A/D Test Lab, Build The Machines

In order to build the test lab, let's define what we're trying to do.

Here's a quick picture, but essentially I need to build a domain controller, a SQL Server (shocking, right?), and a client machine.

In order to do that, I'm using VMWare Workstation, and although I BELIEVE this will work under Hyper-V, I haven't tested it.  It's worth talking about here what my network setup is, which VMWare makes super simple!

It's a pretty straightforward system setup - during machine creation, I have one NIC in the machine, and then, after install, I install another NIC with a different MAC, pointed at  a private network, VMNet2, selected as machines only.

Here's how I set that up in VMWare. Open Workstation, and then navigate to Edit >> Virtual Network Editor.

Then, I created a new network with the following settings.

I'm using evaluation software for all this, which I got from US Technet evaluations, which you can find here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/

It's worth noting that all the actual work of standing up the domain is separate from standing up the machines.

VMWare allows me to shortcut the process if it's an O/S that it knows about, and if not, then it still installs pretty quickly, albeit with a few more clicks of the mouse.

All the machines were loaded with a simple load, consisting of only the default administrator account, and no additional software.