This info cant be new for most GSO users, but i post it here anyway for those that dunno how to set an Virtual Lab with vmware.

Preview Demo

You can also find the full tut ]here

Password: knowledgecave

what would i wanna do in this virtual desktop, what kind of tests???

It's a test lab.

What do they do in a lab? They test how monkeys respond on some kind of soap and write the results down.

Now implement that in a pc environment and you have the following:
They test how OS'es / pc's in general respond to virusses, other kind of malware or of course perfectly legal applications.

Works great because if you seriously mess something up, if you have a backup of the original Virtual Machine, just copy it over and start again. And it acts exactly like a physical machine.

We use these in class all the time, otherwise there would either be alot of time spent installing OS's to do a lab, or you would need many computers just for one student.

Very nice find, this tutorial was just what I was looking for lately.

---this tut can also be used in conjunction with VMWare 5.0

Hi ,
There are many designs and concepts to have Lab Environments for practicing Security related issues and testing.

Some of which can be
Controlled replication of Exploits.
Controlled Replication and Activity monitoring of Worms.
Creating IDS Signatures from newly released POC's.
Creating a Virtual Environment for testing of new exploits and tools.

These are just some of the basic uses you might make use of such and environment.

I am in the process of writing a paper on Controlled Replication of Exploits and Worms and creating IDS sigs from them.

Shall complete the paper and post it some day soon.