DalekSec Posted July 10, 2017 Posted July 10, 2017 I'm in the progress (again) of setting up Hyper-V on my home PC for testing etc. I use the Windows Server 2016 Evaluation edition, which is great as it's free.... but it only lasts 150 days. And i don't want to have to remake the servers every 6 months! What do you guys do? Is there a legal (i don't want any dodgy hacks, last time that happened to me i became half Human and we all know how that ended #ShotByJudas) way of doing it?
Arthur Posted July 10, 2017 Posted July 10, 2017 Lots of options... Microsoft WS2016Lab Windows Server 2016 rapid lab deployment scripts LabBuilder PowerShell Module for building a Hyper-V Lab environment from a simple XML configuration file. AutomatedLab AutomatedLab is a provisioning solution and framework that lets you deploy complex labs on HyperV and Azure with simple PowerShell scripts. It supports all Windows operating systems from 2008 R2 to 2016 including Nano Server and various products like AD, Exchange, PKI, IIS, etc. Hydration Kit for Windows Server 2016 and ConfigMgr Current/Technical Preview Branch This Kit builds a complete ConfigMgr CB 1702, and ConfigMgr TP 1703, with Windows Server 2016 and SQL Server 2016 SP1 infrastructure, and some (optional) supporting servers. I have never tried any of them though.
pcstru Posted July 11, 2017 Posted July 11, 2017 What do you guys do? Is there a legal (i don't want any dodgy hacks, last time that happened to me i became half Human and we all know how that ended #ShotByJudas) way of doing it? Do you have access to Microsoft Imagine (previously Dreamspark)?
DalekSec Posted July 11, 2017 Author Posted July 11, 2017 Do you have access to Microsoft Imagine (previously Dreamspark)? Yepp, my Boss just made me aware of this! Didn't know it had access to Server ISOs, Will give it a go when i get home!
JackCPickup Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 I personally like the 180 day evaluation. It encourages me to automate as much as possible when rebuild time comes, and it really ingrains what you're learning because you're rebuilding every 6 months. Some things can be migrated to new evaluations before the other is done, but overall for learning purposes it's good to tear down and rebuild your lab.
JackCPickup Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 Oh also Hyper-V 2016 is free so wouldn't need rebuilding every 6 months, just your VMs.
DalekSec Posted July 13, 2017 Author Posted July 13, 2017 Oh also Hyper-V 2016 is free so wouldn't need rebuilding every 6 months, just your VMs. Been rebuilding my VMs for the last 3 years every 6 months, get a bit boring But with my new plan, of remoteing onto the servers from a laptop instead of being on the PC. Will take longer to setup each time, so hence why i don't want to set them up every 6 months!
JackCPickup Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 Been rebuilding my VMs for the last 3 years every 6 months, get a bit boring But with my new plan, of remoteing onto the servers from a laptop instead of being on the PC. Will take longer to setup each time, so hence why i don't want to set them up every 6 months! Set up Hyper-V 2016 as the host, it's a proper hypervisor as opposed to installing the role on 2016. Bit of Powershell to learn to configure name and IP settings but once that's done you can use RSAT from another device to manage it. That way all you're working with is Hyper-V Manager or remoting directly to the VMs. Learning to automate this is great for your career going forward. It won't take longer with each setup, you'll be reducing it to minutes!
DalekSec Posted July 13, 2017 Author Posted July 13, 2017 Set up Hyper-V 2016 as the host, it's a proper hypervisor as opposed to installing the role on 2016. Bit of Powershell to learn to configure name and IP settings but once that's done you can use RSAT from another device to manage it. That way all you're working with is Hyper-V Manager or remoting directly to the VMs. Learning to automate this is great for your career going forward. It won't take longer with each setup, you'll be reducing it to minutes! I know how to set them up, i setup 12(ish) VMs every 6 months (One for each Doctor) Not all of them are Windows Server, have a few odds and sods mixed in there (Windows 95 for example) Plus i fully documented how i set it all up the first time for reference when i can't remember
JackCPickup Posted July 13, 2017 Posted July 13, 2017 Oh not questioning you or anything! Just what I like about having to rebuild, automate your workload and add it to your CV! As many services you can say you're confident setting up by different methods looks great on your CV, pimp that homelab.
MrKJLS Posted July 14, 2017 Posted July 14, 2017 I'm in the progress (again) of setting up Hyper-V on my home PC for testing etc. I use the Windows Server 2016 Evaluation edition, which is great as it's free.... but it only lasts 150 days. And i don't want to have to remake the servers every 6 months! What do you guys do? Is there a legal (i don't want any dodgy hacks, last time that happened to me i became half Human and we all know how that ended #ShotByJudas) way of doing it? Sign your school up for MS Imagine (if you can get it) We got ours under the schools OVS agreement https://imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/institutions/enroll You can also sign up as a student using your work email address. But you don't get System Centre.
DalekSec Posted July 14, 2017 Author Posted July 14, 2017 Sign your school up for MS Imagine (if you can get it) We got ours under the schools OVS agreement https://imagine.microsoft.com/en-us/institutions/enroll You can also sign up as a student using your work email address. But you don't get System Centre. Tried it last night and didn't seem to let me enroll as kept asking to verify, might be because the school isn't enrolled in it. Will take a look!
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