Re: Suggested lab materials/systems/setup?

[Terry Vernon <tvernon24 () comcast net>]

That's an easy one Erin and fun as all get out too! Get you some crappy 
old computers (we all have those laying around) and do the same as you 
would with a dual boot setup but install as many OS's on as many 
partitions as you can of various versions of operating systems. It's a 
good idea to keep them separate like all Redhat distros on one machine, 
all microsuck versions on another, etc...

Then, to create a little environment, all you do is boot up the machines 
you wish to use to simulate an environment and crack away all night 
long. I have 3 computers here at home that I use like this with about 5 
operating systems a piece. To simulate a windows network i boot them all 
to windows and make one a file/print server, one a client, etc... It 
takes some work to get them all configured but having that is priceless 
when it comes to pen-testing and it saves you from havin gto have a lab 
full of systems.

Terry Vernon
CTO
Sprite Technologies


Erin Carroll wrote:

> All,
>
> I'm in the process of setting up a pen-test lab environment of several
> servers running various OS flavors (both Windows & BSD/*nix) along with a
> netscreen-10 firewall and cisco 3825 to use as the lab router. What do other
> list members use for their lab environments and what suggestions/issues have
> you encountered? I'm just using equipment I have laying around but would be
> interested in hearing about other lab setups to get some ideas (or excuses
> to go shopping) on what else I can utilize for pen-testing practice.
>
> I'm definitely going to set up an imaging server (jumpstart & Altiris) to
> make changing things around less painful but I've also considered Vmware on
> the hosts. Basically I'm curious as to what you all use to practice
> pen-testing to keep the skills sharp when not "on the job".
>
> Thanks!
> --
> Erin Carroll
> "Do Not Taunt Happy-Fun Ball" 
>
>
>