Scripting System

Script Types

Tasks support setup, check, and solve scripts. The executor runs each script type in parallel across the VMs that have a matching script.

Naming Convention

With virtual machines, scripts are discovered only with the matching {operation}-{vm-name} filename. With no VMs, task scripts are named setup, check, and solve; lab setup may be lab_scripts/setup.

Setup Scripts

Setup scripts configure the environment before the learner begins. Non-check scripts run with bash -e; source a profile explicitly if the script needs profile-defined configuration.

# Non-check scripts are executed with bash -e
set -e

# Install required tools
apt-get update -q
apt-get install -y -q curl wget jq

# Create initial directory structure
mkdir -p /home/user/workspace
chown user:user /home/user/workspace

# Pre-populate a config file the learner will modify
cat > /home/user/workspace/config.yaml <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-config
data: {}
EOF

# Add setup commands to bash history so learner can reference them
history -s "kubectl apply -f config.yaml"

• •Non-check scripts run with bash -e, so their shebang is ignored. Source the required profile explicitly when a script needs it.
• •Use set -e so the script fails fast on errors
• •Prefer idempotent scripts so reruns are safe.
• •Use history -s "command" to pre-populate terminal history (NOT set -o history)

Check Scripts

Check scripts validate the learner's work. Exit status controls the result: zero succeeds and non-zero fails. The executor sources /opt/tekanaid/scripts/check_template.sh when present and supplies fallback helpers.

#!/bin/bash
source /opt/tekanaid/scripts/check_template.sh

# Check that kubectl is configured correctly
check_command "kubectl cluster-info" "kubectl cluster-info should appear in shell history"

# Check that the deployment exists
check_command "kubectl get deployment my-app -n default" \
  "kubectl get deployment should appear in shell history"

# Check specific content in a file
check_file_content "/home/user/workspace/config.yaml" \
  "name: my-config" \
  "ConfigMap name should be 'my-config'"

echo "All checks passed!"

Solve Scripts

# Non-check scripts are executed with bash -e
set -e

# Apply the solution
kubectl apply -f /home/user/workspace/solution.yaml

# Verify the solution worked
kubectl wait --for=condition=available deployment/my-app --timeout=60s

• •Prefer an idempotent solution so rerunning it is safe.
• •Use history -s "command" to show the solution commands in terminal history (NOT set -o history)

Helper Functions

The executor sources /opt/tekanaid/scripts/check_template.sh before each check script. Source that path explicitly only when running the script outside the executor.