My Home lab

This is how I started my home lab from scratch.

the money problem

Starting in 2016/2017 I wanted to experiment with "IT stuff", but I had no money to create a server capable of running the things that I wanted, or a network that I controlled fully. So the first thing that I did in my first job — which fortunately was in IT — was ask if there was any spare hardware that I could use to experiment with. The answer was yes, and so I started with 2 desktop computers at the time, and my boss was kind enough to help me set up a small lab.

Making good choices

After a while I started looking at what I could buy, to instead of building at work, start building at home. So I bought at the time an Asus router which made me be able to control my home network. Obviously at the time I wasn't aware enough that there were some limitations with the router which, unfortunately — excuse me the expression — would come back to bite me in the ass later. Anyways, I started to experiment with VPNs and AdBlocking; this was my first steps in cyber, not fully, still baby steps. Long story short, like you probably guessed from the title of this section, I ended up buying another router — but this time I was sure that this router would be the one.

One router to rule them all

Just a fun reference — if you get it, you get it. Again this decision would later come back and do the same thing as with the previous router. This time I started experimenting with multiple networks: I added VLANs so I could segregate my networks from IT/IoT, and after some time — and this was planned when I bought the router — I bought a switch which also had PoE, and proceeded to buy a PoE hat for my Raspberry Pi 3B+ which was running Pi-hole at the time, and I thought: finally, now I can power my things via just one cable.

One PoE Switch to rule them all

Again, in summary I can tell that I experimented with DNS, even more AdBlocking and Tracking, VLANs and network rules. For those curious about what hardware I was using: TP-Link Omada. Yes, I know... but in my defense it works and some companies use it — the UI is simply unrefined to this day, personal opinion.

My last router...., I hope

Which brings us to today. The Omada setup served me well, but over time the little things started to add up: the UI that never got the polish it deserved, the features I wanted that were locked behind yet another controller, and the growing feeling that I was maintaining the network instead of enjoying it.

So, yes, I did the thing I swore I wouldn't do again — I started shopping for a new router. This time around I did it properly: I wrote down everything the previous setups taught me, everything that annoyed me, and everything I actually used day to day. Segmentation, VLANs, DNS filtering, remote access, and room to grow into the next experiments.

So which hardware did I choose? Drum rolls please... You guessed it — the one and only Ubiquiti, in this case the UniFi line-up. I bought a UDM SE (UniFi Dream Machine Special Edition), which was a very big step up from the Omada, let me tell you. I also bought 2 APs since I needed them for my house: a U6+ and a Swiss Army Knife.

And here I am. One thing I can say is that the journey here was amazing — learning, breaking and remaking stuff was sometimes hard, but I got through it. So I guess what I'm trying to say is: if you are young, make as many mistakes as possible and learn from them.

Some time maybe good, some times maybe sh**

It is what it is — spend money while you can, because believe me, you learn from making bad financial decisions.

In conclusion, I know I didn't really talk about the rest of my lab — that will come in another topic. I just wanted to share my experience of starting a home lab without going too much in depth. Until next time, Somespace.