| ROUTEDBYTES | Guide to Starting a Home Lab |
Disclaimer! Please be aware, the information given below is a recommendation. This is not the exact way you need to go to make a homelab. There is no perfect home lab and they are all unique in their own way for your purpose. Below are just suggestions on the various routes that you can go. Additionally, pricing is from eBay for used hardware, pricing below is not for new purchase price.
What Is A Home Lab?
A home lab is a personal environment made up of hardware, virtual machines, networking equipment, or cloud resources that allows you to safely learn, test, and experiment without impacting production systems. Home labs are commonly used to:
- Learn new technical skills
- Practice certifications and lab scenarios
- Host personal services and applications
- Test configurations before deploying them professionally
- Gain hands-on experience with enterprise technologies
The best part about a home lab is that there is no “perfect” setup. A cybersecurity-focused lab will look very different from one built for systems administration or networking. Your lab should reflect your interests, goals, and budget.
Home Lab Routes:
Network Engineering Focus:
Network engineers design and manage the infrastructure that powers modern networks and the internet. This includes technologies such as VLANs, ACLs, routing protocols, SD-WAN, and BGP. A networking-focused home lab is ideal for anyone interested in working with enterprise environments, internet service providers (ISPs), or large-scale corporate networks.
- Cisco Packet Tracer - Cisco Packet Tracer is a free network simulation platform that emulates routers, switches, and other networking devices. It is an excellent starting point for learning networking fundamentals and practicing configurations in a safe environment. While it has some limitations for advanced enterprise features, it is more than sufficient for beginners and intermediate learners.
- Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) - Cisco Modeling Labs (CML) provides a more advanced virtual networking environment using actual virtualized network operating systems. This allows you to work with technologies that may not be fully supported in Packet Tracer, such as iBGP and more complex routing scenarios. The free version supports up to five active devices simultaneously, which is enough for most learning environments.
- 2-3 Managed Switches - Choice on hardware and brand will depend on what you want to go into. Cisco Catalyst 3850 switches can be found on eBay for $60-$100. Arista and Juniper switches can both be found for $60-$200.
- 2-3 Network Routed - These are the devices that the internet relies on. Routers are essential for learning routing protocols such as BGP, OSPF, and EIGRP. I'd suggest getting some Cisco 4431 routers, as they go for about $80-$100.
Systems Admin Focus:
These are the people who manage the servers and workstations around corporations. They typically do things from managing Windows Active Directory, to, in some cases, managing Linux servers depending on the company Size. In larger companies, Windows system admins and Linux system admins are usually split into two different teams. The best way to learn this is by using virtualization, you can either use a spare computer, which may be limited in power, or get a full fledged server.
- A virtualization platform - You need something to run some Virutal Machines (VMs) on. Windows has Hyper-V built into it if you're on the pro version, or you can download VMware Workstation or VirtualBox on both Mac and Windows systems.
- ISO's for Windows and Linux - These can be found for free on the Microsoft and Ubuntu website. Windows desktop has a free version which works fine for labs, and Windows Server has a very length and generous trial period. You will need the same ISOs in the medium to high cost route as well.
Voice Engineering Focus:
These are the people who handle VoIP phones, and the quality of the calls, and how they ring to various call groups, or phones. I do not have a lot of knowledge in the voice world, but still know enough to give some advice and be dangerous.
- Cisco Packet Tracer - again is a very powerful tool. You can do SIP/VoIP emulation in there, and is a great way to get your feet wet.
Wireless Engineering Focus:
Wireless engineers go about making sure there is amazing wireless coverage for things like laptops, wireless cameras, cell phones, and much more. Without wireless engineers, we would all be tied to a wall jack by a cable to get an internet connection.
- Cisco Packet Tracer - again, is a great tool to learn wireless on virtually. You can’t get the same experience as you can doing it physically, but you can still dive deep into learning how the Wireless LAN Controller works, with a couple of virtual access points tied to it.
- If you want to spend a little bit on this, you can find some Cisco AiroNet 2802i’s or 3802’i on eBay for $20-30 for two, which is the minimum amount needed if you want to learn wireless meshing, and the various access point group configs. You can either run Mobility Express on these which is the wireless controller built into the access points, or you can tie them to a virtual controller that you can run in a VM.
- If you want something a little newer, you can get some Cisco Catalyst C9120AX or C9130AX, and can find them going for anywhere from $40-60 each. With these you can either run an Embedded Wireless Controller firmware on them, which removes the need for a WLC, but will have some drawbacks, as you can’t tunnel traffic back to the controller. Getting your hands on the WLC software to run this in a VM, will be a little harder since it’s not EOL yet.
Network Security Focus:
These are the people in the corporate world that make sure all of the malicious websites are blocked, our connections to the internet are security, and that bad threat actors can’t get into the network. They manage the perimeter firewalls on the network, and if you’re in a larger environment, internal firewalls.
- You can run virtual firewalls on your computer, in a VM, and have another Windows or Linux VM configured to sit behind the firewall. From there you can test how various policies work, what to do, and most importantly, what not to do. You can find various firewall softwares to run virtually, but it’s more about what you want to do. PFSense and OpenSense are some great open source options, but some larger companies, such as Sophos and Fortigate, also have some free options and trials for virtual firewalls.
- Palo Alto PA-220 - This is a small desktop, fanless unit. They go for about $40-$60 used.
- Fortigate 30E, 40F, 60F - They can go for anywhere from $20-$70. This is also a small fatless desktop unit, with ports ranging from 5-10 depending on the model.
- Sophos Firewall - You can even find a Sophos firewall. You can get a XG125 for about $150, which is a small desktop, fanless unit, but if yo want something a little cheaper, you can get the bigger units, ike the XG210 for around $75.
What You Can Do With A Home Lab:
A home lab can be used for much more than studying certifications. Many people use their labs to self-host applications and services for personal use.
- Pi-hole — DNS-based ad blocking
- Nextcloud — self-hosted cloud storage
- Immich — self-hosted photo management
- Plex or Jellyfin — media streaming and management
- Bitwarden — password management
- Zabbix or Checkmk — monitoring and alerting
- Proxmox — virtualization platform
- Home Assistant — local smart home automation
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v2026_04_20 - Not for Resale | WWW.ROUTEDBYTES.COM |