May 11, 2013 at 11:59 am
Hi.
I'm in the midst of setting up the lab environment. I have a server borrowed from work with 8 GBs of RAM and 140 GBs of hard drive space. I've got Hyper-V installed and working.
I've read over the great advice in this thread and the various links mentioned. Unfortunately I am finding that I'm still not quite clear on what is being suggested in terms of the setting up the 6 VMs.
I think I understand the idea of the parent/child differing disks configuration for SQL-A, SQL-B, SQL-C and SQL-D (although I have one big question which I ask below) but what about the DC and SQL-Core VMs? Is the idea that the DC and SQL-Core VMs do not need to be a part of this parent/child differing disks arrangement? Instead, these are set up as 'regular' VMs?
Koen suggests installing SQL Server on the parent virtual disk first. Does this mean we don't follow the install instructions in Chapter 1 of the training kit then, which seem to suggest we do the SQL install separately on each of SQL-A, SQL-B, etc and use this Kim_Ackers domain account (also meaning the DC needs to be in place first).
If somebody can add some clarity for me, I would be most appreciative!
May 11, 2013 at 8:31 pm
Can't say much about Hyper-V. I simply installed all VMs on VirtualBox, connected them into one network and read half of the 70-462 book doing practice exercises - everything is working fine.
May 14, 2013 at 3:10 am
netmikem (5/11/2013)
I think I understand the idea of the parent/child differing disks configuration for SQL-A, SQL-B, SQL-C and SQL-D (although I have one big question which I ask below) but what about the DC and SQL-Core VMs? Is the idea that the DC and SQL-Core VMs do not need to be a part of this parent/child differing disks arrangement? Instead, these are set up as 'regular' VMs?Koen suggests installing SQL Server on the parent virtual disk first. Does this mean we don't follow the install instructions in Chapter 1 of the training kit then, which seem to suggest we do the SQL install separately on each of SQL-A, SQL-B, etc and use this Kim_Ackers domain account (also meaning the DC needs to be in place first).
It's been quite a while now, and I'm not sure if the DC was part of the differencing disks. It is a small VM, so it doesn't really matter. The Core certainly was not, as it is a seperate install. Regarding the SQL Server set-up already done on the parent: if you do it once, you should know how to do it, so there's no need to repeat it 3 times. The only special one is the installation through the command line on the SQL-core machine, that's the one you should really practice.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
May 18, 2013 at 6:40 pm
I've made quite a bit of progress (after many hours) and have learned much in the process.
I now have the lab environment setup except that my VMs have no internet access. I've played around quite a bit and it seems once I use static IPs for my VMs, as instructed in the training kit, I lose internet access. However, if I use DHCP, I can access the internet from the VMs.
When using static IPs (via the netsh interface command), I notice there is no default gateway given but I'm not sure that is the issue.
I think I can press on without internet access but I think it would be preferable if it was available on each VM.
If anybody has faced these issues also and resolved them, I'd like to hear how you solved them!
May 19, 2013 at 1:05 pm
netmikem (5/18/2013)
I've made quite a bit of progress (after many hours) and have learned much in the process.I now have the lab environment setup except that my VMs have no internet access. I've played around quite a bit and it seems once I use static IPs for my VMs, as instructed in the training kit, I lose internet access. However, if I use DHCP, I can access the internet from the VMs.
When using static IPs (via the netsh interface command), I notice there is no default gateway given but I'm not sure that is the issue.
I think I can press on without internet access but I think it would be preferable if it was available on each VM.
If anybody has faced these issues also and resolved them, I'd like to hear how you solved them!
If you want internet access, you need two network adapters: one for internal communication between the servers, and one for external communication (the Internet). The internal will have fixed IPs like in the training kit, the external one will use DHCP to connect to the web. If you want to do clustering, you'll need an extra network adapter for clustering traffic.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
May 19, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Works great, many thanks again.
May 28, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Questions for those of you building out the lab described in the 70-462 book:
Do you have several physical servers that you're building this on, or are you all invested in high-end workstations that ran run multiple VMs?
My situation: My current home computer (4-5 years old or so) has Windows 7 64-bit with the maximum 4GB RAM the motherboard will accomodate. I had been running a VM of Server 2008 (32-bit - my processor doesn't support 64-bit virtualization) with an instance of SQL Server interacting with an instance of SQL Server Developer Edition on my Host Windows 7 OS. The VM is set to 2GB of RAM as I felt it would be too slow with anything less. Well between the VM, Outlook, SSMS and anything else I was running, my computer occasionally ran out of RAM, started paging and everything slowed to a crawl.
My solution was to set up a VM on my wife's computer (6GB of RAM) running Server 2008 R2 and use a SQL instance running there. But she complains I make her computer run slow, even though the VM is set to 2GB, and I'm still limited to 2 SQL instances at one time.
I'm considering investing $1,000 or so in a new i7 12GB monster workstation, which I figure could run multiple Server 2008 R2 VMs simultaniously. This would also free up my present computer to be rebuilt as a physical 2008 R2 server for another instance.
Is this what I need to do? Or can I run my VMs with less RAM?
On a related note, does a 2008 Server Core installation run better with less RAM than the regular version due a lack of the Windows GUI and other features? I haven't done this install yet. Is it worth the time then? Can it be managed via RDP or do you need to be at the phuysical (or VM) console?
