Hello everyone I'm starting to study Windows Server 2003 for future web hosting (I'm planning to host a website, and installation of custom software using it) I'm just beginning with my learning process and I need some advice for when things get more complicated, let me explain myself: I'm already renting the physical server and the software required to run the network operating system properly (windows server 2003, MySQL license, etc), I'm now able to connect to it using a remote connection from my office computer. But for practicing and researching purposes I would like to be able to "play" with the service in a more testing environment (in case I mess up) just to have more freedom to apply what I learn without the fear of messing everything up. Could you guys give me any recommendation of what will be the best approach in this case, maybe installing windows server on my house computer (which is where I study) or something else. The thing is that the books that I'm using are gonna start getting into more difficult and complicated topics and areas of the program and I would also like to work along those examples, to get familiar with the program in the best way as to access those areas of the program from my house. Any ideas or recommendations are highly appreciated Thanks in advance
First of all. Get rid of 2003. It's a great OS, but it's now 2 generations old. Get a hold of server 2012 (preferably) or server 2008R2. Both of these newer operating systems allow you to install Hyper-V, so you can set-up a test environment on a virtual machine and then mess it up as many times as you want without doing damage to the underlying host machine. Hyper-V 3 (Server 2012) is such a massive upgrade to Hyper-V 2 (Server 2008) that you may want to only go for Server 2012. On the OS standard licence you can run 1 virtual machine without breaking the licence if it's an SPLA licence, or 2 Virtual Machines if you purchase the licence. If you are a student you may be able to get an academic licence for very little money, and if you're a developer why not join their "Action Pack" programme to get a bunch of software for free for a small annual fee? If you really want to learn about the operating system then you need a local copy working - perferably on different hardware from your PC so you can set-up a small network and connect to the server remotely over your own network if necessary. The other great thing about 2008 and 2012 is their ease and speed of installation. Windows server has been a good OS since 2000, but 2012 is by far the best so far - it is an amazing system. Oh, and if you're stuck with 2003 due to your studies, STILL get 2008 or 2012 for the hyper-V capabilities as your host operating system, and create 2003 guest machines. Once the first guest is installed, switch it off, copy the VHD file (or VHDX for 2012) and you then have a "spare" copy of a server 2003 installation that you can use, abuse, and scrap when necessary. You then just copy the original VHD again, set it up as a new virtual guest, and away you go within a few minutes with a brand new 2003 server.