Laptop for VMs

[SeriousStudent]

I use a Lenovo W520 for exactly that. I've got VMware Workstation running on it, and use my MSDN subscription for the iso's.

I have 32GB of RAM in it, and use one of the Lenovo spare drive trays in the place of the DVD drive. So the base OS (Windows 10 Enterprise build 1607, I have not upgraded to build 1703) runs on one SSD, and the vmdk's are on the second SSD.

I use the Samsung 850 EVO drives. A 512 for the OS and apps, and a 1 TB for the VM's. I wish it took the 960's, but it's not set up for that form factor.

And mtnbkr is right, VirtualBox is nice, and it's free. Work pays for my software, and I already had the hardware from a previous pentest gig. So I used VMware instead.

You can find used W520's on eBay for a few hundred bucks, and build them up yourself. Plenty of spare parts there, too. Be prepared to pay big bucks for a pair of 16GB DIMM's, though.

You building a mobile lab, or doing pre-sales demos?

Hope that helps.

[gtmtnbiker98]

I run Virtual Box on my MacBook Air. Linux without a graphical environment is very lightweight and can run easily with as little as 1 GB RAM allocated to the VM. Truthfully, the only way to run and learn Linux is CLI and if you are looking to learn Red Hat, download and install CentOS. It's a binary equivalent to RHEL. Most Type 2 Virtualization is pretty much the same. You can also use VMware Fusion for Mac or VMware Player or Workstation on Winblows.

[SeriousStudent]

CentOS is great, I use it as the OS on a desktop in my guest room. People figure it our pretty quickly.

[Grey]

Thanks guys this is really helpful. CentOS is what we are going to use, this is all for class and after work learning. I'll be running some other tools like Wireshark and pentesting stuff when we get there.

[SeriousStudent]

If you are going to be doing pentesting, Kali has pre-built images you can pull down for both VirtualBox and VMware.

If you can scare up an old Google Nexus 5 phone and the required accessories, their Nethunter image is very useful for authorized on-site tests. I've hunted down rogue AP's with that several times, run by people that did not wish to be found.

Have fun in your class.

[steaknvodka]

The DevOps team that works for me (I manage a SOC) uses VMs on their laptops to do local dev work and prototyping before publishing to the official dev environments.

Chris

NOC = Network Operations Center
SOC = Security Operations Center?

[mtnbkr]

NOC = Network Operations Center
SOC = Security Operations Center?

Yes.

Chris

[OnionsAndDragons]

I use a Lenovo W520 for exactly that. I've got VMware Workstation running on it, and use my MSDN subscription for the iso's.

I have 32GB of RAM in it, and use one of the Lenovo spare drive trays in the place of the DVD drive. So the base OS (Windows 10 Enterprise build 1607, I have not upgraded to build 1703) runs on one SSD, and the vmdk's are on the second SSD.

I use the Samsung 850 EVO drives. A 512 for the OS and apps, and a 1 TB for the VM's. I wish it took the 960's, but it's not set up for that form factor.

And mtnbkr is right, VirtualBox is nice, and it's free. Work pays for my software, and I already had the hardware from a previous pentest gig. So I used VMware instead.

You can find used W520's on eBay for a few hundred bucks, and build them up yourself. Plenty of spare parts there, too. Be prepared to pay big bucks for a pair of 16GB DIMM's, though.

You building a mobile lab, or doing pre-sales demos?

Hope that helps.

SS,

You beat me to it. One of the Lenovo books with extra drive ports would be my suggestion as well. They are surprisingly configurable.

[SeriousStudent]

Yup, tons of parts available for cheap, and they are easy to wrench on.

A bit heavy by today's standards, but quite durable. I have put together a half-dozen laptops for my children, nephews, etc. If they break a keyboard or LCD, it's a 15-minute fix.

[OnionsAndDragons]

I've still got two for that reason. I generally hate opening up a laptop, but that line is not a big deal at all.