Isolated, Scalable, & Lightweight Environment for Training

Make training a smooth process...#NoMoreVMs

A container system for teaching Linux based software with minimal participation and
configuration effort. The participation barrier is set very low, students only need an SSH client.

Uses

• Event training
• Staff training
• Capture the flag competitions
• Trying out tools in a containerized environment
• Development environments

Demo

You can quickly try out ISLET on some of my dev systems. Password is demo

ssh demo@islet1.jonschipp.com
ssh demo@islet2.jonschipp.com

Design

####Simplified Diagram

####Detailed Flowchart

Installation

Installation of ISLET is very simple and it can be done in two ways:

On the host operation system

make install

Or as a Docker container which requires little to no modification to the host

make install-contained

Target:	Description:
install	Install ISLET: install-files + configuration
install-contained	Install ISLET as a container, no modification to host system
update	Downloads and install new code (custom changes to default files will be overwritten)
uninstall	Uninstall ISLET (Recommended to backup your stuff first)
mrproper	Removes files that did not come with the source
install-docker	Installs latest Docker from Docker repo (Debian/Ubuntu only)
docker-config	Reconfigures Docker storage backend to limit container and image sizes
user-config	Configures a user account called demo w/ password dem
security-config	Configures sshd and pam_limits with islet relevant security in mind
iptables-config	Installs iptables ruleset

GNU make accepts arguments if you want a customized installation (not supported):

make install INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/islet USER=training
make user-config INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/islet USER=training PASS=training
make security-config INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/islet USER=training
make uninstall INSTALL_DIR=/usr/local/islet USER=training

Variable:	Description:
CONFIG_DIR	ISLET config files directory (def: /etc/islet)
INSTALL_DIR	ISLET installation directory (def: /opt/islet)
CRON	Directory to place islet crontab file (def: /etc/cron.d)
USER	User account created with user-config target (def: demo)
PASS	User account password created with user-config target (def: demo)
SIZE	Maximum container and image size with configure-docker target (def: 2G)
IPTABLES	Iptables ruleset (def: /etc/network/if-pre-up.d/iptables-rules)
NAGIOS	Location of nagios plugins (def: /usr/local/nagios/libexec)
PORT	The SSH port on the host when installing ISLET as a container (def: 2222)
PACKAGE	Type of package to build for make package (def: deb)

Updating

Updating an existing ISLET installation is very simple:

For an existing host installation (make install):

make update

For an existing container installation (make install-contained):

docker pull jonschipp/islet

Dependencies

• Linux, Bash, Cron, OpenSSH, Make, SQLite, and Docker

The configure script will check for dependencies

./configure

Typically all you need is make, sqlite, and docker (for Debian/Ubuntu):

apt-get install make sqlite
make install-docker

The included installation scripts are designed to work with Debian/Ubuntu systems.

Note: Installing ISLET as container (make install-contained) only requires Docker

Ubuntu

The following make targets will install docker and configure the system with security in mind for the Docker process. It is designed to be a quick way to get a working system with a good configuration.

Install ISLET on the host:

make install-docker	# Installs latest Docker
make configure-docker   # Limits image and container sizes by rebuilding storage backend (Skip if using Docker 1.4+)
make security-config    # Configure islet relevant security with sshd and pam_limits

Install ISLET as a container on the host:

make install-docker	# Installs latest Docker
make install-contained	# Installs ISLET as a container

Manual

For manual installation and configuration of dependencies to your liking i.e. not using the system make targets.

• Install Docker:

apt-get install docker
yum install docker

• Configure user account for training (this is given to students to login):

useradd --create-home --shell /opt/islet/bin/islet_shell training
echo "training:training" | chpasswd
groupadd docker
groupadd islet
gpasswd -a training docker
gpasswd -a training islet

See the SECURITY file more information on manually securing the system.

Post-Install First Steps

Post-installation first steps

1. Set STORAGE_BACKEND in /etc/islet/islet.conf to match your Docker storage driver

docker info | grep Storage

2. Change the password for the islet user (default: demo)

passwd demo

3. Create a Docker image for your training environment (see Adding Training Environments)

cat <<EOF > Dockerfile
# Build image for C programming
FROM      ubuntu
MAINTAINER Jon Schipp <jonschipp@gmail.com>

RUN adduser --disabled-password --gecos "" demo
RUN apt-get update -qq
RUN apt-get install -y build-essential
RUN apt-get install -y git vim emacs nano tcpdump gawk rsyslog
RUN apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends man-db
EOF

docker build -t gcc-training - < Dockerfile

4. Create an ISLET configuration file for the Docker image (see Adding Training Environments)

make template > /etc/islet/gcc.conf
vim /etc/islet/islet/gcc.conf
# Set IMAGE variable to name of docker image (e.g. gcc-training)
# Set VIRTUSER variable to name of user in docker image that the student will become (e.g. demo)

Adding Training Environments

See Docker's image documentation

1. Build or pull in a new Docker image

2. Create an ISLET config file for that image. You can use make template for an example.

3. Place it in /etc/islet with a .conf extension.

It should now be available from the selection menu upon login.

