Real World SharePoint® 2010: Indispensable Experiences from 22 MVPs

Chapter 1. Building a Perfect Test Environment for SharePoint Server 2010

By Shane Young

Over the past few years, I have been living the glorious "rock-star" life. You know the one — sleeping in different hotels, visiting cities I have never heard of, never seeing my family, and doing gigs to pay the rent. If I just had a beater conversion van and a mullet, life would be perfect. While I have been "on tour," the one thing I have to have with me at all times is a great virtual machine (VM) to do my demos with. A big part of that VM is all of the SharePoint goodness that is configured and running, but the real secret is getting all of the other pieces installed. That is where this chapter comes in.

This chapter examines the building of my current SharePoint 2010 VM — not just the SharePoint pieces, but everything. So, in this chapter you learn a bit about installing Windows, setting up Active Directory (AD), adding SQL Server with Reporting Services in SharePoint Integration mode, deploying SharePoint, and then getting little things like Office and Visio on there. This is lots of fun, to say the least. I will also share with you things like how long the operation took for me so that you have a point of reference when you get that nagging feeling of "that didn't seem right."

This is the same VM that the SharePoint911 team uses for their book writing, demos, and consulting engagements. It has served them well, and should be a great addition to your arsenal. Now, keep in mind that this ...