Advice on learning networking with virtualised network and hardware.

Hi everyone, I am a beginner in IT studying CompTIA A+ (taking up more courses to get into Cybersecurity). I would like to get a more hands-on experience to understand the networking process better (instead of reading about protocols in A+).

I am looking to set up a completely virtual network to learn more about the stuff in A+. For example, setting up an active directory with DNS, DHCP, SMTP, SMB, Printing servers, with maybe 2 windows 10 users. Also I would like to include virtual firewalls (pfSense) and virtual routers in the network as well.

To all the all the more experienced networking techs, do you think this would be a good idea / is it even feasible in the first place?

For now, I would just be learning how to set up Windows 2019 server and play around with it. (Should I start with linux servers??) I would appreciate any advice on how to start this project! Thanks everyone!