You can create a virtual machine with VirtualBox, just download minimal install iso and start a vm with it. Installation is quite easy. The best is to use an ssh connection once system is setup.
you can use NAT network with VirtualBox, you’ll need to redirect port. Or you can use Bridge connection so that it will have is own address and will be visible on the LAN.
To change hostname seen on the LAN, type for naming it centos7-vm :
[root@localhost]# hostnamectl set-hostname centos7-vm
Install extra package for extra applications (htop for instance) :
[root@localhost]# yum install -y centos-release-scl epel-release
install gcc environment
[root@localhost]# yum install -y devtoolset-7-gcc devtoolset-7-gcc-c++
install git
[root@localhost]# yum install -y git