My guest for this episode is Andrew Higginbotham.
Andrew is a Microsoft Certified Master in Exchange 2010 and a Microsoft Certified Solutions Master in Exchange 2013. He is also an Exchange Server MVP. Andrew works for Dell as a principal engineer in the Global Support and Deployment organization.
In this episode Andrew and I discuss our new eBook, the Exchange Server Troubleshooting Companion.
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Hi Paul,
Another great podcast, keep them coming!
You talk about running a lab, and you’ve linked to articles about the hardware which have been interesting. When it comes to the software though, do you have any recommendations other than using the eval versions available from Microsoft?
I’d like to have a lab running full time, but I don’t really want to keep rebuilding and migrating every 180 days, and an MSDN subscription at $6000 is not really going to pass the minister for finance.
Daniel
In the good old days a TechNet subscription was cheap enough to pay for personally and use. I was really disappointed when that went away.
So yes, eval versions are basically what we need to live with now. Although I have an MSDN subscription as an MVP benefit, I actually spent a few days writing scripts to automate the build of Exchange lab environments. So I can spin one up in about an hour, and that hour is largely hands off now too, so it’s very convenient.
If you wanted a *persistent* lab, you could just throw in new VMs to replace the expiring ones every 180 days or so, and migrate FSMO roles and Exchange data across to them. A little less convenient, but still entirely doable.
Thanks Paul,
That was what I thought. I would like to have a persistent lab, and did have previously with a technet subscription. I think the entire IT community is still in mourning about this loss.
Guess I will just need to work something out in regards to automating as much as possible. Problem is I also do Skype for Business, so there are lots of moving parts required to keep moving that over.
Daniel
I feel you. Just focus on automation. If you want a scenario, script it, don’t build it manually. The investment up front in automation will make the repeated rebuilds mostly a non-issue for you.