Setting Up My First Home Lab
This is it! The first major step in my hands-on learning journey. Building a home lab felt incredibly intimidating, but I decided to just dive in. My main goal was to create a sandboxed environment where I could practice offensive and defensive techniques without, you know, breaking the law or my own network.
My Goals for the Lab
I wanted to keep it simple and budget-friendly. My primary objectives were:
- Learn virtualization (I chose Proxmox)
- Understand network segmentation (using pfSense)
- Build a basic Active Directory environment (a classic target)
- Deploy a vulnerable machine to attack (like Metasploitable)
The Hardware
You don’t need a massive server rack! I started with an old desktop PC I had lying around.
- Model: Old Dell OptiPlex
- CPU: Intel i5 (8th Gen)
- RAM: 16GB (I did upgrade this, cost about $40)
- Storage: 500GB SSD
The Software Stack
Here’s what I installed and why:
Proxmox VE
The hypervisor that runs everything. Free, powerful, and perfect for learning.
pfSense
Firewall and router. Essential for network segmentation and security testing.
Windows Server 2019
For Active Directory. The bread and butter of enterprise environments.
Metasploitable 3
Intentionally vulnerable Linux box for practicing attacks safely.
Network Architecture
I created three separate VLANs:
- Management VLAN: For accessing Proxmox and pfSense
- Lab VLAN: Where my vulnerable machines live
- Attacker VLAN: Where I run my Kali Linux VM
Lessons Learned
This project taught me more than I expected:
- Virtualization concepts and resource allocation
- Network fundamentals and VLAN configuration
- Firewall rules and network security
- Active Directory basics and user management
- Linux administration and service configuration
Next Steps
Getting this up and running took a whole weekend and a lot of troubleshooting, but the feeling of seeing my virtual machines talking to each other (and attacking each other) was incredible. Next up, I’ll be documenting how I installed and configured Active Directory, and then we’ll dive into some actual penetration testing!
💡 Pro Tip: Start small! You don’t need enterprise-grade hardware to learn. An old desktop with 16GB RAM can run 3-4 VMs comfortably. Focus on understanding the concepts rather than having the latest hardware.