Regular IT guy

Just a guy – talking about technology … in an uncomplicated way.

Menu
  • Contact
  • Speaking
Menu

Windows Server “8” demo lab hardware setup

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Rick
Share on Social Media
twitter facebook linkedin email

After mulling things around for a while, consulting anyone who had an opinion on the topic and consuming various beverages over time – I finally sat down and planned out my portable demo lab for Windows Server”8” things.  I’ll be using it to create demos to share with the community and showing them off at various public events over time. I had some criteria to adhere to:

  • Has to be portable.
  • Has to have significant muscle to virtualize a large number of hosts.
  • One system has to dual boot to my “corporate image” so I can stay productive (this requires a bitlocker’d drive)
  • support multiple drives for better disk IO for virtualization
  • Large enough screens to work on stage

I’ve mostly settled on these two systems for my base configuration.

  1. Lenovo W520 with 32 GB ram, internal SSD (160GB for OS) and DriveBay extended 2nd SSHD (250 GB for VMs).
  2. Lenovo T410 with 8 GB of ram, internal 500GB HD. Smaller – lighter, but still powerful

MobileDemoLab

I am trying to get the size and weight down – I do have to carry this around with me on flights. My issue is the screen size. I need a large screen in order to have a more comfortable demo experience.

Dell-A-Saurus

(maybe I am just getting old)

That being said – I will probably switch out the T410 for my much loved Dell-A-Saurus a.k.a. Precision mobile workstation M6500. It has 16 GB ram, dual hard drives and a large screen.

Setup for the system? Windows Server “8” obviously. The Hyper-V role installed. I am starting with the GUI to get things configured – then I will be REMOVING in order to walk the walk and talk the talk of best security configurations and headless management capabilities. More on the exact configuration in my next post.

Networking? well – For now, since it’s setup time – I am using a simple consumer grade router to NAT my internet connection and isolate the two systems from the corporate network. Works well if I need to plug into something like a hotel internet / conference internet and share it between the systems.  I’ll be hard coding the IPs and making them self sufficient so that I COULD just have an Ethernet cable between them and still pull off Live Migration demos.

I’ll be documenting and sharing my setup experiences and demos here on the blog. stay tuned for more details and posts on setup configuration and demo scenarios you can build yourself.

Share on Social Media
twitter facebook linkedin email

3 thoughts on “Windows Server “8” demo lab hardware setup”

  1. Merlin Boissonneault says:
    April 3, 2012 at 18:15

    Check out the T420s, its a pretty deadly portable machine. You can get an i7, 16gb and run dual drives in it also and its super light with a big screen. Just got one from work and am loving it, nicest laptop i’ve had to use as a tool yet!

  2. Jonny says:
    November 7, 2012 at 05:39

    Hey there. I love the website. I have a very similar set up – T410 running Server 2012 and a Windows 8 VM. I have two questions:

    1. Do you use wifi? I am having a lot of problems with wifi drivers on the T410 with Server 2012.
    2. I like the way you use NAT to isolate the virtual network. Please can you provide me with any steps to do this so I can do the same?

    Thanks

    Jonny

    1. RicksterCDN says:
      November 8, 2012 at 14:50

      As the article says – I am just using a consumer grade NAT router (in this case it was a D-Link router) so the two systems would have a GB between them on the switch and a NAT connection to whatever network I was connecting too.

Comments are closed.

Follow me on Social Media
twitter facebook youtube linkedin

Recent Posts

  • Moved over to Dreamhost
  • Microsoft Azure HPC goodness
  • Whats new in Azure VM Images
  • Whats New in Azure Managed Disks
  • What up with Azure File Sync

Recent Comments

  1. Farhan Sattar on New Year, New Responsibilities
  2. Frederi on Tuesdays with Corey: Seasons Greetings and Until Next Year!
  3. Leon Han on HowTo: Bootable USB Stick for OS Install
  4. Frederi on Tuesdays with Corey: Seasons Greetings and Until Next Year!
  5. Rick Claus [rclaus@MSFT] on Tuesdays with Corey: Seasons Greetings and Until Next Year!

Archives

  • January 2023
  • March 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011

Categories

  • Azure
  • Azure 4 ServerHuggers
  • Azure IT Pro News Roundup
  • CH9 Videos
  • CloudOpsAdvocacy
  • Comments
  • Community
  • Debunking Azure Myths
  • Events
  • Helpful Tech
  • How To
  • interviews
  • Microsoft
  • Networking
  • PatchAndSwitch
  • Personal
  • Presentations
  • Security
  • Server
  • TechEd
  • Troubleshooting
  • Tuesdays with Corey
  • Uncategorized
  • Windows 8
  • Windows Server 8
  • Workarounds

©2023 Regular IT guy