Home Active Directory - Test Lab

Hi guys,

I'm new here, so bare with me!

I work in IT at the moment, but I'm wanting to expand my knowledge.

So, I want to build an Active Directory on my home PC, so i have a test "network" as such. Possibly look at having an Exchange server too at some point, if possible.

I have VM Workstation and Server 2008 R2 so can use Virtual servers for this.

But where to begin, I don't know and this is where I'd like some support.
I know how to install the AD roles, DNS roles etc

What else do I need?

Sorry for little info, I'm just not sure what I need or where to begin really!

 

Welcome to majorgeeks! I also work in IT.

I actually do the same, but a bit more. I use vmware workstation also, but I also installed ESXi on top of it with a trial to use their VCSA software mostly to create templates.

Anyway, the first question I have is how much ram do you have on your computer? If you only have 8 GB's of ram, then I'd increase this to at least 32 if not more (if you can do this). I have 64 and I'm running out of ram since most of my servers I grant 4 GB.

2nd, how much storage do you have? I bought a 1 TB Samsung EVO 850 drive (wish I went pro). I dedicate this to just running my VMs.

Also, download the new 2012R2 servers as a trial to learn this version instead of 2008R2.

I'd first go with installing a new server with DNS and DHCP and active directory domain services.

Spin up a 2nd for a storage drive and perhaps a KMS server. 3rd a windows 10 computer to join in and have network shares to the storage server. 4th go with exchange 2013. Then install outlook 2013 on the windows 10 machine and see if you can connect.

I could go on and on. It is fun working with this stuff.