Gear Up🧪

Components & Requirements

October 31st, 2024

The lab environment is something anybody can build in a few weekends. All it takes is a bit of sticktuitivness, a fairly-modern computer, a home internet connection, and about $1K for hardware/software. :)

Keep in mind that many bootcamps, certifications, and degrees cost at least as much if not significantly more. Another benefit of building a home lab is that you own the environment and, therefore, can use it in any way you wish. Build yourself a lab. It'll be good for you!

In this lab, we will set up a personal, on-site cloud that hosts one public-facing web server and one private web server. No static private IP address is required for the public-facing web server since we'll be using the Cloudflare API and Dynamic DNS (DDNS), on our Netgate firewall, to automatically update our Cloudflare DNS zone with our dynamic private IP address.

Table of Contents

  1. Hardware Used
  2. Software Used
  3. Services Used
  4. Static IPs
  5. Network Diagram

Hardware Used #

The following hardware requirements must be met or exceeded to complete the lab:

  • Modem
  • Wireless Router
  • Netgate Appliance
  • Server
  • Personal Computer (with Ethernet Port)
  • 8GB+ USB Flash Drive

Software Used #

The following software requirements must be met or exceeded to complete the lab:

  • Rufus
  • Proxmox
  • Ubuntu Desktop
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server
  • pfSense (on Netgate Appliance)
  • React (create-react-app)
  • Nginx

Services Used #

The following service provided requirements must be met or exceeded to complete the lab:

  • Internet Access with a dynamic private IP address
  • Domain (registered with Cloudflare Registrar)
  • Okta Developer Environment
  • Zscaler Private Access
  • Zscaler Internet Access

Static IPs #


    staticIPs = {
      "ubuntuWebServer": "192.168.10.4",
      "rhelAppConnectorServer": "192.168.10.5",
      "cyberPanelServer": "192.168.10.6",
      "rhelPrivateServiceEdgeServer": "192.168.10.7",
      "windowsServer2022": "192.168.10.8"
    }
    

Network Diagram #

Network Diagram