This document provides instructions for setting up a virtual lab environment to explore network security monitoring and compliance standards. It involves creating two Ubuntu client VMs, a Security Onion VM for security monitoring, and installing Splunk on the Security Onion VM. Detailed steps are provided to install and configure Security Onion and Splunk, including enabling various security monitoring tools on Security Onion and downloading required Splunk apps. The purpose is to expose students to security monitoring details required by compliance standards and assist in creating a final logging standard.