Open Network Security Lab

A complete DNS security lab environment with three virtual machines for learning and testing DNS security concepts.

Quick Start

1. Install Prerequisites

   # Run the installation script to install Vagrant and VirtualBox
   ./install-prerequisites.bat    # Windows
   ./install-prerequisites.sh     # Linux/macOS

2. Launch All VMs

   # Start all three VMs in the correct order
   ./launch-lab.bat               # Windows
   ./launch-lab.sh                # Linux/macOS
   
   # Or with cleanup options
   ./launch-lab.bat clean         # Windows - force clean start
   ./launch-lab.bat noclean       # Windows - keep existing VMs
   ./launch-lab.sh clean          # Linux/macOS - force clean start
   ./launch-lab.sh noclean        # Linux/macOS - keep existing VMs

3. Shutdown All VMs

   # Gracefully shutdown all VMs in reverse order
   ./shutdown-lab.bat             # Windows
   ./shutdown-lab.sh              # Linux/macOS

4. Manual Setup (Alternative)

   # Start VMs individually in order
   cd DNS && vagrant up && vagrant reload  # Reload needed for DNS-DHCP
   cd ../Agent && vagrant up
   cd ../Detective && vagrant up

Lab Components

VM	Role	Base Box	IP Address	Resources
DNS Server	DNS server with security monitoring	open_network_security/dns_server	192.168.10.1 (static)	4GB RAM, 2 CPUs
Agent	Agent machine for covert communications	open_network_security/agent	DHCP (192.168.10.x)	2GB RAM, 2 CPUs
Detective	Detective machine for detecting covert communication	open_network_security/detective	DHCP (192.168.10.x)	2GB RAM, 2 CPUs

Network Architecture

All VMs are connected to an isolated internal network (labnet) for secure testing:

• DNS Server provides DNS services and DHCP
• Agent and Detective get IP addresses via DHCP
• All communication stays within the isolated network

Note: The DNS server requires a reload after initial startup to properly initialize the DNS-DHCP services. The launch script handles this automatically.

Usage

Lab Management

• Start Lab: ./launch-lab.bat (Windows) or ./launch-lab.sh (Linux/macOS)
• Stop Lab: ./shutdown-lab.bat (Windows) or ./shutdown-lab.sh (Linux/macOS)

Individual VM Management

• Connect to VMs: vagrant ssh (from each VM's folder)
• Stop VMs: vagrant halt (from each VM's folder)
• Destroy VMs: vagrant destroy (from each VM's folder)

Prerequisites

• Vagrant 2.0+
• VirtualBox 6.0+
• Ansible 2.9+ (required if you provision from the host using the included Ansible playbooks)
• 8GB+ RAM recommended
• 20GB+ free disk space

Quick test

After the lab is up you can quickly verify internal networking using the helper script test-lab.sh located at the repository root.

What it checks:

• Prints the DHCP-assigned internal IP for Agent and Detective.
• Pings the DNS server at 192.168.10.1 from each VM to confirm connectivity.

Run it like this:

chmod +x test-lab.sh
./test-lab.sh