Recommendations for Windows Server and Hyper-V 2016

Hello. I'm totally new in the world of Windows Server, and I want to know the best practices for making virtual machines, and about hardware recommendations for the server host.

I want to run a virtual minilab over Hyper-V in my school's Windows Server 2016 Datacenter licence (yeah, I don't know how to make a domain controller, virtual networking, and any of these things, but I want to learn), but I don't know if my computer can run it (and do nested virtualization, and these kind of things). I have a i7 2600 processor, 8 GB RAM DDR3 and 1 HDD 7200 RPM SATA II of 500 GB (Is an Optiplex 990 fat computer). I want to put at least the enough VMs to experiment until make a minimal FailOver Cluster.

I too want to know the recommended vCPU/RAM/Other ratios to best work with virtual machines and use efficiently my computer, or even upgrade it. I'm starting to study computer systems engineering, so I want to improve as much I can in the first's years of my career. Any commentary will be very appreciated.

Thanks so much for your attention.