Administration

• Global configuration file: /etc/islet/islet.conf
• Per-image configuration file: /etc/islet/$IMAGE.conf

Per-image configs overwrite the variables specified in the global config file. For each Docker image you want available for use by ISLET, create an image file with a .conf extension and place it in the /etc/islet/ directory. These images will be selectable from the ISLET menu after authentication via SSH.

Common Tasks:

• Add another system account for ISLET (used to remotely access e.g. ssh)

useradd --create-home --shell /opt/islet/bin/islet_shell training
echo "training:training" | chpasswd
gpasswd -a training docker
gpasswd -a training islet

• Change the password of a container user (Not a system account).

    $ PASS=$(echo "newpassword" | sha1sum | sed 's/ .*//)
	$ sqlite3 /var/tmp/islet.db "UPDATE accounts SET password='$PASS' WHERE user='jon';"
	$ sqlite3 /var/tmp/islet.db "SELECT password FROM accounts WHERE user='jon';"
	aaaaaaa2a4817e5c9a56db45d41ed876e823fcf|1413533585

• Configure container and user lifetime (e.g. conference duration)

  1. Specify the number of days for user account and container lifetime in:

        $ grep ^DAYS /etc/islet/islet.conf
        DAYS=3 # Length of the event in days

Removal scripts are cron jobs that are scheduled in /etc/cron.d/islet

• Allocate more or less resources for containers, and control other container settings. These changes will take effect for each newly created container.
  • System and use case dependent

    $ grep -A 5 "Container config /etc/islet/brolive.conf
	# Container Configuration
	VIRTUSER="demo"                                         # Account used when container is entered (Must exist in container!)
	CPU="1"                                                 # Number of CPU's allocated to each container
	RAM="256m"                                              # Amount of memory allocated to each container
	HOSTNAME="bro"	                                      	# Set hostname in container. PS1 will end up as $VIRTUSER@$HOSTNAME:~$ in shell
	NETWORK="none"                                          # Disable networking by default: none; Enable networking: bridge
	DNS="127.0.0.1"                                         # Use loopback when networking is disabled to prevent error messages from resolver
	MOUNT="-v /exercises:/exercises:ro"			# Mount point(s), sep. by -v: /src:/dst:attributes, ro = readonly (avoid rw)
	OPTIONS="--cap-add=NET_RAW --cap-add=NET_ADMIN"		# Apply any other options you want passed to Docker run here
	MOTD="Training materials are in /exercises"             # Message of the day is displayed before container launch and reattachment

• Adding, removing, or modifying exercises

  1. Make changes in /exercises on the host's filesystem
  • Changes are immediately available for new and existing containers

Case Study

The precursor to ISLET was used to aid the instructers in teaching the Bro platform at BroCon14.

Workflow:

• Install ISLET and dependencies
• Build Docker image containing Bro (docker pull broplatform/brolive)
• Write a ISLET config file for the Bro image
• Set a banner in the ISLET config file for light branding (logo)
• Hand out the demo account credentials to your students so they can SSH in
• Instruct them on the software

Here's a brief demonstration:

        $ ssh demo@live.bro.org

        Welcome to Bro Live!
        ====================

            -----------
          /             \
         |  (   (0)   )  |
         |            // |
          \     <====// /
            -----------

        A place to try out Bro.

        Are you a new or existing user? [new/existing]: new

        A temporary account will be created so that you can resume your session. Account is valid for the length of the event.

        Choose a username [a-zA-Z0-9]: jon
        Your username is jon
        Choose a password:
        Verify your password:
        Your account will expire on Fri 29 Aug 2014 07:40:11 PM UTC

        Enjoy yourself!
        Training materials are located in /exercises.
        e.g. $ bro -r /exercises/beginner/http.pcap

        demo@bro:~$ pwd
        /home/demo
        demo@bro:~$ which bro
        /usr/local/bro/bin/bro

More info: [Mailing List] (https://groups.google.com/d/forum/islet)