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You are here: Home / Home Lab / Virtualization HomeLab Setup

Virtualization HomeLab Setup

April 25, 2019 By v

I went through a lot of articles and finalised the following setup for my VMware HomeLab

Being a vExpert has its perks of trying out all the VMware products and various other tools that come in for free. Where do we run them? In out HomeLab

Goals I wanted to Achieve:

  • VPN server to access my home server from anywhere
  • Hardware that would support dynamic upgrade in the future
  • Cloud file share to host my data and ability to share the files with anyone
  • RDP access to any 1 Windows box, connect to this if VPN fails
  • A print Server / Home Nas as a local filestore
  • Keep it under the budget of 75000 INR

VPN Server Setup

I had 2 raspberry pi’s lying around ( 3b+ & a 2B). Made use of them

Model 3B+ used as a print server (Cups) + Cloud File Share (NextCloud)

Constraints:

  • Running with a dynamic IP is the first hurdle I have to cross. I Have a domain hosted with GoDaddy
  • License for the vSphere environment and Windows Server

  • I used Cloudflare as my provider (free account) and used a custom script in my Pi to update the IP address to Cloudflare account.

Steps to be performed

  • Create a DNS entry in Cloudflare
  • Obtain API Key from Cloudflare
  • Create a script in Raspberry Pi to get your public IP
  • Push your IP to Cloudflare
  • Run a cronjob to repeat the process

This made my HomeLab accessible over the internet

Here is the article I followed

I created an individual DNS entry for VPN, RDP and FileShare. Port Mapping and forwarding was easier this way.

Few articles to Follow:

  • VPN Setup
  • Hardware selection for ESXi Compute
  • Print and Cloud FileShare
  • Storage considerations

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Filed Under: Home Lab