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.
