I am an Instructor at a community college in California. I have taught computer information systems classes for a number of years covering a wide range of computing technologies. I have some experience with VMWare but only on a limited basis. I have been tasked with setting up a computer lab for the purpose of teaching the basics of VMWare and HyperV to students. The level of the classes will usually not go beyond intermediate skill levels. I have room for about 20 students in this lab. I have the following setup in mind.
20 desktop computers capeable of running Windows 7
20 low-end servers (think a budget Dell poweredge)
1 additional server with more storage to act as a storage server
Each server/desktop shared with a KVM switch
Each server and desktop booting from external sata docking station. (Each student gets two drives to configure for the semester)
Each server and desktop with 2 gigabit ethernet adapters installed.
48 port Gigabit switch
2 24-port, or 4 16-port switches and a couple of cisco routers in order to create some subnetting configurations
All the mice, keyboards, extra hard drives, moniters, and cables to connect everything.
I am reluctant to install a Storage Area Network at this time.
My questions to the group.
Am I going in the right direction?
Is the SAN really needed for my needs?
Thanks for any advice you could offer.
Regards.