Hello everyone,

I’m thrilled to join this community and seek your guidance as I navigate a new challenge. I recently secured a position as a desktop support engineer in a company, and my manager has urged me to broaden my knowledge into servers and hardware. The urgency stems from our system admin resigning, and my manager is hopeful that I can step up into that role.

To expedite my learning, I’m planning to create a home lab environment to gain practical experience with enterprise setups. Here’s my current hardware:

Main Gaming PC (Windows 10 stays primary due to EAC in games):

  • Ryzen 5 3500 6C/6T
  • 32GB Memory
  • GTX 1060 6GB
  • 240GB OS SSD (Windows 10)
  • 1TB NVMe

Dell SFF -1:

  • i7 7700 4C/8T
  • 8GB Memory
  • 240GB SSD
  • No OS

Dell SFF -2:

  • i5 6500 4C/4T
  • 8GB Memory
  • 120GB SSD
  • No OS

I currently have only one monitor for all these desktops and plan to buy a small 4-Port Switch soon. I’ve also acquired a static IP. Given my limited budget, I’m aiming to transform this existing setup into an enterprise environment using free resources and software for educational purposes.

Specifically, I have a few questions:

  1. Virtualization Software: What free virtualization software would you recommend for setting up different server roles with my current hardware?
  2. Free Enterprise Software: Are there any free resources or trial versions of enterprise software that I can use for learning purposes?
  3. Optimizing Hardware: How can I effectively utilize my existing hardware to simulate an enterprise environment?
  4. Software Firewall and Security: Can you recommend a reliable open-source software firewall, and what security measures should I implement in my home lab to align with industry best practices?
  5. Learning Resources: Any recommendations for learning materials or online resources that cover server administration, enterprise environments, and security?

Moreover, I’ve heard about Type 1 Hypervisors and would like to explore implementing them in my home lab to showcase their benefits. My manager takes security very seriously, and I want to ensure my home lab reflects best practices in this regard. While my manager is familiar with basic server setups like Domain Controller, AD DS, WSUS (which has some issues), and Office 365 Admin, I’m eager to go beyond these basics and prove my capabilities in handling a more comprehensive enterprise environment.

Thank you all in advance for your valuable insights and suggestions. I’m excited to embark on this learning journey and demonstrate my potential.

Best regards,