Lab Assets Only
Your VA lab lives at $LAB_HOST on YOUR hardware — never stranger subnets or shared café gear.
Visual · va_lab_assets_only
Lab assets you control. Host = $LAB_HOST. Original Cyberlium.
Scanning a classmate's VM is everyone else's problem. YOUR lab VM keeps VA where it belongs.
RoE named the host. This lesson names the asset boundary. A VA lab belongs on an intentional VM or test server you created — isolated from roommates' machines, employer production, and café ordering sites. $LAB_HOST is the name of that target — not a trending SaaS IP, not the dorm gateway. You verify you are scanning $LAB_HOST before any discovery command runs. You do NOT nmap dorm subnets for 'inventory practice,' do NOT Nessus café routers, do NOT OpenVAS classmate deploys. Next: RoE Lab.
1. Lab assets mean you control the snapshot
A lab VM can be a fresh VirtualBox or Hyper-V image with a toy web service — as long as YOU own the hypervisor and strangers do not depend on it for production commerce. Document OS, IP, and who may power it off.
If you cannot find $LAB_HOST locally, provision your lab template — do not 'fix' it by scanning someone else's deployed server.
Command guide
Try these commands — Lab assets mean you control the snapshot
═══ TOOLS & WEBSITES ═══ Browse / read these (authorized learning only — stay in YOUR lab / program scope)
NVD — https://nvd.nist.gov/ Nmap host discovery — https://nmap.org/book/man-host-discovery.html
═══ INSTALL ═══
Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):
Command — copy this
sudo apt install nmap sudo apt install curl
macOS:
Command — copy this
brew install nmap
Windows:
Command — copy this
choco install nmap # or download https://nmap.org/download.html
Built-in (PowerShell: Invoke-WebRequest)
═══ LINUX / macOS ═══
Command — copy this
mkdir -p "$HOME/cyberlium-lab"
printf 'LAB_HOST=127.0.0.1
' > "$HOME/cyberlium-lab/t18-lab.env"
source "$HOME/cyberlium-lab/t18-lab.env"
nmap -sn "$LAB_HOST"
curl -sS -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}
' --max-time 5 https://nvd.nist.gov/ || truePrimary tools to practice this lesson: nmap, curl. Reference sites: NVD (https://nvd.nist.gov/); Nmap host discovery (https://nmap.org/book/man-host-discovery.html). Run every command in the box — install first, then the usage lines — only on YOUR lab / program scope.
2. Disposable lab, real consequences elsewhere
Snapshot or revert the lab VM between exercises. A lab asset is cattle: revert bad scans, reapply scope, continue literacy. VA on employer production, school servers, or live shops is out of scope forever in Cyberlium modules.
Scan exports containing stranger IPs are evidence mishandling — redact to $LAB_HOST only in notes.
3. Analyst mirror
Enterprise VA teams inventory owned assets the same way: CMDB entries, scope spreadsheets, signed targets. Your lab is a miniature of that discipline.
Ship one line: asset=$LAB_HOST, scope=owned only, never=stranger LANs/café Wi-Fi.
4. What you ship: lab asset boundary rule
Document $LAB_HOST you control. Refuse stranger deploy URLs. No café router scans. chmod 600 note.
5. What you record before the next lesson
Date. OS/IP. $LAB_HOST path proof. NEVER stranger LANs, café Wi-Fi, classmate hosts. File t18-m01-l03-lab-assets-only.txt chmod 600.
6. Wrong vs right: stranger nets vs YOUR lab assets
Worked failure — same MSF word, opposite target. Right never needs a café Wi-Fi or classmate laptop.
- Wrong: nmap every host on hackathon demo day. Nessus a live shop domain 'to learn scanners.'
- Right: Write asset boundary rule and $LAB_HOST. Next: RoE Lab.
Mission: prove lab asset isolation before tools
1) Document your lab OS/IP and path to $LAB_HOST. 2) Record how you verify target before scans. 3) Snapshot VM if applicable. Never scan assets you do not own.
Stuck? Ask Cyberlium AI Mentor
If $LAB_HOST is missing, ask Mentor about lab VM setup — not how to scan a dorm /24.
APPLY: Best target for VA labs in this course:
APPLY: True or False: nmap on classmate IPs is acceptable VA prep when bored.
APPLY: $LAB_HOST in Cyberlium means: