2.2 Prepping Hardware
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Video Transcription
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>> Welcome back to the Cybrary course
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on Building your Infosec Lab.
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I'm your host and instructor, Kevin Hernandez.
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A few lessons ago,
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we discussed different hardware options that were
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offered to us to building our information security lab.
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These were options such as
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small firm factor systems such as Tel,
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the Intel NUCs, and the Bricks.
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We also look at pre-built system from retailers
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such as specified and use systems as well from eBay.
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First forward into our last lesson,
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we'll look how to quick format a hard drive.
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This is required prior to installing our media.
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We want to make sure there's no lingering data
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or any type of
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information that might corrupt our installation.
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We also have a quick look at Rufus,
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which we'll be utilizing in order to make our images
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bootable from a USB drive since
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our systems lack a physical drive.
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In today's lesson, we'll be looking
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at physical hardware itself.
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The PC we chose or in
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this case I choose in order to build my lab.
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This is not necessarily
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the system you will have to pick to build your lab.
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You can use like we mentioned before
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an all system adjust upgrader
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RAM or you can build your own system as well.
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Now, let's get started, Module 2,
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Lesson 2, hardware.
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Presented on the screen is a system I
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purchased from eBay, a day OptiPlex.
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I actually acquired two of these as I
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intend to use the other one for non-lab purposes.
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The system is very simple.
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Over here, the black heat sink
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is where the CPU is located.
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To its left is
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a RAM slot which contains 16 gigabytes of RAM.
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Directly above it is the wireless card.
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To its right is the SATA connector,
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this little gray plastic.
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This is where we will be connecting
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our solid-state drive.
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Now, if you pay close attention around
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this general area, there's a little hole.
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This is where you can connect your M.2 SSDs.
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M.2 tend to be a little bit faster than,
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let's say a SSD.
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However, it brings a higher cost.
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In order for this lab to stay in
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a cost productive budget,
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we will be utilizing the SSD instead of the M.2s.
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Now, one really good thing I like about
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this system is that it
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uses a blower style system for cooling,
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which is this little device I'm holding.
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How this works is that it will gather
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the air through here and it pushes it
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out through the heat sink around this area and
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externally to the little grills
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we're seeing right over here.
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Now, this is a very crucial concept to take into
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consideration when you're positioning your system.
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The reason being is if you put
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furniture right here on the back,
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it will actually impact the airflow as a system.
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It will overheat the system and
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can cause any type of failure.
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When talking about small form factor systems,
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ventilation is crucial in order to not
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impact performance or the overall health of the systems.
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A device such as this, it's really important.
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Please take this advice into
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consideration when positioning your system.
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Even though this seems like a flaw,
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it's actually an advantage because you can properly
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designate and determine where the airflow is going to be.
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To position it it's fairly simple.
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All you have to do is align
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these little dots with the little holes
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right here next to the heat sink,
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align it, press down,
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push it in and lock it and that's it.
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It's that simple. When using the SSD,
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you will have to use the included
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bracket within your system.
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There are some pins in the side which
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actually match the pins in your SSD.
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Now, it is crucial that you have
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the proper orientation to this SSD.
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The data and power connectors,
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these two over here need to match to
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proper alignment on the connector right here.
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Make sure they match,
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little hole on the left,
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which is data and the power in the bottom.
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Therefore, the proper alignment for
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these particular SSD will be as such.
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Now, you want to basically make sure that
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this area that I just signaled is
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where this little locking mechanism will be placed.
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All you have to do is align it as you can see.
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Back here actually there's
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a locking mechanism right over here and slide it in.
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Now, as you can see, it's perfectly locked.
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Now, the reason we have taken
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the small time to explain the components of
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the hardware and how to connect them or put them
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together is that many systems such as this OptiPlex,
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the Intel NUCs and the bricks
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will require some type of assembly.
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These are what we call verbal systems.
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Most of the time they only require you
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to install the SSD and a RAM.
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However, like this one,
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many of them have brackets or
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easy-to-follow instructions on how to install.
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Now, in order to cool this OptiPlex,
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>> just take the lid,
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>> make sure the little bracket aligns a such,
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press it down and lock it in as such.
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There we go, secure it with the screw.
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Now, one of the main advantages I like about
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these small systems compared to a high desktop.
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It's even though it's blurry because
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our focus is not that great for smaller numbers,
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is that you can tell this is a 65 watt system.
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What does this mean for us?
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This basically means that this is
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a very power efficient system.
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When you're saying having a computer 24 by
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7 year round connected to the network and to the power,
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a 65 watts system seems a lot more
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friendly to your pocket than let's say a 700.
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Now, let me show you another device you can
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utilize if you still want to
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remain in a small form factor system.
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This is a case I picked up a few years ago.
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It's a mini ITX.
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It's a lot smaller than
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the traditional system you find in your electronic store.
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Especially you can actually build this with the parts
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and requirements that you're
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specifically looking for in this lab.
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Now, if we open it, you can see how compact this is.
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This is a regular ATX power supply.
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You can see it's a 750 Watts
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compared to the 65 Watts off the system.
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Now, right here on the bottom is a graphic card.
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Right over here where I'm holding
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this cables is where the mother board will be.
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You can see it's fairly compact,
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but a lot more powerful.
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This will be oriented more towards a system
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where you want to include all the components within it.
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Now, let me show you something again.
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Let's zoom in into that power supply, see CX750M.
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This is basically Coursera's 751 molar power supply.
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Now, let me bring you the dollop duplex.
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See how small it is.
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It's almost as small as this power supply.
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Talk about space savings.
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Remember, this meaning ITX that I just showed you,
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it's about the size of an Xbox 1. The original one.
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It is a fairly small footprint when you compare to,
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let's say, a regular desktop or a gaming desktop.
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Now, Intel NUCs are actually smaller than
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these OptiPlex that I have onsite.
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However, remember, the smaller you go,
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the more issues you might have
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with overheating and performance.
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Now, what did we learn today? Basically, we'll
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look at the system I picked, Dell Optiplex.
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Now, this is not
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necessarily the same system you have to pick.
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Your are more than open to repurpose your old system,
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you're more than welcome to
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pick that laptop that you have laying
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around and putting the RAM in it and make it into a lab.
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This could be the difference between spending $500,
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$600 in a brand new system versus an operating
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$50 that even though might not
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run the lab at the same magnitude as mine,
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but you should be able to accomplish
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pretty much a similar outcome
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to the one shown in this course.
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You got to remember there's
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that direct correlation between CPU,
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RAM, and its counterpart
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from the requirements of
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these applications we're running.
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The more resources you have,
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the more applications you'll be able to
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run and the more efficiently this will run it.
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Keep that in consideration when building the lab.
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In the next lesson, we
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will actually start building the lab.
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We're going to start with EXSI as we will use
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this as the core system to include
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several applications
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into an environment instead of having
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one dedicated device for each application.
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Hope to see you soon. Have a great day.
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