First time Windows Server Advice

[MrTechy]

Hi, I have just joined the Cloud Technology team at work to gain some experience in future technology. I will be working with mainly Windows (2008, 2012) VMs rather then Linux/Unix. I have no server experience and wanted a platform to start, please can someone advise on where to start in terms of picking up very basic server technical knowledge? I am currently undertaking a VCE course to help me understand the Cloud Infrastructure. Any advice would be much appreciated on how I can further progress...

 

Many thanks in advance!

[johnat1121]

The best advice Ive ever been given and would echo is to just set some stuff up and play you have two main contenders in the virtualization space Hyper-v and Vmware, very easy to setup on a old pc and make a base for a good little home lab setting up a windows network with AD DNS DHCP e.c.t, or you can setup a free trial of azure which will give you hyper-v style VMs in the cloud it will also give you a good insight into cloud servers and cloud technologies that are on offer, it may also be a good idea to look at office 365 as its arguably one of the mostly widely adopted "cloud" systems.

[Kineas]

You can download a Microsoft Server OS free trial, think it's for 30 days. Definitely get it setup at home, only thing you won't be able to do is run Hyper-V as this needs a server grade processor to run, that is if you plan on installing it on a spare PC. Doing this is all well and good, but you need to have additional computers to add to the domain you create, whether these are virtual or physical.

[JackCPickup]

You can download a Microsoft Server OS free trial, think it's for 30 days. Definitely get it setup at home, only thing you won't be able to do is run Hyper-V as this needs a server grade processor to run, that is if you plan on installing it on a spare PC. Doing this is all well and good, but you need to have additional computers to add to the domain you create, whether these are virtual or physical.

 

There are 180 day evaluation copies available for Windows Server OSes. A lot of desktops can virtualise these days too, you don't need server grade processors.

 

OP, Microsoft Virtual Academy is a good place to start. And if you can stick a bunch of RAM in a machine, get Windows Server 2012/2016 installed and try setting up some services, and some virtual clients to connect and use the services.