Hi there,
I was hoping to get into some homelab/networking so I can learn more about VLANs, Subnets, etc. However, I am moving into a new apartment where it has preconfigured internet (RJ45 ports in every room). Is there a way to still implement my own network? There is a closet that has all of the cables and what looks to be a switch but nothing other than that. Any recommendations on how you would go about that would be appreciated!
You can always implement your own network–you don’t need Internet access for that. Most labs have limited connections to the Internet, especially when learning stuff like vlans, etc.
As far as how your apartment Internet would be different than your own isp, well, it’s all down to the IP address. If you get a public IP address (or more than one), you’ll be able to do everything you could with your isp. And in general, I’ve not seen an apartment that doesn’t do this.
If it is a ‘private’ IP subnet (192.168.x.x, 10.x.x.x, 172.16…), then your Internet incoming traffic will more than likely be behind a NAT so you won’t be able to have a server sitting behind this without some workarounds. But your regular Internet traffic like browsing, etc will work fine.
Hope this helps and feel free to ask questions as I dealt with this in one of our previous apartment complexes.