Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Allocating and Configuring Hardware

Ideally, the budget will be available to purchase the same server hardware and related peripherals (such as tape drives, UPSs, mobile devices, and applications) that will be used in the production migration. This is preferable to using a server machine that has been sitting in a closet for an undetermined period of time, which might respond differently than the eventual hardware that will be used. Using old hardware can actually generate more work in the long run and adds more variables to an already complex process.

If the testing process is to exactly mirror the production environment, this would be considered to be a prototype phase, which is generally broader in scope than compatibility testing, and requires ...