• Installed VMware Workstation Pro

• Installed Ubuntu and Rocky Linux VMs

• Configured internal networking

• Setup up static IP addresses

• Built a gateway router VM using nftables Now, It's time to level up

Instead of manually SSH-ing into each server, we will use Ansible.

What Is Ansible?

Ansible is an open-source automation tool for

• Provisioning

• Configuration management

• Application deployment

• Orchestration. It follows an agentless architecture, meaning nodes do not need any additional software.

Ansible works over SSH(Linux) or WinRM(Windows) and uses human-readable YAML playbooks to describe desired system state.

Why Do We Need Ansible?

So far, we've been managing servers manually using SSH.

ssh aurora@172.29.10.10

This works for 2-3 machines. But in real environments:

• You might have to manager 10s or 100s of servers

• You will need consistency

• You will need repeatability This is where Ansible comes in. With Ansible, You can:

• Run commands on multiple servers at once

• Enforce configuration

• Automate provisioning and deployments

Consider this scenario:

Imagine you have 50+ VMs:

• Some running DBs

• Some running backend service

• Some handling frontend traffic Now a critical patch for OpenSSL or SSH is released.

Are you going to SSH into all 50+ machines manually? No.

With Ansible, you can:

• Run a single command (ad-hoc commands) or playbook

• Ensure systems are updated to the required version

The machine from which Ansible runs is called Control Node

NOTE: This series focuses on building a DevOps Homelab We are using Ansible as an example, so we will not go deep into playbooks and advanced usage here.

What is WSL2 and Why Use WSL2 Instead of Another VM or Windows itself?

Why Not Windows?

Ansible is designed for Linux Environments While it can run on Windows via python:

• SSH behavior may be inconsistent

• Many modules assume Linux utilities

• Debugging becomes painful In short: Its not production aligned.

Why not another VM?

This is valid approach. In production, the control node is usually a dedicated Linux Machine. But for a home lab setup:

• It uses additional CPU/RAM

• Adds management overhead

• Slower Iteration That means: Overkill for a home lab setup

Why not Docker?

Docker is great, but Docker containers are meant to be ephemeral. And are not good for control node in early stages of learning DevOps.

• SSH key management becomes messy

• Container networking adds complexity

• Not ideal for persistent configuration Meaning: Unnecessary abstraction headache

What is WSL2 and Why it's the Best Fit?

WSL2 or Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 is a compatibility layer for running Linux Distributions directly on Windows 10/11 with a real Linux kernel inside a lightweight VM. WSL2 is best fit for our use case because:

• Native Linux environment

• Fast startup

• Minimal resource consumption than a VM

• Easy Integration with VS Code and most importantly, it can reach our VM via internal network because of the VMware network configuration.

Since we enabled Host-only adapter while creating internal networks:

• Windows host is a part of that internal network

• WSL2 shares host network stack That is WSL2 can access the VMs easily

Architecture Diagram

Below gives a high level overview of the architecture of the whole Home lab

Note: The gateway VM connects both NAT (internet) and internal network, enabling outbound access for all nodes

Installing WSL2 + Ubuntu

If you haven't installed WSL 2 yet, install it by entering the following command in powershell.

wsl --install -d ubuntu

This will ensure that wsl2 is available and will install Ubuntu. It may ask for UAC and will prompt you to create username and password

To start WSL type:

wsl

First update the packages using

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

Installing Ansible

Ansible can be installed using apt.

Inside WSL run

sudo apt-get install ansible -y 

Verify the installation using

ansible --version

Configuring SSH (Password-less Authentication)

Ansible uses SSH for communication. For this we will enable Password-less authentication with client. For this:

• We need to generate SSH-Keys from WSL (control node)

• Transfer generated public key to clients

To generate key, enter below command from WSL:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C 'ansible-control-node'

Press Enter to accept defaults. Keys will be

~/.ssh

To transfer keys to target nodes, do the following for all the nodes:

ssh-copy-id <user>@<ip>

Replace <user> and <ip> with username and IP of your nodes.

