How to Build Your Own IT Home Lab
Have you ever wanted to start your own home lab to learn new skills in IT? Always wanted to have a domain controller of your own so you can experiment with GPOs (Group Policy Objects)? Have a potential solution for a problem at work but you don’t have an environment to test it? You’ve come to the right place my friend! I’m going to go over several ways you can start your own home lab. We will learn several different ways to get started. I’ll go over what software and hardware you need and provide links to everything to save you time.
I’ll update this article with an outline so you can use it as a jump point in case you already have a lab setup and are looking for some tips and tricks or a step-by-step guide on how to do something new.
In this series of articles, you will learn the following:
- Where to get the software needed to create an enterprise environment at home.
- Tips on what hardware to use.
- How to create a virtual environment using Microsoft’s Hyper-V technology.
- How to create a virtual environment using Proxmox.
- How to create a virtual environment using Oracle Virtual Box.
- How to create a virtual environment using VMware’s tech stack.
- We’ll look at ways to access your lab from anywhere.
- We’ll look at using Docker Containers in our lab.
- We’ll go over how to set up various services in our lab such as Uptime Kuma, PiHole, and Dashy.
- We’ll deploy Ubuntu VMs as well as other Linux-based systems such as Kali.
- We’ll deploy Windows clients and servers.
- We’ll spin up Active Directory, DHCP, and DNS services.
- We’ll create print servers and file shares.
- We’ll learn about Group Policy.
- We’ll write scripts in PowerShell and create useful batch files.
- We’ll create VM templates and deploy them.
- We’ll look at useful tools every IT professional should know, such as PsExec and Robocopy.
- We’ll set up SCCM.
- We’ll look into Azure and managing devices with Intune.
- We’ll learn about Infrastructure as Code with Terraform.
- We’ll create virtual desktop environments with VMWare Horizon and Azure Virtual Desktop.
All of the above and much more! You’ll learn how to do these things step by step, and I’ll also show you tips and tricks along the way and share lessons I’ve learned working as an IT professional for 20 years.
Thank you for your time and keep an eye out for the next article in this series where we will learn where to get all the software and tools needed to build out your own IT Homelab.
Next Article in This Series
Where to Download the Tools Needed for An IT Homelab
