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Lecture 4 - Virtual - Laboratory - Setup

The document outlines the setup and importance of a Virtual Laboratory for IT projects, emphasizing rapid deployment, cost-effectiveness, and quality assurance. It details the four pillars of a virtual lab, various use cases, testing levels, and best practices for management. Additionally, it provides technical requirements for host servers, technician workstations, and virtual machines, along with user account security protocols.

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rtrsharmili
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13 views18 pages

Lecture 4 - Virtual - Laboratory - Setup

The document outlines the setup and importance of a Virtual Laboratory for IT projects, emphasizing rapid deployment, cost-effectiveness, and quality assurance. It details the four pillars of a virtual lab, various use cases, testing levels, and best practices for management. Additionally, it provides technical requirements for host servers, technician workstations, and virtual machines, along with user account security protocols.

Uploaded by

rtrsharmili
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Building a Virtual Laboratory for IT Projects

• Welcome to the Virtual Laboratory Setup


Guide
• Importance of Virtualization in IT projects
• Overview of key topics covered
Why Virtualization?
• • Rapid deployment of environments
• • Cost-effective resource management
• • Ease of backup and recovery
• • Flexibility in testing and development
Importance of a Testing Laboratory
• • Ensures high-quality deployment
• • Prevents errors in production
• • Provides an environment for training and
development
• • Supports continuous integration and
deployment
Four Pillars of a Virtual Laboratory
• 1. Laboratory Description - Defining strategy
and implementation
• 2. Laboratory Deliverables - How the lab
supports other projects
• 3. Laboratory Management Practices -
Standardizing operations
• 4. Future Plans & Growth - Expanding and
sustaining the lab
Use Cases of a Virtual Laboratory
• • Enterprise Development Environment -
Controlled testing for developers
• • Test Environment - Pre-deployment testing
of updates and patches
• • Support Environment - Helpdesk
troubleshooting without affecting production
• • Training Environment - Simulating real-world
IT scenarios for training
Different Testing Levels
• 1. Unit Testing - Individual component discovery and
validation
• 2. Functional Testing - Testing automation and
specific functionalities
• 3. Integration Testing - Combining different system
components
• 4. Staging Testing - Simulating production for end-
to-end validation
• 5. Pilot Project - Final test before deployment,
including administrative validation
Role of Virtual Machines (VMs)
• • VM technology simplifies deployment
• • Reduces hardware costs
• • Enables easy replication and scaling
• • Supports multi-OS environments
Physical vs. Logical Workspaces
• • Physical Workspaces: Requires dedicated
hardware, space, and maintenance
• • Logical Workspaces: Uses virtual
environments, reducing infrastructure costs
and complexity
Best Practices for Managing a Virtual Lab

• • Implement standardized configurations


• • Use automation for VM provisioning
• • Regularly back up virtual environments
• • Monitor and optimize resource utilization
Conclusion
• • Virtual laboratories enhance efficiency and
reduce IT overhead
• • Provide a controlled, scalable, and secure
environment for various IT operations
• • Essential for modern IT infrastructure and
project success
Define Lab Requirements

Understanding and Preparing the Lab


Infrastructure
Introduction
• Properly setting up a lab requires careful
planning and acquisition of resources. Avoid
using outdated hardware and ensure the lab
meets project needs effectively.
Host Server Configurations
• Dual x64 quad-core SMP Server
• 512MB RAM for the host OS
• 256 to 512MB RAM for each VM running on the host
• At least two disks for RAID 1 (mirroring)
• Preferably three or more disks for RAID 5 (stripe with parity)
• Use the largest disk size available (currently about 500GB)
• Retain about 50GB for the system drive
• Assign the bulk of the space to a data drive for storing VMs
• Retain about 50GB for a third drive for shadow copies produced by
VSS
• Dual network interface cards (NICs) at a minimum speed of 100
Mbps
Technician Workstation Requirements
• - 1-GHz processor (64-bit preferred)
• - 2GB RAM minimum
• - DirectX 9 support, 128MB graphics memory
• - DVD-ROM drive, Audio output
External Hard Drive
• - External 250GB+ hard drive, USB 2.0 or
FireWire
Virtual Machine Configurations
Standard Server VM

• RAM: 512MB minimum


• OS: Organizational standard
• Service Packs: All applicable service packs and hotfixes installed
• Disk Size:
– Drive C: 50GB expandable disk
– Drive D: 70GB expandable disk (optional)
– Drive E: 20GB expandable disk
• Network Cards: At least one NIC per VM
• CD/DVD Drive: Include ISO files for installation media

Enterprise Server VM:


Similar to Standard, with shared storage

Bare-Metal VM:
• RAM: 512MB minimum
• OS: No OS
• Disk Size: Drive C: 50GB expandable disk
• Network Cards: At least one NIC per VM
• CD/DVD Drive: Include ISO files for installation media

Vista/XP PC VM:
• RAM: 512MB minimum
• OS: Windows XP
• Service Packs: All applicable updates
• Disk Size: Drive C: 20GB expandable disk
• Network Cards: At least one NIC per VM
• CD/DVD Drive: Include ISO files for installation media
User Accounts & Security
• VM User Accounts
• In Unit and Functional testing, technicians
should have administrative access.
• In later testing levels, access should be
restricted to lab administrators.
• Servers should act as domain controllers for
ease of role assignments.
• Staging and Integration levels require tightly
controlled access policies.
Testing Levels & Requirements
• Different testing levels require different machine roles:
• Unit Level: Individual workstations linked to external disks.
• Functional Level: Shared machines among team members.
• Integration Level: Shared virtual and physical machines
with activated change control.
• Staging Level: A scaled-down production environment with
strict access control.
• Pilot Level: Production systems deployed to a test user
group (about 10% of users).
Lab Management Tools
• Virtual Machine Management
• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
(SCVMM) manages multiple hosts and VMs.
• SCVMM allows end-user testers to provision and
control their VMs.
• VMware Lab Manager provides full system
configuration management.
• Time-limit policies should be set to automatically
destroy unnecessary VMs.

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