Example:

ssh-copy-id aurora@172.29.10.10   # ubuntu VM
ssh-copy-id aurora@172.29.10.20   # rocky VM

It will ask for the password. To verify try SSH. If no password is asked, that means setup is successful

Summary so far

At this point:

• WSL2 can reach VMs

• Ansible has been installed in WSL2

• Password less authentication has been configured Next we will test ansible.

Creating an Inventory File

We will store all files inside a directory in WSL.

Create a directory ansible-tests and cd into it

mkdir ~/ansible-tests && cd ~/ansible-tests

Create inventory file inventory.ini with following contents

[ubuntu]
ubuntu1 ansible_host=172.29.10.10 ansible_user=aurora

[rocky]
rocky1 ansible_host=172.29.10.20 ansible_user=aurora

[all:vars]
ansible_python_interpreter=/usr/bin/python3

Replace aurora with the username inside the VM.

TIP: Create a dedicated ansible user in real environments

Testing Ansible

The most basic ansible test is checking connectivity to all hosts Use the ansible's ping module to test the connectivity:

ansible all -i inventory.ini -m ping

the output should be something like :

This confirms that the SSH Works and Inventory is correct and ansible control node is functional.

Whats Next?

This completes the core DevOps Homelab setup demo. We now have:

• Multiple Linux servers

• A segmented network

• A gateway router

• An Ansible control node

You can now extend your lab with:

• Kubernetes (K8s)

• Monitoring (Prometheus + Grafana)

• Logging stack (ELK/Loki)

I have personally extended this lab further with additional VMs and Planning to implement Monitoring with it.

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware ✅

5. Setting Up Internal Networks ✅

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky ✅

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture ✅

8. Setting Up an Ansible Control Node Using WSL2 ✅

Why not iptables?

Historically, Linux systems used iptables to configure firewalls and NAT rules.
Many production environments still use iptables today, especially in older infrastructure.

However, modern Linux distributions such as Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 now use nftables as the default packet filtering framework.

In fact, many systems that appear to use iptables today are actually using iptables-nft, which translates iptables commands into nftables rules internally.

Compared to iptables,nftables offers:

• Cleaner and more consistent syntax

• Better performance with large rule sets

• Unified IPv4 and IPv6 support

• Improved maintainability

For this reason, in this homelab we will use nftables, which represents the modern Linux firewall system.

Network Design

The Gateway VM will have two network interfaces
Interface 1: External Network

• Connected to NAT (vnet8)

• Receives IP from DHCP in range 172.18.18.0/24
  Interface 2: Internal Network

• Connected to devops network (vnet2)

• Static IP: 172.29.10.254/24

All the machine in the internal devops network will use:
172.29.10.254 as their default gateway

Step 1: Create The Gateway VM

Create a new VM with following configurations

• Name: ubuntu24gw

• CPU: 1 processors, 2 cores

• Memory: 1 GB (2 GB Recommended)

• Disk: 10 GB (20 GB Recommended)

• Network Adapters: Two network adapters are required.

  • Keep default adapter to NAT

  • After creating the VM add a second adapter via VM > Setting > Add... > Network Adapter and select Custom > devops(host-only)

Step 2: Configure Static IP For Internal Interface

Refer to the previous post, and setup static IP 172.29.10.254/24 on 2nd interface

TIP: Instead of creating new YAML as shown in previous article, you may directly modify 50-cloud-init.yaml

• Edit /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml and enter the following content and ensure the interface names match with actual interface names which can be seen using ip a

  network:
  version: 2
  ethernets:
    ens33:
      dhcp4: true
  
    ens34:
      addresses:
        - 172.29.10.254/24
  

• Run sudo netplan try and check if you can ping 172.29.10.254 from host or any other VM. It may take about 20 to 40 seconds for the first successful ping

