I am currently in the process of obtaining my Net+, CCNA, MCSA 2003, and Linux+ certs in the time frame of 1 year and it is very important to me to get a lab setup so I can do more "hands-on" work to supplement my book knowledge. I was wondering if any of you wouldn't mind giving me your opinion on how I should implement my lab so that I can get the most hands-on experience possible. The wonderful thing, is that I have plenty of hardware and software to work with.........I just need some input on how to implement it. Internet = Broadband Cable I have purchased a domain Software: I subscribe to the Microsoft Action Pack ( https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40009848 )which gives me: Servers: - Windows 2003 Server Web Edition & Standard Edition (1 license each, 10 client licenses each) - Windows ISA Server 2004 (1 license) - Windows Exchange Server 2003 Standard (1 license) - OEM Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard (1 license) - Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition (1 license, 10 client licenses) - SQL Server 2000 (1 license, 10 client licenses) Other Software: - Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 (10 licenses) - OEM Windows XP Pro (1 license) - OEM Office Pro 2003 (1 license) - OEM Windows Media Center Edition (1 license) - Windows XP Pro (10 licenses) - Windows XP Home (10 licenses) - Office Pro 2003 (10 licenses) - Office Outlook w/ Contact Mgr (10 licenses) My Hardware: Router = Linksys WRT54G (802.11G with VPN pass-through) 4-port (acts as a firewall) Router2 = U.S. Robotics 8054 (802.11G) 4-port Hub = Netgear DS104NA (4-port) 10baseT / 100baseTX 4-port KVM switch (supports PS2) Cat5 = tons of it Plenty of NICs and 3-4 wireless adapters as well Desktop 1: 60 GB Hard Drive 1 GB PC133 SDRAM (can support up to 2.5GB) Runs @ 1.2 GHz DVD ROM & floppy Desktop 2: 200 GB Hard Drive 1 GB PC2100 DDR RAM (ram maxed out) Runs @ 1.2 Ghz Sony DVD Burner (burns all formats, supports dual layer) & floppy HP Laptop 1: (I use this machine the most) 80 GB Hard Drive 512 MB RAM (runs @ 533Mhz) (can support up to 1 GB) Runs @ 3.2 Ghz DVD Burner Compaq Presario Laptop 2: 8 GB Hard Drive 150 MB RAM Runs @ 400Mhz CDROM, floppy The way I was thinking of implementing my lab, is to setup several Servers on the 2 desktops using Virtual PC 2004 and then setup several clients on my HP laptop (also using Virtual PC 2004). I'm afraid I just don't know what servers I will need to use besides Windows Server 2003. Am I limited to only using some servers because I receive 1 dynamic IP from my ISP? Don't I need more static IPs if I want to run outside services like email and web? I know I can setup static IPs inside my "invalid" network (behind the router), but won't I need to setup static IPs on the outside for everything to work? Or can I just port forward everything through my router? If I am to do this, will I need to setup a demilitarized zone with 2 routers (firewalls)? I am trying to conceptualize how this network will go together without having any experience working with any of these servers. I have had a lot of experience working with peer-to-peer networks and port forwarding, however this is my first crack at distributed computing. If you guys could point me in the right direction or even just give me your opinion on how you think I should set this lab up, I'd really appreciate it. Rob

you may as well pick up a Cisco router if you're going for your CCNA. spence@mypersonalemail.com

Really depends on what you want - just a test network, or a real production network. If you want production network, then I wouldn't use Virtual PC's for any production servers. However, if everything is going to be for internal testing only. No, you don't need multiple IP's unless you're running multiple web servers with different websites or something like that. You sign up for a Dynamic DNS service to get by your ISP using dynamic IP. One note about using Virtual PC - for every VPC running in this test network, you must have a NIC for each you want to run at the same time if you want them to have network access to other PC's or the internet. IE, you would need three NIC's in each of the computers you wanted to run two VPC's on if the two VPC's plus the host computer all need internet access at the same time. Also, to run multiple VPC's on a computer, get as much RAM as you can. I can run a domain controller, a member server with other roles, and an XP client on an Athlon XP 3200 with 768M of RAM running XP Pro, but it's slow as hell. MCSE, MCSA Messaging, baby!