Hi all,
I had posted a somewhat similar question in this forum last summer (http://www.techist.com/forums/f130/recommendations-building-home-lab-277758/) but then life happened and l never got to make much progress on this. But now I have the means and time to get this done and I'd like some help.
What I'd like to do is set up a home lab environment to basically run a scaled-down version of IT infrastructure (i.e. Active Directory, switches/routers, a firewall with a server behind it, etc.) I have worked in some areas of IT infrastructure, but there's definitely areas where I can improve on and I thought running my own scaled-down environment would be a great way to do that.
In terms of virtualization tools, I was looking at ESXi and GNS3 to network everything together, but I'm new to both so if anyone had other recommendations or good start-up guides, that'd be great!
And for hardware: I have an Acer desktop w/ 16 GB RAM (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883101270) I purchased last summer for a somewhat similar task - but I'm not sure if this would be powerful enough to run everything. If not, I was thinking of looking at another beefy desktop w/ 32+ RAM or possibly several small form factors PCs with 16GB each. Space-saving is key for wife approval
So, long story short:
1. Best virtualization tools to use + any guides on getting started? (Right now thinking ESXi and GNS3)?
2. Is my current hardware enough to run this setup? If not, recommendations on new hardware (one beefy PC or several small form factor PCs would be preferable)?
Really appreciate any feedback! Thank you!
I had posted a somewhat similar question in this forum last summer (http://www.techist.com/forums/f130/recommendations-building-home-lab-277758/) but then life happened and l never got to make much progress on this. But now I have the means and time to get this done and I'd like some help.
What I'd like to do is set up a home lab environment to basically run a scaled-down version of IT infrastructure (i.e. Active Directory, switches/routers, a firewall with a server behind it, etc.) I have worked in some areas of IT infrastructure, but there's definitely areas where I can improve on and I thought running my own scaled-down environment would be a great way to do that.
In terms of virtualization tools, I was looking at ESXi and GNS3 to network everything together, but I'm new to both so if anyone had other recommendations or good start-up guides, that'd be great!
And for hardware: I have an Acer desktop w/ 16 GB RAM (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883101270) I purchased last summer for a somewhat similar task - but I'm not sure if this would be powerful enough to run everything. If not, I was thinking of looking at another beefy desktop w/ 32+ RAM or possibly several small form factors PCs with 16GB each. Space-saving is key for wife approval
So, long story short:
1. Best virtualization tools to use + any guides on getting started? (Right now thinking ESXi and GNS3)?
2. Is my current hardware enough to run this setup? If not, recommendations on new hardware (one beefy PC or several small form factor PCs would be preferable)?
Really appreciate any feedback! Thank you!
