently died)
>- 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
>tying together to make a 4 post rack)
>
>
> I’d like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
> Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
> probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don’t have much need for it.)
> Ultimately, I’d like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
> basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
> and Linux too...
>
> Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
> MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
> going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan
> A+, MCSA, MCSE
>
>
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

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Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Steven Peck]

Oh yes Microsoft has online labs and resources to leverage as well.
These are generally basic, but they are free, somewhat useful and can get
you a little first hand exposure if you haven't seen it before.  Comes with
a lab manual and semi-pre configured virtual systems.  Kind of lets you run
through things before you set them up.

http://www.microsoft.com/events/vlabs/default.mspx
^^ This and various PowerShell links are in a block on my site.

Steven Peck
http://www.blkmtn.org



On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 4:16 PM, Steven Peck  wrote:

> so  I have a home lab.  I run HyperV.  It's a single box HP Pavillion
> MediaCenter q6600 with 8 GB ram (cost me $500 from new egg on special).
> Small environment.  To expand it, I have Virtual Box on my desktop system
> that I fire up if I need a few more guest systems to play with.  Had more at
> one time, but the other boxes eventually had HW failures not worth fixing.
>
>
> In my budget for this year is to expand a little more on the dedicated hw
> and get a cheap NAS of some sort.  Backend network is a GB switch I got from
> a friend years ago.  If / when I expand it I will probably go with another
> deskop and try out Virtual Box.  I am not bothering with ESXi because
> getting a system that meets the requirements is to annoying and I use VMware
> at work.  Unless you are wanting to learn it specifically 99% of what you
> want to do can be done in HyperV or Virtual Box, both far more forgiving on
> HW.
>
> I have a 4 320GB drives internal and can run 2-3 VMs per as long as I don't
> mind slow, which I don't really.  I build systems with a DC online (single
> DC and guest with more memory then cut it down.
>
> Random thoughts -
>  'Real servers are LOUD'  Very LOUD, which is irritating to the spousal
> unit.
>  Don't tie your home systems into your lab for Internet access (spouse will
> be irate should you go to work with home network in a broke state, spouse
> system production, your lab server is not)
>  HyperV doesn't export guest systems the way I assumed.  Rebuilt my lab.
> Read before doing.
>  Decide what items in your lab are important, treat them with more care
> (DC,s etc).
>  Decide on goals and list them out, otherwise you're just doing random crap
> they may or may not help you learn something.
>  Put your systems on a UPS.  They are fairly cheap.
>  Document what you are doing... Journal/OneNote, etc... keep track.
> Interruptions at home occur and can last days/weeks and when you return you
> often cannot remember what state your system was in.
>  Document your processes for your lab.  If you find a cool script to
> populate AD, make sure you document it because you will be searching for how
> you did that again in 3 months if you didn't track it.  (OneNote on your
> SkyDrive is awesome for this)
>  For PowerShell IRC can be a useful tool (#PowerShell on freenode)
>  Multiple monitors with good visibility are cheap, you should have them.
> (I have 3, 2-23", 1-20")
>  Multiplicity works great for using one keyboard/mouse while working on my
> desktop and lab server.
>
> Licensing... TechNet Professional, MSDN Subscription (more expensive)  and
> MS Action Pack (need a business license I think), have a friend with such.
>
> https://partner.microsoft.com/40016455
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
> no URLl for friend.
>
> Don't over complicate your lab, you are building something that is a tool
> to play with.  Does it really need redundant power supplies and your house
> re-wired for 30 amp lines?  :)
>
> Steven Peck
> http://www.blkmtn.org
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Jonathan  wrote:
>
>> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to
>> avoid (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably
>> one of the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and
>> I think it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions
>> on this list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to
>> hear some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc.
>> I’m on a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start
>> somewhere.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
>> on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):
>>
>>
>>
>>- 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
>>form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
>> - Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
>>- (my wireless router just recently died)
>>- 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
>>tying together to make a 4 post rack)
>>
>>
>> I’d like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
>> Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
>> probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don’t have much need for it.)
>>

Re: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Steven Peck]

so  I have a home lab.  I run HyperV.  It's a single box HP Pavillion
MediaCenter q6600 with 8 GB ram (cost me $500 from new egg on special).
Small environment.  To expand it, I have Virtual Box on my desktop system
that I fire up if I need a few more guest systems to play with.  Had more at
one time, but the other boxes eventually had HW failures not worth fixing.


In my budget for this year is to expand a little more on the dedicated hw
and get a cheap NAS of some sort.  Backend network is a GB switch I got from
a friend years ago.  If / when I expand it I will probably go with another
deskop and try out Virtual Box.  I am not bothering with ESXi because
getting a system that meets the requirements is to annoying and I use VMware
at work.  Unless you are wanting to learn it specifically 99% of what you
want to do can be done in HyperV or Virtual Box, both far more forgiving on
HW.

I have a 4 320GB drives internal and can run 2-3 VMs per as long as I don't
mind slow, which I don't really.  I build systems with a DC online (single
DC and guest with more memory then cut it down.

