eltonlaicedev/ilabhu-web repository overview

⁠ilabhu

Practice the full certification exam, on infrastructure you control.

Open source. Exam-focused (CKA, CKAD, CKS, RHCSA, ...). Provisioned in your own AWS, GCP, Azure or DigitalOcean account — or on Linux servers you already own. No shared sandbox, no subscription.

🔗 Landing page: ilabhu.com⁠ (custom domain on GitHub Pages)

⁠Why

Preparing for certifications like the CKA or RHCSA needs realistic environments where you can drive the whole exam end-to-end, not micro-exercises that only test one objective. Existing platforms either:

• charge a recurring subscription (KodeKloud, A Cloud Guru),
• run on shared infrastructure you can't inspect or extend (Killercoda, iximiuz Labs),
• or are tied to a specific vendor's cloud.

ilabhu is different:

• Open source (Apache 2.0). Fork it, self-host it, contribute exams.
• Bring your own cloud or your own hosts. Connect AWS / GCP / Azure / DigitalOcean via short-lived assumed credentials, or hand ilabhu a list of Linux servers you already operate. No long-lived keys stored. Resources you own, billing you control, lifecycle you decide.
• Exam-shaped content. Each exam mirrors the real certification — multiple weighted domains, ~15-20 tasks, time-bounded, scored. Not a stack of disconnected micro-labs.
• Self-hostable. A single docker compose up for individuals; a Kubernetes deploy for teams and training providers.

⁠Status

Pre-alpha. The full pipeline (catalog, provisioning, validation) and all five declared providers (AWS, DigitalOcean, GCP, Azure, BYO-hosts) are wired up. A single warm-up CKA exam ships with Terraform modules for the four cloud providers and an SSH setup script for BYO-hosts. Real CKA content (~17 tasks) is the next milestone. See the roadmap below.

⁠How it works

┌────────────┐    ┌──────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────┐
│  Web UI    │───▶│  Control plane   │───▶│  Provider adapter    │
│ (Next.js)  │    │      (Go)        │    │  AWS · GCP · Azure   │
└────────────┘    └──────────────────┘    │  DO · BYO-hosts      │
                          │                └──────────┬───────────┘
                          │   AssumeRole / WIF /      │
                          │   SP / token / SSH key    │
                          ▼                           ▼
                  ┌──────────────────┐    ┌────────────────────────┐
                  │  Validator       │◀───│  Exam environment      │
                  │  (kubectl/SSH)   │    │  (your infra)          │
                  └──────────────────┘    └────────────────────────┘

An exam is a versioned directory under exams/ containing:

• exam.yaml — metadata, domains, tasks, validations, declared providers
• <provider>/ — one Terraform module (cloud) or one setup script (BYO-hosts) per declared provider

When a user starts a session, they pick a provider; the control plane uses the matching adapter to provision the environment in the user's account or hosts, opens a browser terminal, and runs the validation rules on demand.

For the IAM role + external-id setup, see docs/byo-cloud-setup.md⁠. For per-provider session costs and a "which to pick" decision tree, see docs/cost-comparison.md⁠. For the full architecture, see docs/architecture.md⁠. For the manifest schema, see docs/exam-schema.md⁠. To add your own exam, see docs/authoring-an-exam.md⁠. When something breaks, see docs/troubleshooting.md⁠.

⁠Roadmap

• Exam manifest schema (exam.yaml) v1, multi-provider, with a JSON Schema for editor autocomplete
• First exam: CKA — warmup (single task)
• Control plane: catalog, sessions, validations; coverage gate at 45%
• Web UI: exam catalog, exam detail, session monitor with kubeconfig download, per-task Validate
• Validator kinds: kubectl, shell (SSH-piped), http (with {{public_ip}} substitution)
• AWS adapter (sts:AssumeRole + external id)
• DigitalOcean adapter (PAT)
• GCP adapter (Service Account key; project id extracted from JSON)
• Azure adapter (Service Principal with client secret)
• BYO-hosts adapter (SSH key + host list; setup/teardown scripts)
• Authoring docs (docs/authoring-an-exam.md, docs/exam-schema.md, docs/exam-schema.json)
• Troubleshooting guide
• Multi-node Terraform modules (currently single-node k3s on every cloud)
• Full CKA content (~17 tasks across all domains)
• CKAD, CKS, RHCSA exam packs
• Time-limit timer + weighted scoring UI
• docker compose self-host bundle (see deploy/README.md⁠)
• Workload Identity Federation for GCP / Azure (currently SA key / SP secret)

⁠Releases

See CHANGELOG.md⁠ for what shipped in each release.

⁠License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE⁠.