Virtual Computing: Best Tools for Certification Preparation

To install, or not to install? That is the question!

We need to get that all important experience playing with the ins-and-outs of some OS, such as Linux or Windows Server 2003, but all we have available to us is our own single PC.

No Way! I’m not about to attempt a dual-boot scenario, and put my own system at risk.

Back in the day, as they say, that would have been our only option. Or, we could buy another PC, and install the OS on that system. Better yet, we could do a complete back-up of our system and data, then wipe out our Hard Drive, reformat, and reinstall the new OS.

When we’re done, we just restore the image of our original system, and we’re good to go. Seems like a lot of work, eh?

Welcome to the Virtualized Future

Well, those days are long gone, believe me.

As a matter of fact, you can run a single PC with just 1GB of RAM, and using the various options available to us in the Virtual Computing world of software, install almost every conceivable OS on your computer in its own Virtual PC.

That’s right. One virtual PC for every — and all — versions of Windows, multiple different versions of Linux, Beta versions of any application you would like … the list goes on and on.

You want to try IE8 Beta2? Put it on a Virtual PC. To be even more efficient, create a base-line "template" Virtual Hard Drive, copy it, and go nuts pushing the limits of any application, knowing that, if it crashes your "Virtual Computer," all you have to do is hit the delete button and that computer no longer exists.

Then, copy your template hard drive, and start all over. And NONE of that will ever impact your "Host," or main, computer what-so-ever.

Microsoft Virtual Computing

As I discussed in my last article, today we’ll be focusing on two specific offerings from Microsoft as we explore this virtual horizon — Virtual PC 2007 and Virtual Server 2005 – and how to apply them to our studies and preparations for our certification exams.

And, because this is our focus on the two applications, I won’t be spending time on the details of how to install or configure them. The installation of each program is actually simple and straightforward, and each application has a thorough and in-depth help file included.

I want to encourage you, though, to Train Signal’s CBT on Microsoft Virtualization. I’ve gone through the training, and it’s an excellent step-by-step on the theory, installation and use of both applications.

The product is a great learning tool. The section dealing with Virtual PC 2007 is actually at the end, so you’ll want to go through that first.

It should be understood that while these applications are free to download and use, the actual installation of any OS or application in a Virtual PC is still subject to the laws of copyright, and we should always have the proper licensing rights for each respective "Virtual Computer" that is installed.

This is particularly important if we intend to apply the most current security patches or updates. We also must ensure that our computer, itself, meets all the respective hardware compatibility requirements for each respective OS or application.

Microsoft Virtual PC 2007

To begin with, we’ll be discussing Virtual PC 2007, and move onto Virtual Server 2005 in the next article. You’ll want to download the free version of Virtual PC 2007 here.

Below is a picture of the Virtual PC Console, which is what you see once it is installed on your computer, and you’re running the program …

As you can see, I have personally installed 6 different Virtual PC’s (or Virtual Machines – VM, for this article – as they are referred to in the application) listed in the large box to the left, under the Menu Bar.

Initially, this space is blank, and as you select the New button and create a new VM, they’ll be listed like they are in the screenshot above.

The grayed-out thumbnails indicate that the VM isn’t running. When a machine is running, you’ll see a thumbnail of the actual desktop as it is configured on the VM itself. Once installed, all you have to do is double click the respective thumbnail, and the VM starts up like any normal cold boot.

To summarize the process, when you create a VM, you’re actually creating two files. Both have the same name that you designate, but one has an extension of .vmc (for Virtual Machine Console), and the other is .vhd (for Virtual Hard Drive).

Once again, I’m not going to focus on the details of the setup here, but wanted to give you a reference point to work from.

Please keep in mind that the extent to which you can use these VMs depends entirely upon your own PC’s hardware configuration. When you create these VMs and their associated virtual hard drives (VHD), you’ll need to assign how much RAM will be dedicated to that VM, as well as the amount of space you want to assign to the VHD.

Whatever RAM you allocate to the VM is effectively NOT available to your own host PC. Personally, I have 4GB of RAM on my PC, which means that I have 3.5GB available to my OS while my computer is running.

I’ve assigned 5 of the VMs 384MB RAM, and the one Vista Ultimate VM 512 MB. What this means is that if I’m running the two VMs as shown in the picture, with a total of 896MB RAM allocated to the two combined, my own host computer now only has approximately 2.5 GB RAM available for its own processes.

As you use this application to install VMs, you’ll need to keep that in mind, to ensure you don’t cause your own PC to become overburdened by lack of available resources.

Again, for purposes of a reference point, I am including a picture of the Settings dialogue below …

As you can see, the settings I selected were for my Vista Ultimate VM. As you look down the left side at the various settings, you’ll note the amount of the Memory I allocated, and the name of Hard Disk 1 has the .vhd extension I discussed above.

I want to reference a couple of other settings here, because they’re important to keep in mind.

