HyperV automation and my home Lab

Having a home lab is vital to my ability to continue to both personally develop, and to test builds for customers/projects.

Physical Infrastructure

Physically the LAN is Gb Ethernet backbone carrying the Firewall, Internet Router and 20Tb NAS. There are also home management/entertainment devices on this segment, a PiHole for network-wide ad blocking, local DNS server, and of course the wireless access points to allow our phones/tablets.

Virtual Environment Overview

The Virtual Network comprises a diverse ecosystem of development and testing environments:

VMID NAME                 STATUS     MEM(MB)    BOOTDISK(GB)
 100 Arch                 running    8192             256.00
 101 ubuntu               running    4096             256.00
 102 win7pro              running    4096              32.00
 103 Arch2                running    4096             128.00
 104 ubuntuWEB            running    4096              32.00
 105 Arch-XFCE-test       stopped    8192              32.00
 106 Turnkey-LAMP         running    4096              64.00
 107 kasm                 running    4096              32.00
 108 U1804Focalboard      running    8192             128.00
 109 CMS                  stopped    4096              32.00
 110 CMS2                 stopped    4096              32.00
 111 CMS3                 stopped    4096              32.00
 112 CMS4                 running    4096              32.00
 113 CMS5                 running    4096              32.00
 114 CMS6                 running    4096              32.00
 115 mailtrain-template   running    4096              96.00
 116 mailtrain            running    8192             128.00
 117 vmangos              running    8192             128.00

Environment Categories

Benefits of Home Lab Infrastructure

This extensive virtual environment provides several key advantages:

• Isolated Testing: Each VM provides a clean environment for testing different configurations
• Client Simulation: Ability to replicate customer environments before deployment
• Technology Exploration: Safe space to experiment with new tools and platforms
• Continuous Learning: Hands-on experience with various operating systems and applications
• Development Flexibility: Multiple environments for different project requirements

Infrastructure Philosophy

The home lab represents more than just technical infrastructureit's a commitment to continuous learning and professional development. By maintaining diverse virtual environments, I can:

• Stay current with emerging technologies
• Provide better consulting services through hands-on experience
• Test solutions before implementing them in production environments
• Maintain proficiency across multiple platforms and tools

This investment in personal infrastructure pays dividends in both technical capability and professional credibility when working with clients and projects.