• Once sure apply the settings using sudo netplan apply

Step 3: Enable IP Forwarding

For any Linux system to work as a router, IP Forwarding must be enabled

• We can enable it temporarily:

sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1

• To make changes permanent, edit /etc/sysctl.conf and edit the following line

  net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
  

• And apply the changes using sudo sysctl -p

Step 4: Install nftables

Ubuntu server version > 22 are shipped with nftables by default. But if not you can install and enable it by following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install nftables

sudo systemctl enable nftables
sudo systemctl start nftables

Step 5: Configure NAT (Masquerading)

Masquerading changes the source IP address of outgoing packets from a private IP to a public IP , so that internal devices can communicate with external networks, like the Internet, while hiding their private IP addresses

• Edit nftables configuration file

  sudo nano /etc/nftables.conf
  

• Add below contents inside it

  flush ruleset
  

table ip nat {
chain postrouting {
type nat hook postrouting priority 100;
oifname "ens33" masquerade
}
}

table ip filter {
chain forward {
type filter hook forward priority 0;
policy accept;
}
}

- The above configuration does following things:
	- Removes default configuration
	- Enables *NAT Masquerading*
	- Allows traffic forwarding between interfaces
- Restart nftables to apply the configuration
	```sh
	sudo systemctl restart nftables
	```
- Verify the rules:
```sh
sudo nft list ruleset

NOTE:
In this lab we allow all forwarded traffic using policy accept for simplicity
In real production environments, firewall policies usually default to DROP and only explicitly allowed traffic is permitted

Step 6: Updating VMs Network and Verifying

Finally, ensure that all machines on internal network has their default gateway set to : 172.29.10.254 and then try to ping www.google.com
If everything is configured correctly, the ping should succeed. Meaning machines on internal network can access the internet.

What's Next?

In the next article, we will set up our host machine as an Ansible control node using WSL2.
This controller will be responsible for managing and automating the configuration of all servers inside our DevOps homelab.
With this final step, we will complete the core architecture of our DevOps homelab environment.

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware ✅

5. Setting Up Internal Networks ✅

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky ✅

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture ✅

8. Setting Up an Ansible Control Node Using WSL2 and Final Lab Architecture Overview

In this article, we will configure static IP addresses on:

• Ubuntu Server 22.04

• Rocky Linux 9

Network Architecture

In the last article, we created an internal network in the range 172.29.10.0/24.
Now, we will configure the VMs with the following IP addresses:

• Ubuntu: 172.29.10.10

• Rocky: 172.29.10.20
  Both machines will use 172.29.10.254 as the gateway IP. We will introduce a dedicated router VM later in the series. For now, we reserve .254 as the gateway address

⚠️Tip: Never change the gateway or primary IP remotely without console access.

Configure Static IP on Ubuntu Server (Netplan)

Modern Ubuntu Server (including 22.04 and 24.04) uses Netplan for network configuration.

1. First, we need to identify the network interface. Run ip a and look for something like ens33

2. The netplan files are located in /etc/netplan.
   In a fresh Ubuntu Server installation, you will see 50-cloud-init.yaml.
   When you open it, you will see that it configures ens33 using DHCP. To prevent cloud-init from overwriting our static configuration, we need to disable its network management.

   

3. We can disable cloud-init by creating a file /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg with network: {config: disabled}
   You can use the below one-liner to do it

   echo 'network: {config: disabled}' | sudo tee /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg
   

   After the reboot, the cloud-init will be disabled. But don't reboot yet.

4. Now to configure static IP, we have to create a file inside /etc/netplan similar to the 50-cloud-init.yaml
   Open a new YAML file:

   sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-static-ip.yaml
   

   Enter the following content into this file and save it:

   network:
   version: 2
   renderer: networkd
   ethernets:
    ens33:
      dhcp4: no
      addresses:
        - 172.29.10.10/24
      routes:
        - to: default
          via: 172.29.10.254
      nameservers:
        addresses:
          - 172.29.10.254
          - 1.1.1.1
   

5. Now, first we should check the changes. Run sudo netplan try.
   This step is significant, especially when configuring networking over SSH.
   This gives 120 seconds to try the new changes.
   If new configurations are not accepted within the 120-second window, the changes are automatically reverted.

   

6. In the previous step, you may have seen a file permissions too open warning. Let's fix it. Run the following commands.

   sudo chmod 600 /etc/netplan/01-static-ip.yaml
   sudo chown root:root /etc/netplan/01-static-ip.yaml
   sudo netplan try
   

   The warning should now be gone

   

7. To verify the configuration, let's try to SSH on the new IP using our host machine.

   

8. SSH connection was successful; that means our configuration is working. Now, to save the configuration, just run sudo netplan apply. You can do it from within the SSH.
   After running ip a, you should see the new IP address 172.29.10.10.

   

   The DHCP-assigned IP may still appear temporarily.

Configuring Static IP on Rocky Linux

Rocky Linux uses NetworkManager, which can be managed via the nmcli command-line tool. Using nmcli is straightforward and efficient.

1. First, let's identify the interface name using sudo nmcli con show and check the current IP with ip a

   

   As you can see above, the interface name is ens160. Do not confuse NAME with DEVICE in nmcli output. NAME can be Wired Connection x or sankalp too, whereas DEVICE will match what's shown in the output of ip a.

2. Run the below command to set a static IP for the interface name you obtained above

   sudo nmcli con mod '<NAME>' ipv4.method manual ipv4.addresses '172.29.10.20/24' ipv4.gateway '172.29.10.254' ipv4.dns '172.29.10.254,1.1.1.1' connection.autoconnect yes
   

3. Now, run sudo nmcli dev reapply '<DEVICE>', use the DEVICE name here. This will apply the new changes instantly.

   nmcli does not provide an automatic rollback mechanism like netplan try

4. Check with ip a, and you should see a new IP in your interface.

   

What's Next?

Now that our Ubuntu and Rocky Linux VMs have static IPs, the network is stable and predictable.
In the next article, we will build a dedicated gateway VM at 172.29.10.254, configure IP forwarding, and provide internet access to our internal machines.
This will evolve our setup into a structured multi-VM lab architecture, similar to real production environments.

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware ✅

5. Setting up Internal Networks ✅

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky ✅

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture

Now it's time to connect them properly, similar to how servers are connected in real production environment.

In this article, we will create a similar network architecture.

For now

• All machines will be connected internally

• They will be able to communicate with each other

• They won't have internet access. Later in the series, we will introduce a dedicated router/firewall VM that will control outbound internet access when required.

Why Internal Network?

In a real production environment:

• The application servers don't have direct internet access

• Database servers are isolated

• Internal communications are done via private IP addresses

• Only bastion hosts have internet access

In VMware Workstation, this can be achieved using:

• A host-only network, or

• A custom VMNet configured as host-only

Creating Custom Virtual Network

Let's create our Custom Virtual Network

1. Open the Start Menu, search for Virtual Network Editor, and open it

   

2. Once opened, you will see two VMnets already present. If you recall, during VM creation, we selected NAT in the network setup step; we chose NAT. That NAT configuration is linked to the NAT adapter shown in this screen. You may notice that none of the settings are editable; click Change Settings button on the bottom right to enable modifications

   

3. You may also see VMnet0 of type Bridged. We are not concerned with this as of now. Click Add Network...

   

4. Proceed with the default options and click OK

   

5. A new VMnet will be created with the following default configurations

   • NAME: VMnet2

   • Type: Host-only

   • Subnet Address: 192.168.x.x

   

6. Select the newly created VMnet2, and modify the following:

   • Subnet IP: 172.29.10.0

   • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 Optionally, click Rename Network... and set name to devops, this will be useful later

   Ensure the following options are selected

   • Host-only

   • Connect a host virtual adapter to this network