The CD/DVD Drive is usually associated with your first physical Optical Drive on your own machine, by default. You also have the ability to "capture" an image file (such as .ISO files). Either way, you’ll need to install the OS, or respective application, onto the VM just as you normally would on any stand-alone PC.

In order to be able to connect to the outside world, you’ll want to associate the Networking with NAT (Network Address Translation). Again, this is better explained in a more thorough and detailed training product.

Lastly, the Shared Folders is also important. If you want to have access to files on your host PC, then you’ll need to configure a shared folder for each respective VM. In my case, I just made my own My Documents folder a shared folder, and you do this from within this Settings dialogue. You’re not actually making that folder a shared folder on your host PC.

The next picture is of my own host PC’s desktop. You can see the two VMs I initialized running in their own console window …

There are a couple of things to note on this picture. First, you’ll see that my host PC desktop is in the background, and each VM is in its own window.

Each respective window has icons showing … a hard drive, a CD/DVD, a floppy disk, a folder, and a network icon. If you right click on any of these, you’re presented with options that typically open the Settings Dialogue for that respective VM.

Right clicking on the CD/DVD gives you an option to capture an image or use the physical optical drive on your host PC. This will allow you to install the OS at first, and then any applications into the VM environment.

If you look closely at the lower right Task Bar of the Vista Ultimate window, the icon to the right of the "Desktop" toolbar shows an arrow in a half-circle. While I took the screenshot, this VM was actually updating the McAfee signature files in real time. I point this out to emphasize that these VMs function exactly like our own PC’s.

From this last picture, you can see I am running two separate VMs concurrently, all within the boundaries of my host PC. I’ve chosen to allow them to have a connection to the outside world, and anytime they run they’ll download and install updates as normal.

We can choose to keep them specifically isolated and closed, as well, with no contact to the outside. This allows for a completely controlled environment.

Practical Application for Certification Preparation

Now, with all of that said, how do we use this application to assist us in preparing for our certifications?

It’s actually a simple process. For example, suppose you were preparing to take your MCP exam for Windows XP or Vista. After installing Virtual PC 2007 on your host computer, you’ll create a new VM for the respective OS.

If you look back at the last picture, you’ll see that I name my VMs for the OS I’ve installed. If your only intention is to install the OS, without any other applications, my recommendation is to create the VHD to be 3x’s the requirements.

So, for Vista, I would create a .vhd of at least 45GB. Keep in mind that it won’t take up all that space, and you can later configure the drive to occupy only the space it actually needs. In reality, my .vhd for the Vista Ultimate VM occupies only 15GB of space on my physical hard drive.

While I designated 15GB for each of the three Windows XP Pro VMs, the actual size of the .vhd is a little over 3GB. To put it all in perspective, I installed McAfee, Spybot, Ad-Aware 2008 and a few other minor free utilities onto each VM.

This should give you a good idea of what kind of hard drive resources you need to have available.

You can also run each WinXP VM comfortably with 256MB RAM allocated to them. I’m running my Vista Ultimate VM with 512MB RAM. I also installed Office 2K7 on this VM, and wrote my last article on it. I noticed some sluggishness, but not much.

Always remember what I discussed above. You only have so much RAM available to your own PC, and each respective VM will reduce the available RAM to your own PC by the amount you’ve allocated to that VM.

So, once you’ve installed the OS onto the VM, you can then play with the OS without any risk to your own host PC. If you’re studying for the CompTIA Linux+ exam, install a free version of Fedora Linux from this link: http://fedoraproject.org/en/index.

You can also gain further insight into the Fedora project here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora_Core.

My personal approach is to create a blank VM and VHD that will meet the requirements of all respective Operating Systems, and save that as a template. Then, when you’re ready to install a new OS, copy the VHD and rename it for the respective OS, and you’re free to start all over (this is covered in good detail in the Virtualization video training that I referenced earlier).

You can get practice installing the different OS’s by repeating this process. Once installed, you can follow your training materials or Test Preparation questions (running on your host PC) to the exact points, and get valuable practical — and visual — experience, allowing you to focus on specific test objectives in a real-world and real-time environment.

As you can see, the practical applications of this software are boundless. If you want to see how beta versions of software function in the different environments — install them on a Virtual Machine.

When you’re satisfied, delete that VM and VHD. It’s as simple as that.

When we pick up next time, I’ll be focusing on how to use Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 to prepare for MCSA or MCSE. Don’t miss it!

 

Related Posts:

• Virtual Computing: Prepare for Your Exams with Virtualization
• Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 Released
• VMware Server: Creating a Virtual Machine
• VMware — The Virtual Machine in Action
• Working with the VMware Tools
• Virtually a Reality — Virtualization in the IT World
• Virtual Server to the Rescue!!

 

One Response to “Virtual Computing: Best Tools for Certification Preparation”

• Joby M Chacko Says:

  September 27th, 2008 at 2:25 am

  Wow!!!!, Excellent article, Really informative, you send the microsoft virtual pc 7 also,
  Thanks for them.
  Eagerly waiting for your next article

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