This homelab is a hands-on IT support and system administration project built to practice Windows Server administration, client configuration, network troubleshooting, and later Active Directory management and ServiceNow-related support workflows.
The lab currently includes:
- 1 Windows Server VM
- 1 Windows Client VM
- Static IP address configuration on both machines
- Basic connectivity testing and troubleshooting
The goal of this lab is to simulate a small real-world IT environment and document the setup, troubleshooting steps, and administrative tasks in a structured way that can be shared on GitHub as a portfolio project.
- Laptop with 32 GB RAM
- 6 CPU cores
- Role: Windows 2025 Server for future Active Directory and DNS setup
- Configuration: Static IP assigned
- Role: Domain-join client for future administration testing
- Configuration: Static IP assigned
Both virtual machines were configured with static IP addresses so they could communicate consistently inside the lab environment.
Structure:
- Server:
192.168.50.10 - Client:
192.168.50.20 - Subnet Mask:
255.255.255.0
- Created the Server VM
- Created the Client VM
- Assigned static IP addresses to both systems
- Tested connectivity between machines using
ping - Install AD DS + DNS on Server VM
The initial ping test failed even though the IP settings were configured.
I investigated the connectivity issue and found that the Windows Firewall settings were blocking the ping response. After enabling File and Printer Sharing in the firewall settings, the ping test worked successfully.
This issue showed that successful IP configuration alone does not guarantee connectivity. Host firewall settings can prevent network testing tools such as ping from working, so basic firewall checks are an important troubleshooting step in a Windows environment.
- Virtual machine setup
- Static IP configuration
- Basic Windows networking
- Connectivity testing with ping
- Firewall troubleshooting
- Documentation of lab steps and issues
As of March 24, 2026, I completed the second phase of the lab by beginning Active Directory administration tasks. I created OUs, users, and groups, and successfully joined CLIENT1 to the corp.local domain.
During this process, I also resolved several setup issues:
- Set a password for the local Administrator account so server promotion/setup tasks could continue
- Corrected CLIENT1 DNS settings so it could locate the domain
- Adjusted user passwords to meet Windows password complexity requirements
The next phase of this lab will include:
- Promoting the server to a Domain Controller
- Configuring DNS
- Joining the client machine to the domain
- Creating users, groups, and organizational units
- Practicing help desk style administrative tasks
- Building a separate ServiceNow practice workflow using a Personal Developer Instance
it-support-homelab/
├─ README.md
├─ docs/
│ ├─ lab-overview.md
│ ├─ network-config.md
│ ├─ build-log.md
│ ├─ troubleshooting.md
│ └─ next-steps.md
├─ screenshots/
│ ├─ server/
│ ├─ client/
│ └─ networking/
└─ scripts/
└─ command-prompt/