Show Notes
In this episode of SysAdmin Weekly, Andy and Eric dig deep into how to build a fully functional home lab without selling a kidney. We cover picking hardware on the cheap, virtualization (Proxmox, Hyper-V, etc.), managing storage, navigating Microsoft licensing, layering in free cloud tiers, network tricks, and the kind of “what if I push this button?” experiments that keep us awake at 2 a.m. Whether you’re starting from a pile of old PCs or trying to mix in cloud credits, this show gives you the blueprint, the trade-offs, and, most importantly, the sanity checks. In this episode: - How to stretch every dollar on lab hardware - When to go physical vs. virtual (or hybrid) - Proxmox tips, license workarounds, and pitfalls - Cloud free/low-cost tiers you can use for testing - Network, storage & routing hacks we swear by - Real talk about maintenance, scaling, and failures
Episode Resources - SysAdmin Weekly Companion Newsletter - AndyOnTech - Project Runspace - Windows Server Eval - Proxmox Installation Guide - Azure Free Services / Free Tier - Azure Free Account / $200 Credit - Azure Free Services Documentation
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