May 28, 2013 at 2:09 pm
4GB is not a lot of RAM, especially since Windows has to have a piece of it as well.
You know give a VM 1GB of RAM and it will still run somewhat acceptably. You're not doing high performance TSQL development, but rather some basic administration stuff.
Most of the time you only need to run 2 servers at the same time, so it's possible to over allocate your RAM.
I don't really have an idea of the RAM usage of Windows Core, but I can imagine it uses less because it is a stripped down version of the OS.
Not sure you can RDP into it. You basically have a cmd module and a powershell module. To manage SQL Server however you can just connect with SSMS from another computer, so there's no difference there.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
July 7, 2014 at 2:23 pm
Hey
Would appreciate some advice please.
As per the original post, I would like to set up the training environment for the 70-462 training kit book I just purchased so I can do the exercises etc.
My system:
Dell Latitude E6530
Processor is i7
4GB of RAM (I have ordered another 4GB yesterday)
500GB HDD
OS: Windows 7 Pro
Virtualisation Hardware requirements (from book):
"x64-based processor that includes both hardware-assisted virtualization (AMD-V or
Intel VT) and hardware data execution protection. (On AMD systems, the data execution
protection feature is called the No Execute or NX bit. On Intel systems, this feature
is called the Execute Disable or XD bit.) These features must also be enabled in the
BIOS. (Note: You can run Windows Virtual PC without Intel-VT or AMD-V.)"
My processor seems to have these attributes (see link above)
I would prefer as most people would to not go with the 6 physical computers option and opt for virtuals but I'm running into problems. Seems as though because I'm running Win7 then I can't use Hyper-V.
The book recommends that I use Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. Hmmm. Sorry I don't have that. I could get a 180 day trial of it of course, but what then? Do I just format my laptop, install the 180 day trial server OS, have 180 days with the server environment then it's all over?
Some guidance here would be highly valued.
I got excited when I found this blog[/url]. But was disappointed when I discovered the host machine is assumed to be Windows 8 🙁
When I installed the RSAT as per I get as far as the virtual switch section in the above walk-through then brick wall. There is no such setting in the Windows 7 Hyper-V manager.
Sorry for the lack of clarity, I am not in my field of expertise.
Helpful advice welcomed and appreciated.
Thank you
kind regards
Paul
July 7, 2014 at 3:03 pm
If you can't use HyperV, then VirtualBox is a good alternative.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
July 7, 2014 at 4:02 pm
If 8GB is the maximum your laptop can run, then I would create one VM and using Virtual Box or VMPlayer create a stand-alone Widnows Server 2008 VM and assign it 4GB of RAM. The Evaluation Edition will work for 180 days and when you get toward the end there is a command that will extend it out for another period of time. You can find more information in the Microsoft site. After that I'm afraid you will have to start over, but if you backup your databases and anything else critical off of the VM first, you can make a new VM and practice your disaster recovery strategy. 😉
For the failover clusters and perhaps other high availability exercises, you'll need at least three servers. I would create a domain controller and give it 1GB since the authentication duties will be light in your practice environment. Create two member servers with 2GB each. Not a lighting fast setup but you can get mirroring, AlwaysOn and cluster failovers to work.
I am assuming this is the only computer in the house. If there is another, even an older one with only 4GB of RAM you can run a VM there and access it through your home network.
July 8, 2014 at 1:22 pm
Hey
many thanks for the help people. I will likely post again with another question or let you know what I've done.
kind regards
Paul
January 26, 2015 at 4:58 pm
Hey guys, Thanks for sharing a lot of really good information here on how to set up the environment for the 70-462 training kit BUT i still feel like a deer in headlights since I've never worked with VMs, Hyper-Vs, etc.
I am planning on starting the training kit soon and wanted to know what my next steps are. So far have I have a Windows 7 laptop (which i believe does not support Hyper-V) running on Intel i7. Plenty of RAM (pretty sure I do) and 100+GB hard disk space. I have an instance of SQL Server 2012 running on the laptop and Windows Server 2008 R2 iso burnt to a disk.
Any help on my next steps is greatly appreciated =/
January 27, 2015 at 8:34 am
There are three virtual labs that you can use to practice without setting up your home lab:
Exploring AlwaysOn Availability Groups in SQL Server 2014
https://vlabs.holsystems.com/vlabs/technet?eng=VLabs&auth=none&src=vlabs&altadd=true&labid=12694
Exploring AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances in SQL Server 2014
https://vlabs.holsystems.com/vlabs/technet?eng=VLabs&auth=none&src=vlabs&altadd=true&labid=12693
SQL Server 2012: Working with the SQL Server 2012 Availability Groups
You can also see more virtual labs here:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs/bb467605.aspx
These are linked from the Microsoft Virtual Academy training that you should also review:
Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Jump Start
Tips: review the Virtual Academy training at 1.4 or 2.0 speed because the default pace moves very slow. You can also take some of the assessment tests two times if you miss at least one answer, so I would intentionally miss at least one answer so I could be exposed to more questions during the retake.
Here is another resource I used:
Exam Prep: 70-462 - MCSA: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 from TechEd May 19,2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c2FUqUySDE
I passed the 70-462 exam without setting up any of the Hyper-V environments, but I did practice on a single instance, took the SelfTest practice exams and researched everything throughly. I had about six questions to order the correct steps in a process. Good luck!
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