Hands-on experience is invaluable when it comes to I.T. and cybersecurity. To be able to apply your learning, allows you to gain a deeper understanding of how different components in the real-world interact and operate together - something that's harder to grasp without practical experimentation.
This is why I invested my time during my university break to investigate and study how cybersecurity concepts are implemented in the I.T industry by building a homelab.
In its most simpliest terms, a homelab is a sandbox environment where you can build, play, and learn about I.T. technologies and configurations. It's a place where you can experiment and understand the process of installing, configuring, and optimising I.T. infrastructure at a small scale so one can apply a similar process to a real-world business or enterprise network.
Homelabs range in complexity - it can be as simple as an old pc, completely virtualised in a virtual machine, or as complex as a cluster with multiple hardware servers.
The design of the homelab will depend on:
For my cybersecurity homelab project, I aimed to build and simulate a business network where Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability is met. This includes:
Below is the network toplogy of what I want my environment to look like after completion (subject to change throughout the project).
The project so far has been a great learning opportunity for me to build my networking skills early before I start my formal networks course next year. Beyond my personal learning, I see this as a chance to document my journey so I can guide others to navigate the perhaps overwhelming nature of setting up a homelab so they too can grow their skills and avoid common mistakes. By starting small, getting comfortable, and scaling up as I learn how cybersecurity concepts are implemented in the I.T world, the journey has been both rewarding and enjoyable.