My primary goal is to create an inexpensive lab environment which can run on my desktop.
Objectives
- Create an enterprise like network structure –
- Simulate L3VPN clouds, internet cloud, some IPSec VPN tunnels
- DC-DR running some server workloads, few service VMs
- A remote branch office network
- Use this infrastructure to practice new technologies
- Use the most efficient tool for the job (within reason). For example, using Mininet to model a WAN network of routers and switches
- Using docker to run some microservices and workloads, tinkering with VMware products
- Help me grow into a ‘full-stack’ engineer on the infrastructure side
Initial plans
- Find suitable Network OS to create a MPLS cloud of two service providers –
- IOU, IOS, CSR1000v, Cumulus and things like that
- Should be light on RAM and support technologies we may have to deliver as SP to our customers
- Hypervisors to run various VMs – find a light-weight hypervisor to support along side a VMware vSphere
- Deploy servers, VMs and end-clients – MS AD, RADIUS, ISE, Windows Clients, Linux Clients, etc.
- Build a scalable topology with IP addressing plan, protocol and services
- Physical and logical diagram as part of documentation
*Update 5/2020*
This plan is now gaining more traction as I start to use a hybrid approach by leveraging my “on-prem” home lab and virtual instance of EVE-NG in the Cloud. Further read my post – eve-ng-lab-on-google-cloud-gcp