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The first thing i need say is english isnt my native language so i hope u guys can understand me. I`m willing start host an website and mail services on my home, the problem is i dont have many computers, just an old but "good" computer able to use vmware and run 3 o 4 windows 2008.

The first idea i have is do this setup:

Host Windows 2008 DC Start an exhchange server in one Virtual PC Start an webserver in one Virtual PC Start an database server in one Virtual PC

My question start about the basics, the DNS, reading the microsoft docs, i see is an good pratice do a subdomain for DC and set the main domain on webserver, but i dindt get how this works... The link where i get this info:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc759036.aspx

So the point is i do the DC, install the Webserver, start an dns, set the DC DNS as forward to webserver DNS? Then the DC dns become something like as secondary DNS is it?

The setup i`m planning is the best option? Someone could gimme an hint if i would start by this setup or where i can get more info to my limited structure?

My PC Hardware:

16 GB RAM

3 HDs 1 TB each RAID 1+0

Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme 3.2 Ghz

Wisdom
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1 Answers1

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You could use VMWare ESXi 4.x or 5.x free to run several VMs. I have a similar setup on an old HP server with less hardware resources running 4 VMs with 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM and 16 GB hdd each one. First VM is the DC and has DHCP, DNS, NTP, TFTP, Web, Ftp, Mail and some more services, apps and shares, second has WSUS for Windows/Office patching, third with 2 NICs is our proxy/fw and external dns server, the last VM runs Spiceworks and The Dude for monitoring, inventory and helpdesk.

Almost forgot, OS is Windows Server 2003 SP2 fully patched, I think for 2008 you need to allocate more resources to each VM, also if you run Exchange for mail services you should use a dedicated VM, runnig the mail server in the DC is not a good idea anyway.

On the topic of DNS, I suggest you use just a domain for everything [yourdomain.net] or an internal (non exposed to Internet, configured in your internal DNs server on the DC) dns domain [yourdomain.local] and another public dns domain [yourdomain.net]. If you got more doubts or bump into something let me know and I'll try to help. Have a nice weekend.

camilohe
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  • Thanks for the hint, but I need an main OS for use this PC as desktop too sometimes, i have an old laptop that i use on my clients, but i wish have an backup of the notebook data in my PC, this way i will use the Windows Server Host as desktop while i`m at home. – Wisdom Apr 21 '12 at 04:41
  • Thanks for the hint, but I need an main OS for use this PC as desktop too sometimes, i have an old laptop that i use on my clients, but i wish have an backup of the notebook data in my PC, this way i will use the Windows Server Host as desktop while i`m at home. The Memory setup i think i gonna do this: 3 GB Windows 2008 Host 6 GB Exchange Server (VMWare) 1 or 2 GB for IIS (VMWare) 4 GB for SQL Server (VMWare) 1 or 2 GB for Antivirus / WSUS / etc... I will change this setup as soon i see an lack of memory, and my main focus is have the website + exchange + database Continue – Wisdom Apr 21 '12 at 04:57
  • For the desktop use on host i wil need basicaly office and visual studio. My concerns start about how to setup the DNS for an good performance, my ISP will provide one valid IP, so i will set this ip on the DNS with the IIS, then at this point the mess start for me. I know AD need the DNS for work well, and i will need (i think) one DNS on the IIS Virtual Machine, to setup the web aliases, then imo for fast login and avoid domain problems using the previous microsoft guide i need setup one DNS on the DC as sub domain, example: corp.domain.com or local.domain.com – Wisdom Apr 21 '12 at 05:15
  • ON DNS at IIS i will setup: domain.com So this is the best way to get this networking working? Next step would be do the DNS of DC as secondary and forward internet querys to DNS at IIS (main DNS) is it? – Wisdom Apr 21 '12 at 05:17