Recommendations for building a home lab

[GLaDOS]

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!

 

[RubberDuck]

I have been wanting to do the exact same thing, but haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I started some research on the topic and Rapid7, the creators of metasploit, put together a guide on how to do this. I think it is a good starting point. I was going to look for a relatively cheap server to use as a virtual machine host originally. After talking with my old college room mate, he reminded me that the cheaper servers often have cheaper power supplies and carry a rather high load of power consumption. He pointed me in the direction of buying a desktop computer and running Linux on it to provide the virtual machine environment.

I am very new to this site, I just actually joined. I am very curious to keep up with this thread and see what others have to say.


Sources:
https://community.rapid7.com/docs/DOC-2196

 

[S0ULphIRE]

If you're looking to run 4 VMs I'd say 16-24GB would be good. At *least* a quad core i5, and yeah SSD is pretty much always better than HDD if you can manage it but not strictly necessary, especially if you're looking to cut costs

If you'd like to get a feel for what it's gonna be like, just download ESXi (free version) and install Kali/Metasploitable and see how sluggish or not they are

Here's a guide to what you're trying to do: Setting Up Your Own Virtual Pentest Lab – Part 1 | wh33lhouse.net

 

[GLaDOS]

If you're looking to run 4 VMs I'd say 16-24GB would be good. At *least* a quad core i5, and yeah SSD is pretty much always better than HDD if you can manage it but not strictly necessary, especially if you're looking to cut costs

If you'd like to get a feel for what it's gonna be like, just download ESXi (free version) and install Kali/Metasploitable and see how sluggish or not they are

Here's a guide to what you're trying to do: Setting Up Your Own Virtual Pentest Lab – Part 1 | wh33lhouse.net

Thanks for the link! That's a great guide!

I never considered using ESXi, I always had imagined just installing VMware Player (or VirtualBox) on Windows and using them all locally on that desktop. Just to make sure my understanding is correct - I would install ESXi and my VMs on this desktop I purchase, and then I would access those VMs from the Vsphere client installed on my desktop. The VMs would be running on the ESXi machine and wouldn't pose a risk to the client machine running vSphere?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Yep that's correct. When you setup the VMs inside ESXi you can create a virtual switch that links them, absolutely no outside network contact necessary.

 

[GLaDOS]

Thanks SOULphIRE!

I finally had some time to shop around. I'm considering these options right now:

ASUS Desktop PC M32AD-US025S Intel Core i5 4460 (3.2 GHz) 12 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 740 4 GB Windows 8.1 64-bit - Newegg.com
Lenovo M73 Tiny Desktop PC - Intel Quad Core i5 Upto 3.0Ghz, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD - Windows 7 Professional 64Bit/ Windows 8.1 Professional - Newegg.com
Lenovo Desktop Computer IdeaCentre 300-20ish Intel Core i5 6th Gen 6400 (2.7 GHz) 8 GB DDR4 1 TB HDD Windows 10 Home - Newegg.com
HP Desktop Computer ProDesk Small Form Factor (G5R59UT#ABA) Intel Core i5 4590 (3.30 GHz) 8 GB DDR3 500 GB HDD Windows 7 Professional 64 (available through downgrade rights from Windows 8.1 Pro) - Newegg.com

I really like #1. Lots of storage, good RAM, good CPU. But I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. Thanks as always!

 

[GLaDOS]

So I've got it down to these two (the Acer wasn't in the original lineup):

Acer Desktop Computer Aspire T AT3-710-UR53 Intel Core i5 6th Gen 6400 (2.7 GHz) 16 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD Windows 10 Home - Newegg.com (Acer)

ASUS Desktop PC M32AD-US025S Intel Core i5 4460 (3.2 GHz) 12 GB DDR3 2 TB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 740 4 GB Windows 8.1 64-bit - Newegg.com (Asus)

Both CPU seem solid. Acer has a bit more memory (4GB more), but I tend to trust the Asus brand. Any thoughts?

On a slightly unrelated question - is DVD-RW necessary to rip DVDs using handbrakes? I saw only the ASUS had DVD-RW and I may double this to store home movies...

 

[S0ULphIRE]

If you're going for a prebuilt, then top rig wins. More memory, newer gen cpu = better graphics & will run cooler with less power.

BUT with that said. I wouldn't bother buying a prebuilt.
For one, you don't need a Windows license included cause you're just gonna put ESXi & linux images on there. Plus you can get a much more powerful rig & save money doing the below

These options give you double the memory of your Acer option (32GB vs 16GB), is DDR4 vs DDR3, and otherwise has the exact same specs (same CPU, same HDD capacity).

Total cost is $400, which leaves you $80 to pick a tower & power supply if you wanted to match the same cost as your acer ($479). Then you're good to go!


MSI H110M Pro-VD LGA 1151 Intel H110 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com
Hitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 HUA723020ALA641 2TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Hard Drive -OEM - Newegg.com
Crucial 32GB (2 x 16GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133 (PC4 17000) Desktop Memory Model CT2K16G4DFD8213 - Newegg.com
Intel Core i5-6400 6 MB Skylake Quad-Core 2.7 GHz LGA 1151 65W BX80662I56400 Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530 - Newegg.com

 

[GLaDOS]

Thanks so much for all the great info! I very much appreciate it!

 

[root]

it depends on what you want to do with the machines.

if you intend to setup a single machine and a web server with no graphics,
then one other machine as a Kali linux box to attack that test server,


then your requirements are very very low.

for comparisons sake I have a pretty old laptop with a 2 core 2.6G processor 8GB RAM, I could easily do what you want to do using either virtualbox or Vmplayer.