   • Use local DHCP service to distribute IP address to VMs

   

7. Next, modify the default NAT adapter:

   • Select the adapter with the type NAT (typically VMnet8)

   • Set the Subnet IP to 172.18.18.0 Ensure the NAT option remains selected; otherwise, the internet connectivity will break.

     

8. Once configured, click⁣ Apply and then OK

Why I Chose Those IP Ranges

Even in a home lab, proper IP planning prevents future conflicts and builds production-ready habits.

For this lab I chose:

• 172.29.10.0/24 for Internal Network - devops (VMnet2)

• 172.18.18.0/24 for Default NAT Network - VMnet8

Most enterprise networks commonly use 10.0.0.0/8 or subnets of 172.16.0.0/16, while home routers typically operate within 192.168.0.0/16. Choosing these ranges would increase the risk of conflicts when connected to the office networks via VPN or within the corporate environments.

I also avoided the 172.17.0.0/16 range because Docker uses it for its default bridge network (docker0). If we install Docker inside any of these VMs in the future, overlapping of subnets might introduce routing problems.

By selecting less commonly used private IP ranges, we are reducing the likelihood of future conflicts.

Configuring New Network Adapter in Our VMs

Now, let's configure our VMs to use this network adapter instead of the default NAT adapter.

1. Power off the VM (if it's running).

2. Navigate to VM > Settings or press Ctrl + D

   

3. Select Network Adapter, Choose Custom, and select devops (Host-only) from the dropdown. Click OK

   

4. Do the same for both the VMs we have created until now and start both the VMs.

Verifying New Network Configuration and Connectivity

1. Log in to each VM and note their IPs. You should now see that the IPs are now in range 172.29.10.x/24.

   For example:

   • Ubuntu: 172.29.10.130

   • Rocky: 172.29.10.129

   

2. Try pining www.google.com from either VM, - it will fail. However,

   • The VMs should be able to ping each other

   • The host machine should be able to ping both VMs

     

What's Next??

In the next article I will show you how to configure a static IP address in both Ubuntu and Rocky Linux.

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware ✅

5. Setting up Internal Networks ✅

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture

What is Rocky Linux, and why is it in this series?

Rocky Linux is a community-driven enterprise Linux distribution that works the same as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It's designed for servers and business use, and runs the same software ecosystem as RHEL while being fully open-source. Think of it as a stable, no-cost replacement for CentOS.
Ubuntu Server is widely used, especially in cloud environments, startups, DevOps teams, and container-based workloads.
However, Rocky Linux is strongly preferred in organizations that require RHEL compatibility. It's often chosen as a CentOS replacement. So, it's a good idea to have hands-on experience with RHEL-based systems.

What to Expect from This Article

• Downloading Rocky Linux ISO from its official website

• Installing Rocky Linux inside VMware Workstation Pro

• Testing connection to the Rocky VM from the host system using SSH

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• Installed VMware Workstation Pro

• At least 20 GB of free storage

• At least 2 GB of free RAM

Downloading Rocky Linux ISO

For downloading Rocky Linux:

1. Head over to the official Rocky Linux Download Page

2. Select your system architecture.

3. Select Rocky Linux 9 under Default Images

Finally, click Minimal ISO. The download should begin in a few seconds. It's about 2.4 GB in size

Creating A New VM Inside VMware For Rocky

The VM creation process is the same as shown in the last article. The things that you have to change are

• Installer Disk Image File - Select this Rocky Linux 9 ISO

• Machine Name

• User Profile - username, password, hostname

Once the VM has been created, boot it up.

Rocky Linux Installation Procedure

Unless mentioned otherwise, you can safely proceed with the default settings throughout the installation.

Unlike the Ubuntu Server installer, the Rocky Linux 9 installer is GUI-based. Thus, navigation can be done with a mouse.

1. After selecting Install Rocky Linux Minimal 9.7, The installer will load

2. After selecting your language, you will be taken to a page like the one shown below
   Here we need to configure 3 things:

   • Installation Destination

   • Root Password

   • User Account
     Optionally, you can configure your date/time and keyboard layout

     

