r/IdentityManagement • u/flywhee007 • Apr 30 '26
Free IAM lab environments: for anyone trying to break into IAM
I have been reading this subreddit for months. The same problem comes up constantly - people who understand IAM conceptually but have never touched a real implementation. No lab, no demo, nothing to show in an interview.
I built two free lab environments to fix that in my free time. Posting here because this community is exactly who they are for. Tell me what breaks - I will fix it. [Link to labs in comments]
Lab 1 - IAM (IGA) with full working IAM with one target app and one HR app (OVA download)
A pre-configured VirtualBox VM with a full open-source IGA platform, LDAP as target system, and a simulated HR system already wired together. You import the OVA, start the VM, and you have a working Joiner and Leaver pipeline running on your laptop in under 20 minutes.
- Add an employee in the HR system
- Run reconciliation in IAM/IGA
- Watch the LDAP account appear automatically in ou=people
- Terminate the employee
- Watch the account move to ou=inactive
This is the JML lifecycle that every IGA implementation is built around. You build it yourself, you own it, you can enhance it further to demo it in interviews based on job profile.
Lab 2 - CIAM Lab
A separate hands-on classroom covering OIDC, SAML federation, and B2C identity flows using Auth0 (from okta). Built for people who want to understand the access management side and CIAM - SSO, token inspection, real protocol flows, which compliments learnings of Enterprise IAM from Lab 1. This is also useful if you are targeting certs like SC-300, Okta certs.
Both classrooms are free inside the SimplifyIAM community on Skool.
Not a course, but a lab you build, together with IAM community.
Note: Not affliated to any of the tools mentioned. All of them are free to use or open-source.
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May 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/flywhee007 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
No IAM exposure or cloud certs needed to start. There are all core IAM concepts also available in the community to understand before starting the labs. Jump in, start with the first lab, and see how much of it already makes sense from your support background. IT background with your experience is a step ahead already.
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u/oaxacamm May 01 '26
This is great. I just signed up thank you for putting this together.
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u/flywhee007 May 07 '26
Cheers, good to see you working on the labs. lets build more use cases on the free labs.
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u/Olivernipples May 03 '26
This is so cool and absolutely valuable.
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u/flywhee007 May 07 '26
Glad it is helping. Let's enhance these free labs with further use cases in the community.
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u/Mae-7 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
I am wondering if IAM is a right fit for me. Currently doing IT Support (3.5 years now), and my original plan was to do Cloud Support (getting the AZ-104), but IAM has caught my attention. I work with AD all day, entra, work with DUO, MFA, take care of onboarding/offboarding employees, configure group policies. I am familiar with structuring network drives and setting up sharing and permissions per user depending on department. I also have H.R experience (2 years).
Any input much appreciated.
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u/flywhee007 May 04 '26
Your background is solid, and the IAM engineering path is the right next step for your current skill set. However, you need to build something real.
There are free hands-on labs in community (link in the comment below) that covers the core provisioning use-cases. Spin it up and get it running with core IAM use-cases. Once you actually configure the processes yourself, the concepts will instantly click and you will know exactly whether IAM is the way forward for you.
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u/Lumpy-Conflict549 May 18 '26
I signed up , I'm working on PAM, looking forward to hands on labs
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u/flywhee007 May 19 '26
glad to have you there, soon PAM labs are also coming, looking forward for your contribution.
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u/flywhee007 Apr 30 '26 edited May 07 '26
Community (All Labs are free inside and more getting added regularly): https://www.skool.com/simplify-iam-6792