Most of the venders we will go over in our journey to learn network/System engineering and other technologies such as the Cloud provide trial/evaluation copy of their software (Microsoft provides 180 days for Windows Server, Cisco provides 90 days on average and Palo alto provides 30 days without billing)
To begin learning, this list will make your life easier:
For testing purposes, I rent a server online from Interserver.net. My server’s specs are the following:
Hardware:
- One CPU, 32 cores (you can get by with 24 cores)
- 128 GB of RAM (you can get by with 64GB)
- Four TB of NVME drives for storage
- 1 Gbps network/internet speed
- Five Public IP addresses
- Average cost to rent this server is around $160.
Software:
- Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter with Desktop Experience. (free for 180 days)
- VMware Workstation 17 and above that is installed on my Windows Server 2022. (free for personal use)
You defiantly can use your own environment to run those virtual machines (Microsoft/Cisco) with any virtualization software you prefer.