While a free shell server poses as potentially the most beneficial learning experience you will ever have, I can suggest a couple options from my own laboratory:
want to learn VoIP: Setup an asterisk server and replace your home phone system.
need a backup server? Play around with FreeNAS or CrytoBox. Those incremental system images are always in style. Of course, the cool kids are using openBSD and doing full disk encryption.
Who said console? Make yourself a terminal server to give yourself access to machines if the network runs afoul.
Invisible man? Play around with transparent ethernet firewall/bridges and filter your traffic on the fly.
Tango and cache: Make yourself a squid proxy/caching name server for internal use.
No hands? build yourself a wireless access point and get rid of your off-the-shelf paper-weight.
IDS, anyone? Set up your own SNORT IDS box and start analyzing them packets.
Feeling crazy? try and build yourself a covert streaming media server - I installed one inside a VCR housing.
Of course, you could also make yourself a little VMWare server for playing around with new distros or LiveCDs.
Addendum:
If you're interested in learning about routing I suggest installed FreeBSD and openOSPF. (And ifstated if you have a second one your want to put in failover).
Last edited by dk_netsvil; 16th July 2008 at 03:15 PM.
|