3. First, we will configure the installation destination, which is disk partitions. Click on Installation Destination. We won't be doing manual partitioning here. Make sure Storage Configuration is set to Automatic and click Done in the top left corner. That's it for the storage part

   

4. Now click on Root Password and create a password for root. Keep Allow root SSH Login and Lock root account unchecked

5. Now click on the User Account and enter details for the new user.
   Check both the checkboxes and then click done

   If you have username in your password too. You will have to click Done Twice

   

6. Great! Now just click Begin Installation and let the installer run. This should take about 3 to 8 minutes, depending on your system.

7. Once the installation completes, click Reboot System

8. After reboot, in case you don't see any login prompt, just press ENTER once. Log in with your user. You should be logged in

9. For a quick network check, run ping www.google.com and it should succeed

   

Accessing From Host Machine

Here we will access the VM from the host machine via SSH.
This will confirm two things:

• SSH inside the VM is working, and

• The host can access the VM

1. So log in to the VM and get its IP using ip a
   My Rocky has IP as: 172.17.18.128

   

2. Now launch a terminal on your host machine and try SSH to this IP using ssh <username>@<ip> where, <username> is the username you created and <ip> is the IP you obtained above

   

Quick Recap

In this article, we:

• Downloaded Rocky Linux ISO

• Installed it inside a new VMware Virtual Machine

• Connected to the Rocky VM from the host machine using SSH

Next, we will leverage Virtual Network Editor of VMware and will create a new virtual network, which will be used for host-to-host communication only. Connection to the internet will be blocked.

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware ✅

5. Setting up Internal Networks

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture

What to Expect from This Article

• Downloading Ubuntu Server 22.04 ISO from the official website

• Installing Ubuntu Server 22.04 inside VMware Workstation Pro

• Installing Apache2 and accessing its hosted webpage from the host machine

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• Installed VMware Workstation Pro

• At least 20 GB of free storage

• At least 2 GB of free RAM

Unless mentioned otherwise, you can safely proceed with the default settings throughout the installation.

Downloading Ubuntu Server ISO

Before installing Ubuntu Server, we need to download its ISO. Downloading it is straightforward.

1. Head over to the official Ubuntu Download Page

   

2. Click on Get Ubuntu Server. You should see the latest available LTS Ubuntu Server, which is 24.04.4 LTS. But we are going with 22.04 LTS

   

3. Scroll down until you see⁣. ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOADS. Click Download 22.04.x LTS or click here for the direct download

   

4. The ISO download should begin automatically and may take a few minutes depending on your internet speed.

Creating a New VM Inside VMware For Ubuntu

1. Open VMware Workstation Pro and navigate to File > New Virtual Machine or click Ctrl + N. This will launch New Virtual Machine Wizard

   

2. Here choose Custom (advanced) and click Next > This will allow us to configure most of the hardware

   

3. Now it will ask to choose VM Hardware Compatibility. Leave it to Workstation 25H2

4. Choose Installer disc image file (iso), click Browse... and choose the ISO file we downloaded, and click Next >

   

5. Name the virtual machine. I have named it ubuntu2204 and optionally choose where to store all of its files. You may leave it at the default location

   

6. Set Number of processors to 1 and Number of cores per processor to 2. I have 8-core processor in my system, so I am allocating two cores from it. You may keep it to 1 too, but I found 2 to be optimal for me

   

7. Make sure to allocate at least 2GB memory in this step. In my tests, when I allocated it memory less than 2GB, the installer always got stuck at some place. Later, when the installation is completed, you may drop it to as low as 512MB

   

8. Keep Network Type as NAT. (We are using NAT for now so the VM can access the internet for updates. In upcoming articles, we’ll introduce host-only networking and a router VM for internal segmentation)

9. Select LSI Logic in Select I/O Controller Types window

10. Select SCSI as Disk Type

11. Choose Create a new virtual disk

    

12. Allocate at least 20GB and leave all options to default. However, if you have an HDD, I would recommend checking Allocate all disk space now and choose Store virtual disk as a single file. This literally improves performance significantly on HDD

    

