VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with a head office in California. VMware makes software that runs on top of an operating system and alternatively, you can install their bare-bones software right on the hardware. If you are running it on a pre-existing OS, you can use Windows, Linux, or macOS.

If you are a student or a beginner, you might want to install a virtual lab on a single computer so that you can learn and practice. One solution is to use VMware Workstation Pro (known as VMware Workstation). That costs about USD200 for the current version, which is 16 at the time of this writing, which is in February of 2022. Alternatively you could sign up for vmug Advantage Why do it this way? You could simply use the trial versions of VMware software, as part of the EVAL Experience that you get with a VMUG subscription. You also get exam discounts and other things with that annual subscription. With the EVAL Experience, you get tons of trial-based software that you can download and use. VMware Workstation Pro also comes as a 30-day trial version you can get for free.

vSphere Home Lab Requirements

You will need some serious harware to run a home lab. Fortunately you can run everything on one computer or laptop. At the minimum you’ll need a dual-core 64-bit PC. You need at least 24GB of RAM. You’ll need at least 200GB of disk space.