Building a Windows 2000 Test Lab
Building a Windows 2000 Test Lab |
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A lab environment can be distributed across numerous physical, or even geographical, locations. The case studies presented here describe how two organizations decided to use labs in this way.
A large high-technology hardware manufacturer is organized along functional lines. Its regional offices are located at various geographical sites, selected for proximity to the suppliers and vendors who support each region's particular function. This manufacturer developed a lab that spans three of its major United States sites, ranging across Southwestern and Western states. Each lab location is designed to test the functions and configurations used for that site's business. Each one is a permanent lab that is used for change management of the production environment.
Eventually the organization plans to expand the lab to encompass remote international locations, such as cities in the Far East, Middle East, Eastern Europe, and the British Isles. The organization will use these remote sites to design and test solutions for the challenges of a global enterprise, such as:
Another organization finds it important to be prepared in case of a disaster. This organization wants its geographically separated sites to be ready to function in the role of a centralized Information Technology (IT) department, if required. In this organization, the lab is a permanent change management lab that is also used for disaster-recovery testing.
In the event of a disaster, production machines at the selected location would be used to perform the IT department functions. To be in a state of readiness, the organization performs testing in the lab to ensure that all the needed hardware and software components are available and can function properly at the alternate location. These tests include the following: