Virtual Lab, Tools & Setup
An inside look at the software, virtualization hypervisors, networking analyzers, and hardware environment I use for testing and practical exploration.
Isolated Local Lab Network
Rather than experimenting directly on host systems, all network service configurations, firewall rule testing, and headless server testing occur inside isolated host-only / NAT virtual networks managed with VirtualBox and WSL2.
Virtualization & Systems Lab
The software and virtualization environment used for testing and learning infrastructure.
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Primary Type-2 hypervisor for spinning up isolated Linux test instances and virtual test networks.
Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS
Standard Linux distribution for headless server practice, systemd service management, and cron jobs.
Alpine Linux VMs
Minimalist ~130MB virtual machines for testing fast container base images and isolated network nodes.
WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux)
Direct access to full Linux bash environment, package managers, and native Unix utilities on Windows.
Networking & Diagnostic Tools
Utilities used to analyze packet flows, configure routing, and inspect protocols.
Wireshark
Used to capture live network frames and analyze TCP sequence numbers, DNS queries, and TLS handshakes.
Cisco Packet Tracer
Building virtual LAN topologies, configuring virtual routers, switches, DHCP pools, and RIP/OSPF routing.
Nmap & Netcat
Port scanning, service discovery, testing raw socket connections, and verifying firewall rules.
OpenSSH & PuTTY
Secure shell access for managing headless Linux servers and setting up SSH key pairs.
Development & Editor Stack
Code editors, terminals, and version control tools configured for maximum clarity.
Visual Studio Code
Primary editor with extensions for TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Docker, and Remote-SSH.
Windows Terminal + PowerShell / Bash
Customized terminal prompt with Git status integration, custom aliases, and font rendering.
Git & GitHub
Branching workflows, semantic commits, and maintaining open source documentation repositories.
Postman
Testing REST API endpoints, inspecting headers, response payloads, and status codes.
Hardware Workstation
Physical hardware used for daily development, virtualization, and coursework.
Primary PC
Multi-core processor with ample RAM allocated for running concurrent virtual machines and browser tabs.
Dual Monitor Setup
Screen 1 dedicated to active code/terminal, Screen 2 dedicated to Wireshark/documentation/diagrams.