Hey everyone! I'm looking for some guidance on how to set up a home lab specifically for DevOps tools. I don't have much experience with these tools yet—I've just started learning Python scripting about a month ago with Scaler. I'd like to get my environment ready before diving deeper into the training. Here's the thing: I don't have a personal laptop, so I'm considering using an AWS virtual machine to install tools like Oracle Cloud or VMware Workstation. Is this a good approach, or am I going about this incorrectly? I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions you have! Just for context, I have 6.5 years of experience in IT working as a support engineer.
3 Answers
I would definitely recommend going with Hetzner. You can either get affordable VPSes or opt for dedicated servers that allow you to create VMs. For the latter option, Proxmox or Debian 13 with Incus are good choices. Having your own VM platform enables you to set up Kubernetes clusters or containers using Podman, which is great for your learning.
If you're considering hardware, I suggest building a cheap PC, maybe with a Ryzen 5700 CPU or similar, along with 32GB or ideally 64GB of RAM. You can run free ESXi or Proxmox on it. Put in a couple of SSDs (1-2TB) for your VMs. Alternatively, for cloud options, Oracle Cloud offers some small VMs for free, and AWS and GCP have free tier options too. If you're diving into DevOps, learning tools from AWS, Azure, or GCP will be more beneficial as they are in high demand.
That does sound like a great deal! Sometimes, starting small can be just as effective for learning.
Honestly, running VMware Workstation on an AWS virtual machine isn't really the best option. It doesn’t add much value. You might want to consider setting up a budget-friendly VPS at Hetzner and running multiple containers using Podman instead. If your goal is to run several virtual machines, you could get multiple VPS instances. That could be more efficient!
You'd be surprised at what you can achieve with a budget-friendly setup! I found this little device for just $159: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DT8TV649](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DT8TV649). It comes with 16GB of RAM and a decent SSD. Perfect for getting started in DevOps!