Linux lab ideas/help

DDStime

I am kinda new to Linux and after reading some intro books I just decided to just build a network to learn Linux.

So far I have the following in my network:
1. All VM desktop
2. Private LAN running through a clearOS firewall
3. 4 desktops on the private LAN including Mint, Kali, Ubuntu and clearOS
4. proFTP file server on the mint image with a virtual link on all workstations to share files
5. Webserver proxy installed on the clearOS machine monitoring all traffic
6. IDS installed on the clearOS machine seriously bogging down the system lol
7. DHCP on the clearOS machine leasing all machines IP's every 4 days

I'm running out of ideas. I have learned a ton, but need a little guidance on what to do next to keep learning.

My original goal was the CEH and after reading about all of the firewall and IDS stuff I decided that the only way I would really understand it was to build my own network and pentest it. That way I could see from the inside what the firewall and IDS were doing.

I really had no direction in this and if anyone had any Linux lab setup classes or tutorials it would be great or if anyone had any advice as to what to do next it would be great. Again this is all running on VM desktop.

Thanks!

Verities

Web applications play one of the most important roles in making Linux a major player in the industry. You could setup a LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP); some may say use Python, but I suggest using PHP as its faster than Python in terms of web apps and is very easy to learn.

Understanding the power and utility of Apache can lead you to in my opinion learning more about Linux than anything else. Try setting up a reverse proxy, setup a forward proxy, lock down web pages and only allow access via user/password authentication, enable smart card check or authentication, and create virtual hosts.

The versatility of Apache is really limitless and you can use it to secure a lot of ports that require API calls that may otherwise be open to anyone (think 8443, 8080). I've seen a lot of people shy away from Apache and just use it as a basic web server, when the modules you can pull for it make it extremely extensible.