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Tutorial Intro

Let's discover How to configure your Raspberry Pi as a home lab in 15 minutes..

Getting Started

Let's get started with configuring your Raspberry Pi as a home lab!

What you'll need

  • Raspberry Pi 3, 4, or 5

    • I have the Raspberry Pi 4b
  • Monitor

  • Mouse

  • Another computer (to remotely connect to the Raspberry Pi)

  • Raspberry Pi Imager installed:

    • This will allow you to image your microSD card properly.

Image Your RPi

First, image your microSD card with the imager tool.

You should choose the Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit) option.

Turn On Your RPi

Input your newly imaged microSD card and turn on your RPi.

Once your RPi is on it will prompt you to fill in some basic information (timezone, keyboard layout, username & password, etc.).

Configure Config

Once logged in as your newly created user on your RPi, open the terminal and run the following command.

sudo raspi-config

This will open a window in your terminal like this:

raspi-config

Enable SSH

Now that you're in the raspi-config screen, enable SSH on your RPi.

To do this go to Interface Options >> SSH >> Yes

Set GPU Memory

Unless you plan to use the GUI for your RPi frequently, you will want to lower the GPU memory allocation.

To do this: Performance Options >> GPU Memory >> 16

Enable VNC (Optional)

If you want the ability to remote in with VNC Viewer you must enable VNC as well.

Interface Options >> VNC >> Yes

You will also need to set the VNC Resolution if your RPi won't be connected to a monitor at all times.

To do this: Display Options >> VNC Resolution >> Choose preferred resolution

Restart RPi

After making changes to the raspi-config, you need to restart your RPi for changes to take effect.

While the RPi is rebooting, that's a good time to unplug the monitor, keyboard, and mouse as you no longer will need these to interact with your RPi 😊

sudo reboot

Connect Via SSH

You can now connect to your RPi (home lab) via SSH from another machine on the same network.

In your other computer's terminal:

ssh {username}@raspberrypi.local

Conclusion

Your RPi is now configured as a server that you can utilize as your personal home lab!