Random thoughts -
 'Real servers are LOUD'  Very LOUD, which is irritating to the spousal
unit.
 Don't tie your home systems into your lab for Internet access (spouse will
be irate should you go to work with home network in a broke state, spouse
system production, your lab server is not)
 HyperV doesn't export guest systems the way I assumed.  Rebuilt my lab.
Read before doing.
 Decide what items in your lab are important, treat them with more care
(DC,s etc).
 Decide on goals and list them out, otherwise you're just doing random crap
they may or may not help you learn something.
 Put your systems on a UPS.  They are fairly cheap.
 Document what you are doing... Journal/OneNote, etc... keep track.
Interruptions at home occur and can last days/weeks and when you return you
often cannot remember what state your system was in.
 Document your processes for your lab.  If you find a cool script to
populate AD, make sure you document it because you will be searching for how
you did that again in 3 months if you didn't track it.  (OneNote on your
SkyDrive is awesome for this)
 For PowerShell IRC can be a useful tool (#PowerShell on freenode)
 Multiple monitors with good visibility are cheap, you should have them.  (I
have 3, 2-23", 1-20")
 Multiplicity works great for using one keyboard/mouse while working on my
desktop and lab server.

Licensing... TechNet Professional, MSDN Subscription (more expensive)  and
MS Action Pack (need a business license I think), have a friend with such.

https://partner.microsoft.com/40016455
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
no URLl for friend.

Don't over complicate your lab, you are building something that is a tool to
play with.  Does it really need redundant power supplies and your house
re-wired for 30 amp lines?  :)

Steven Peck
http://www.blkmtn.org




On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 3:37 PM, Jonathan  wrote:

> Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
> (aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
> the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
> it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
> list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
> some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
> a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.
>
>
>
> Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set
> on using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):
>
>
>
>- 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
>form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
> - Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
>- (my wireless router just recently died)
>- 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about
>tying together to make a 4 post rack)
>
>
> I’d like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
> Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
> probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don’t have much need for it.)
> Ultimately, I’d like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
> basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
> and Linux too...
>
> Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
> MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
> going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jonathan
> A+, MCSA, MCSE
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbelts

RE: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Brian Desmond]

Hi-

The way I do this is I have a refurb Dell Precision I bought which basically 
has a server motherboard and server CPUs. I bought it a number of years ago so 
one consumer CPU is probably faster than the Xeons in there, but, it's more 
than suitable. It has a max capacity of 64GB of RAM so I add 8GB at a time when 
I want to spend the money and need it. I'm up to I think like 26GB right now. I 
have an external 4 drive SATA cage running RAID10 (so 2T useable) which 
provides excellent perf for my needs. I added an Adaptec SATA RAID controller 
at some point also.

The whole thing is running on some VMWare vSphere 4.0 Enterprise Plus or 
something. VMWare was kind enough to comp me a couple licenses of this. I don't 
know if they have an MSDN type thing. As far as MS licensing, I would look at a 
Technet subscription. It's probably the best deal.

Personally I wouldn't go overboard with the hardware. Don't forget how much 
power this stuff sucks down. The single machine I have with the above specs is 
more than sufficient. Dell's outlet is a good deal for this stuff. Find a 
refurb/open box engineering workstation that's marked way down there and you 
can improve it as needed. Same warranty and everything as new.

I have a couple Dell 8 port GigE switches (they're like 80 bucks a pop) that I 
have under my desk and a simple router. I have the lab stuff on a separate VLAN 
but that's the extent of it.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com

w - 312.625.1438 | c   - 312.731.3132

From: Jonathan [mailto:ncm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2011 3:37 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid 
(aren't we all?). I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of the 
few tech heads out there that doesn't have a home lab setup, and I think it's 
about time that I change that. We've had numerous discussions on this list 
about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I'd like to hear some 
suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I'm on a 
budget - I don't have thousands to spend, but I've got to start somewhere.

Here's what I've got right now that is potentially useable (I'm not set on 
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):


  *   3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop form 
factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM

  *   Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps

  *   (my wireless router just recently died)

  *   2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about tying 
together to make a 4 post rack)

I'd like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange, 
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will 
probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don't have much need for it.) 
Ultimately, I'd like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit 
basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah, and 
Linux too...

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain MS 
licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really going 
to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

Thanks,

Jonathan
A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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OTish? - Building a home lab from scratch

[Jonathan]

Alright ladies and gents, I'm looking for suggestions and pitfalls to avoid
(aren't we all?). I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but I'm probably one of
the few tech heads out there that doesn’t have a home lab setup, and I think
it’s about time that I change that. We’ve had numerous discussions on this
list about home vmware setups and personal SANs etc, and I’d like to hear
some suggestions on what I should start with, mistakes to avoid, etc. I’m on
a budget – I don’t have thousands to spend, but I’ve got to start somewhere.



Here’s what I’ve got right now that is *potentially* useable (I'm not set on
using this stuff, but right now it is just collecting dust):



   - 3 or 4 old Dell Optiplex desktops (one MT form factor, and 2 desktop
   form factor) with P4 procs and a couple Gigs of RAM
   - Broadband Cable connection @ 10 Mbps
   - (my wireless router just recently died)
   - 2 free standing two post 7 foot racks (that I was thinking about tying
   together to make a 4 post rack)


I’d like to focus on Windows Server 2003/2008 & Powershell. Exchange,
Sharepoint, and SCCM are of particular interest, and so is vmware (I will
probably want to play with Hyper-V, but don’t have much need for it.)
Ultimately, I’d like to include some Cisco as well, as I have a good (albeit
basic) Cisco background with PIXes, ASAs, and Catalyst switches. Oh yeah,
and Linux too...

Finally, I'd also be interested in suggestions for how to [legally] obtain
MS licensing on the cheap if that's possible - 120 day evals aren't really
going to cut it. Action Pack? MSDN?

Thanks,

Jonathan
A+, MCSA, MCSE

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
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with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin