Hi all,
I'm trying to put together a home lab environment to start practicing with Kali Linux and some other security tools, as well as improve my networking and general tech knowledge. (Ultimately I'm trying to build additional skills to move myself out of desktop support and into a more security-focused role.)
I was thinking of getting one PC to run multiple VMs - at this time I'm thinking no more than 2-4 VMs at any one time. Basically I'm thinking I'd be running Kali Linux and one or two vulnerable distributions (i.e. Metasploitable, WebGoat, etc).
What should I generally be looking for in a desktop to host this lab environment? Multiple cores (i5 or i7s?), lots of RAM (8GB-16GB or more), SSD vs larger HDD? Would a refurbished machine be adequate if I'm just starting out with this lab environment?
Obviously I could opt to max out everything and have a super-powerful machine so that resources are never a problem, and I'm willing to do that if it's truly necessary. But my thought is that I'm just starting out and didn't want to buy something overpowered that I didn't need just yet. Ideally, I'd like to be in about the $500 wife-approved range if that's do-able
If anyone could give me an idea of what a good lab PC should look like, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you!
I'm trying to put together a home lab environment to start practicing with Kali Linux and some other security tools, as well as improve my networking and general tech knowledge. (Ultimately I'm trying to build additional skills to move myself out of desktop support and into a more security-focused role.)
I was thinking of getting one PC to run multiple VMs - at this time I'm thinking no more than 2-4 VMs at any one time. Basically I'm thinking I'd be running Kali Linux and one or two vulnerable distributions (i.e. Metasploitable, WebGoat, etc).
What should I generally be looking for in a desktop to host this lab environment? Multiple cores (i5 or i7s?), lots of RAM (8GB-16GB or more), SSD vs larger HDD? Would a refurbished machine be adequate if I'm just starting out with this lab environment?
Obviously I could opt to max out everything and have a super-powerful machine so that resources are never a problem, and I'm willing to do that if it's truly necessary. But my thought is that I'm just starting out and didn't want to buy something overpowered that I didn't need just yet. Ideally, I'd like to be in about the $500 wife-approved range if that's do-able
If anyone could give me an idea of what a good lab PC should look like, I'd really appreciate it! Thank you!