The Training Grounds · Home lab

Build a lab without wrecking your budget

You learn IT by breaking things safely. Pick the tier that matches what you have today. Prices are rough examples.

Level 1

$0 use what you own

VirtualBox on your PC

VirtualBox is free, and 16 GB of RAM is a comfortable minimum
Free Microsoft evaluation ISOs: 90 days for Windows 11 Enterprise, 180 days for Windows Server 2025
Snapshot before every experiment
Good for: command line, AD, basic networking

Level 2

~$100 used mini-PC

Always-on lab box

Refurbished small-form-factor desktop
Install Proxmox, run 3-5 small VMs
Practice remote access and backups
Good for: Linux, DNS, DHCP, file servers

Level 3

~$500 real network

Proxmox plus managed switch

32 GB RAM host and a VLAN-capable switch
Firewall VM such as pfSense or OPNsense
Segment servers, clients and guests
Good for: firewalls, VLANs, an MSP-style stack

Your first quest: a small lab project

# Goal: One domain controller, one Windows client 1. Create a private virtual network 2. Install Windows Server, promote it to a domain controller 3. Join a client VM to the domain 4. Create a user, reset the password, map a share Done. That is most of an entry-level interview, built by hand.