Hacklab 2.0 Infrastructure

Below is described Hacklab 2.0 (1266 Queen St. W.) infrastructure as of Jan 2019.

Overview

Hacklab.to is hosted in the Netherlands by Paul. The main webpage / blog is powered by Wordpress, a content management system (CMS). Those familiar with Wordpress usage will know where to find the login page. After logging in with your usual Hacklab Credentials, you can make changes to the public website.

LDAP

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is how the lab keeps track of members and allows them to log in everywhere with the same credentials. It's a little harder to use than just a simple MySQL database of users, but it already integrates smoothly into many different software products so we continue to use it.

Hacklab.to Blog

The blog (the public facing website) uses a Wordpress plugin to check LDAP credentials of users trying to log in. The LDAP in Wordpress is set to localhost, which is just a passthough for the master LDAP which is hosted at the actual Hacklab premises (accessible though [shell.hacklab.to]).

DNS

The Domain Name System is how computers find each other's IP address from their name. The current name for the on-premises Hacklab server is [shell.hacklab.to], which currently points to the power usage monitor through NAT (Network Address Translation).

Accessing the Lab Network from outside the Lab

Normally, the Lab's internal network can only be accessed from inside the lab, by connecting to the members only Wifi or plugging into an ethernet cable. We are hoping to set up a virtual private network (VPN) in Hacklab 3.0. In the meantime, you can ssh tunnel into the lab network.