13. Leave the next window to default value

    

14. Finally click Finish

    

15. Yay! Our first VM instance has been created. Next, we will power it on and see how to install Ubuntu

    

Ubuntu Server 22.04 Installation Procedure

Power on the virtual machine. Click either of the green play buttons to start the VM

1. After selecting Try or Install Ubuntu Server, the installer will load

2. Go through the initial setup screens:

   • Most of the settings not mentioned should be left as default

   • Select your preferred language

   • If asked to update the installer, Continue without updating

   • Select keyboard layout

   • Leave proxy empty

3. Once you get through the initial setup screens, you will be presented with Guided storage configuration ⁣Proceed with the default options on this page, which is Use an entire disk and Setup this disk as an LVM group

   

4. If you remember, we provisioned 20 GB of disk space, out of which 1.7 GB is being used for /boot and only 10 GB is being used for the root (/) partition. So we will increase its size

   1. Highlight the / partition > press ENTER > select unmount

      

   2. You will see ubuntu-lv as unmounted with a current size of 10GB and free space as 8.222GB. So highlight the ubuntu-lv partition > choose edit

      

   3. You should see the max size that we can configure as 18.222G so enter that value in Size field, choose Save

      

   4. And then choose 'Continue'

5. Now configure your profile. Enter your name, a name for this Ubuntu server, a username, and a password

6. Skip Ubuntu Pro when asked

7. Make sure Install OpenSSH Server is selected

8. Skip additional software recommendation

9. The installation will start now

   

10. Once the installation finishes, choose Reboot Now.

    If you see error stating Failed unmount /cdrom, don't worry, just press Enter a few times and it will reboot

11. After reboot, you should see an option to log in; enter the username and password you set earlier

12. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Ubuntu Server inside a Virtual Machine

    

Installing Apache2 and Accessing the Webpage From the Host Machine

Installing Apache here is simply to verify that:

• The VM networking is working correctly

• Services inside the VM are reachable from the host

1. Run the below command to update package mirrors and install apache2. The Apache2 service is automatically started after its installation

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y apache2

1. Now, to access it from the host machine, we need to know the IP of this Ubuntu VM. So, run ip a in the terminal and check the value of inet within ensXX where XX will be some number. In my case the IP is 172.17.18.135

   

2. Now open a browser on your host machine and enter http://<ip> where <ip> is what you obtained above. You should see a default Apache2 page in your browser. Now, you may change this page if you like; the instructions are already available on this page.

   

What Did We Do?

Just now we:

1. Created a new virtual machine within VMware Workstation Pro

2. Installed Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS inside this VM

3. Installed Apache2 within this VM and accessed it from our host machine

What's Next?

In the next article, we will download and install Rocky Linux inside another VM.
Link to Next Article: Install Rocky Linux 9 on VMware Workstation Pro (2026 Guide)

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04) ✅

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware

5. Setting up Internal Networks

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture

Now it's time to install it properly before we start creating a virtual machine.
In this guide, I'll walk you through the installation process on Windows.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

• The installer file (downloaded in previous article)

• 64-bit Windows 10 or Windows 11

• Virtualization is enabled in BIOS (Intel VT-x / AMD-V)

• At least 8 GB of RAM (16 GB Recommended for lab setups)

Installation Step

Installing VMware Workstation Pro is straightforward — just like installing any other Windows application.

1. Double-click the installer to launch the installation window

   

2. Accept the terms and conditions

   

3. Click Install

   

4. In next step, VMware will detect whether Hyper-V is enabled on your systems

   • If Hyper-V is enabled, VMware will use it.

   • Otherwise, VMware will use its own hypervisor (as shown below)

     

     Click Next

5. Installation will begin. It may take about a minute for to complete

   

