Growth Timeline¶
Purpose¶
The lab simulates infrastructure growth over time. Each phase introduces new technical requirements based on realistic business growth.
Timeline¶
| Year / Stage | Business Event | Technical Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Small business founded | One site, one domain controller, basic file sharing |
| Stage 2 | Staff grows to 50+ users | Second DC, better GPOs, structured OU model |
| Stage 3 | Regulated customers acquired | PKI, auditing, security baselines |
| Stage 4 | Corporate WiFi required | NPS/RADIUS and certificate-based authentication |
| Stage 5 | Microsoft 365 adopted | Entra ID, sync, MFA and Conditional Access |
| Stage 6 | Remote work expands | VPN, device compliance and Intune |
| Stage 7 | Second national site opens | AD Sites and Services, site-to-site VPN |
| Stage 8 | International expansion | Multi-site design, localization and DR |
| Stage 9 | Security operations mature | SIEM, monitoring, incident response |
| Stage 10 | Enterprise governance | Zero Trust, PIM/JIT/JEA and policy maturity |
Design rule¶
Infrastructure complexity should be introduced only when the business scenario justifies it.