So in trying to stay relevant and on the tail end of some sessions that I saw at tech-ed about some of the new IIS7.0 features, I have decided to install Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 on my Dell Inspiron D630 as a host operating system. When it finally RTM's I will also install SQL Server 2008.
The install went flawlessly and I was up and installed in minutes.
Next, I wanted to get it to run like a workstation. I had heard of some sites that told you how to do this and came across what I think is the most comprehensive. Here it is. This covers everything from disabling shut down tracker, to setting up the aero desktop experience and more.
I added the following roles to my machine:
- Application Server
- File Services
- Hyper-V
- Network Policy and Access
- Web Server (IIS)
I also added the following features:
- .NET Framework 3.0
- Desktop Experience
- Remote Server Admin Tools
- Telnet Client
- Windows Power Shell
- Process Activation Service
- Wireless LAN Service
Since I want to save my host OS to only run SQL 2008, I decided that I would create some VM's. So I started by creating a Vista 64 bit machine and another Windows 2008 Machine. When I went to install the integration services (the mouse and keyboard integration) on my Vista machine, it said it was not supported. Bummer since having to press Ctrl+Alt+<ANYTHING> is too many keys. So I installed the 32 bit instead. I will use this as my environment when I need word processing and presentations and the like.
Next I need to figure out how base images on vhd files works. Hopefully it is the same as in 2005 so I can just migrate my server to Hyper-V. More on that later.