6. Once the installation is completed you will see VMware Workstation Pro icon on your Desktop and in the Start Menu.

   

7. Double-click desktop icon to launch VMware

   

And that’s it - VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 is now successfully installed on your Windows system.
Now its time to set up our first Virtual Machine.
In the next article, we'll download and install Ubuntu 22.04 Server as our first VM

👉🏻 Next Article: Install Ubuntu Server 22.04 On VMware Workstation Pro 2026

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04)

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware

5. Setting up Internal Networks

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture

If you're trying to download VMware Workstation Pro for the first time, the process can feel a bit confusing. I initially found it confusing too, so I decided to document the exact steps. This is also the first article of my DevOps Home Lab Setup with VMware Workstation Pro series

What is VMware Workstation?

VMware Workstation Pro is a desktop virtualization application that lets you run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical PC. In other words, you can run different Operating Systems (like Ubuntu or Windows 10) on top of your current OS (for example, Windows 11). Each VM has its own:

• Virtual CPU

• Virtual Memory

• Virtual Storage

• Virtual Network Adapters

Image source: 2: OS Layer Virtualization [18] | Download Scientific Diagram

Think of it like having multiple computers inside one machine. You can test, break, experiment, and learn inside this VM, and you don't have to worry about affecting your real system. No dual boot. No extra hardware. No reboot required.

Since late 2024, VMware Workstation Pro is license-free for personal use. You can read about it here

Why I chose VMware Workstation instead of VirtualBox?

I actually like the UI of VirtualBox more. However, my decision was mainly performance-based.

Earlier, my system had only an HDD (even the boot drive). On the same hardware, VMware Workstation performed better for me compared to VirtualBox. Now my OS runs on SSD, but I still store my VM files on HDD, and I'm satisfied with the performance I get from VMware.

Another feature I really like is Virtual Network Editor. It allows me to create multiple isolated virtual networks. I can create multiple VMs, attach multiple network adapters, and practice routing between networks.

If you're using VirtualBox or any other Type-2 hypervisor, I'd suggest trying VMware Workstation, especially since it's license-free now.

Download steps

1. Go to https://www.vmware.com

   

2. Click on Products then scroll and click on See Desktop Hypervisors

   

3. Click on Download Now and it should redirect you to the Broadcom login

   

4. Since we don't have an account, we need to register first

   • Click LOGIN on the top right

   • Click on the greyed out REGISTER button

     

5. Enter your email ID and answer the captcha

   

6. Enter the 6-digit OTP you received in your mail and click Verify & Continue

   

7. Fill in the required details on the final page to complete the registration process

   

8. Click on LOGIN on the top right, and log in with your newly created account

   

9. After successful login, you will be taken to your dashboard. You may choose to close the navigation tutorial

   

10. Next

    • Click My Downloads on the left side

    • Click HERE in front of "Free Software Downloads Available HERE"

      

11. Search for VMware Workstation and click VMware Workstation Pro

    

12. Expand VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 for Windows and click 25H2 under releases

    

13. To accept the terms and conditions:

    • Click on Terms and Conditions (blue text)

    • It will open in a new tab

    • Close that tab

    • The check box will now become active

    • Tick it and click the download icon next to the MD5 checksum

    • On hover, it will show "Screening Required"

1. Click Yes

1. Fill in your address and submit

1. Click the download button again. This time, on hovering, it will say HTTPS Download

1. This should start the download

If this helped you, follow the series — next, we’ll install VMware on Windows 11

Click here for the next part : How To Install VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 On Windows

Series Roadmap

1. Download VMware Workstation Pro ✅

2. Installation Guide ✅

3. Creating Your First VM (Ubuntu Server 22.04)

4. Installing Rocky Linux on VMware

5. Setting up Internal Networks

6. Configuring Static IP on Ubuntu and Rocky

7. Building a Gateway VM for Multi-VM Lab Architecture

8. Multi-VM DevOps Lab Architecture