simulation-components

Simulation Components

Create modular, deployable virtualized services that combine into coherent cyber range simulations.

Problem

Cyber range exercises require realistic organizational infrastructure -- DNS, web services, email, Active Directory -- but building these from scratch for every exercise is time-consuming and produces inconsistent, low-fidelity environments. Without parameterized, composable building blocks that generate contextually appropriate content for a given industry and organization, exercise environments feel artificial and fail to train defenders on realistic scenarios.

Core Concept

Simulation components are self-contained, parameterized building blocks that:

1. Accept organization context (name, industry, size, structure)
2. Generate contextually appropriate content and configuration
3. Deploy via Docker or integrate with VMs
4. Interconnect with other components via standard interfaces
5. Reset to known state instantly

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    COMPONENT COMPOSITION                            │
│                                                                     │
│   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐   ┌─────────┐          │
│   │   DNS   │ + │   WEB   │ + │  EMAIL  │ + │   AD    │ = SIMULATION
│   │Component│   │Component│   │Component│   │Component│          │
│   └─────────┘   └─────────┘   └─────────┘   └─────────┘          │
│        │             │             │             │                 │
│        └─────────────┴──────┬──────┴─────────────┘                 │
│                             │                                       │
│                    ┌────────┴────────┐                             │
│                    │  Organization   │                             │
│                    │    Context      │                             │
│                    └─────────────────┘                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When to Use

• Building new cyber range scenarios
• Creating industry-specific training environments
• Generating realistic content for exercises
• Populating AD with contextually appropriate users/groups
• Simulating supply chain or partner organizations
• Creating grey zone "Internet" services

Component Catalog

Component	Purpose	Output
dns-org	Organization DNS (external + internal)	Docker + zone files
web-org	Organization website	Docker + HTML/CSS
ad-population	AD users, groups, OUs	PowerShell + CSV
email-org	Email infrastructure	Docker + configs
npc-personas	User profiles for traffic gen	YAML configs
file-share	Sample documents	Office docs, PDFs

Supported Industry Sectors

Sector	Content Generated
financial_services	Trading systems, client portals, wire rooms, Bloomberg/Reuters
healthcare	EHR, PACS, pharmacy, patient portals, telehealth
manufacturing	SCADA, MES, ERP, PLM, quality systems
defense	C2, SIPR gateway, intel, logistics, training
energy	SCADA, EMS, OMS, DMS, GIS, metering
retail	POS, inventory, ecommerce, loyalty, warehouse
generic	Standard corporate services

Generation Workflow

1. Define Organization Context

# Use a template or create custom
cp templates/financial-services.yaml my-org.yaml
# Edit to customize

2. Generate Components

# Generate all components
python generators/orchestrate.py \
    --context my-org.yaml \
    --output ./my-simulation/

# Or generate specific components
python generators/gen_dns_org.py --context my-org.yaml --output ./dns/
python generators/gen_web_org.py --context my-org.yaml --output ./web/
python generators/gen_ad_population.py --context my-org.yaml --output ./ad/

3. Deploy

cd my-simulation
docker compose up -d

# AD population (on domain controller)
powershell -File Populate-AD.ps1

Extending Components

Add New Industry Sector

Add content templates to the relevant generator scripts (gen_web_org.py, gen_dns_org.py). See reference.md for detailed examples.

Add New Component

1. Create generator script accepting --context and --output arguments
2. Register in orchestrator (see reference.md for registration pattern)

Resources

See generators/ directory:

• gen_dns_org.py - DNS infrastructure generator
• gen_web_org.py - Website content generator
• gen_ad_population.py - AD population generator
• orchestrate.py - Multi-component orchestrator

See templates/ directory:

• financial-services.yaml - Investment bank template
• healthcare.yaml - Hospital system template
• defense-contractor.yaml - Defense company template
• manufacturing.yaml - Manufacturing company template
• energy.yaml - Utility company template

See examples/ directory:

• complete-simulation/ - Full multi-component example
• grey-zone-internet/ - Internet simulation example

Verification

1. Confirm all generated Docker containers start successfully: docker compose up -d completes with exit code 0 and all services show "running" in docker compose ps.
2. Verify DNS resolution works end-to-end: dig @<dns-container-ip> www.<domain> returns the expected A record from the generated zone file.
3. Confirm the web component serves pages: curl http://<web-container-ip>/ returns HTML with the organization name and branding colors from the context file.
4. Validate AD population script runs without errors on a domain controller: Populate-AD.ps1 creates the expected number of users, groups, and OUs matching the organization context headcounts.
5. Verify inter-component connectivity: the web component's DNS name resolves via the DNS component, and email MX records point to the email component's IP.

Notes

• Full YAML schemas, detailed component specifications, multi-organization scenarios, Docker configs, and AD population details are in reference.md