Help building home lab to practice CCNA and MCSA?

[OCD-FREAK]

Hey so I'm a fresh graduate in computing and IT and I hold CCNA, MSCA, VM certificates, I'm looking to set up a home lab/playground to practice real life scenarios that I would encounter as a system administrator, as I have no experience in the IT field.

 

Money not an issue so throw at me any setup and I'll buy it, I already have some computers, laptops, printers and other devices laying around, I just want a way to build an environment similar to lets say a bank or company and maybe software that can create problems for me to solve and learn along the way.

 

** PLEASE DONT ASK ME TO GET A JOB AS I KNOW THAT LIKE DUH

 

Thanks for any contribution/advice   

[jaslion]

I mean the best practice is to get a job really. Like a it consultancy firm that sends you to many different projects. Gonna get WAAAAAYYYYYYYYY more experience than doing home lab. Also free hardware often.

 

As far as homelab stuff. Buy a couple random old desktops/workstations avoid servers due to extreme noise. Or if you have a room that can be earpiercingly loud get some old random server.

 

Else well build a simulated enviroment yourself.

 

But really just go get a it job you'll simply learn more on the job, get experience AND get paid!

 

Its how I started 5 years ago and I'm doing quite well. Also make sure to be good at bullshitting

[Isuck Assimov]

Cisco Packet Tracer would be an option as long as you're fine running simulations and not using actual physical hardware.

[OCD-FREAK]

1 minute ago, Isuck Assimov said:

Cisco Packet Tracer would be an option as long as you're fine running simulations and not using actual physical hardware.

ok and what about the other certs and a home lab in general ? i want to create and environment similar to what i would be facing when i work as a system admin or something 

[Needfuldoer]

[ Moved to Servers, NAS, and Homelab ]

[OddOod]

Buy a pallet of old SFF enterprise towers, some PoE security cameras, 2-4 Cisco switches, some laptops, and a disk shelf. Then build a decent do-all server out of consumer parts (5950X should have all the cores you need, and toss in an HBA for the disk shelf). Plug everything in and start messing around. Configure an entire environment. Push out software to specific computers. Create a giant F@H node. Create users, delete users, whatever. 
You could also expand your security knowledge by playing around with Kali Linux and try breaking into some of the devices. 
 

[OCD-FREAK]

9 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Buy a pallet of old SFF enterprise towers, some PoE security cameras, 2-4 Cisco switches, some laptops, and a disk shelf. Then build a decent do-all server out of consumer parts (5950X should have all the cores you need, and toss in an HBA for the disk shelf). Plug everything in and start messing around. Configure an entire environment. Push out software to specific computers. Create a giant F@H node. Create users, delete users, whatever. 
You could also expand your security knowledge by playing around with Kali Linux and try breaking into some of the devices. 
 

nice ideas, if possible could you elaborate more? once i was told to share some ip's on social media for people to mess up my home lab kinda cool as i would be fixing realistic problems  

[LIGISTX]

1 hour ago, OCD-FREAK said:

nice ideas, if possible could you elaborate more? once i was told to share some ip's on social media for people to mess up my home lab kinda cool as i would be fixing realistic problems  

No…. Do not ask for people to start attacking your house. That’s an incredibly horrible idea. 
 

Any PC will work as a homelab. Instal proxmox and start virtualizing environments. Set up pfsense in a vm to start handling vlans, set up different machines on different vlans, maybe get some managed physical switches and put different devices on vlans, set up an AD server, etc etc. 

[jaslion]

1 hour ago, OCD-FREAK said:

nice ideas, if possible could you elaborate more? once i was told to share some ip's on social media for people to mess up my home lab kinda cool as i would be fixing realistic problems  

Thats a TERRIBLE idea. You're literally asking people to attack your home. Your homelab is the least of your concerns here your personal devices will be at high risk and you can lead A LOT of damage in ways you couldnt even think off.

 

 

[OddOod]

1 hour ago, OCD-FREAK said:

could you elaborate more?

nope. not my milieu

 

[aggie113]

Too bad Microsoft killed Technet subscriptions...  Would be perfect for this situation.  

[m9x3mos]

1 hour ago, LIGISTX said:

No…. Do not ask for people to start attacking your house. That’s an incredibly horrible idea. 
 

Any PC will work as a homelab. Instal proxmox and start virtualizing environments. Set up pfsense in a vm to start handling vlans, set up different machines on different vlans, maybe get some managed physical switches and put different devices on vlans, set up an AD server, etc etc. 

This is a very good place to start honestly. And you can get some decent deals on used Managed switches depending on which country you live.