Born2beRoot — Fully Automated VM Builder

One command to build a complete Born2beRoot Debian VM with SSH, WordPress, Docker, and VS Code Remote SSH that actually works.

make

That's it. Go grab a coffee. Come back to a fully configured VM.

What Is This

I built this because I was tired of manually installing Debian, configuring SSH, setting up WordPress, and then having VS Code Remote SSH die on me every 15 minutes.

This project automates the entire Born2beRoot setup from zero to a working VM:

Downloads the latest Debian netinst ISO
Injects a preseed file for fully unattended installation
Creates a VirtualBox VM with the right specs
Installs Debian with LUKS encryption + LVM partitions (bonus part)
Configures SSH on port 4242, UFW, sudo, password policy, AppArmor
Installs Docker, WordPress, lighttpd, MariaDB, PHP-FPM
Sets up the monitoring script with cron
Configures your host's ~/.ssh/config so ssh b2b just works
Injects your SSH public key so you never type a password
Configures VS Code Remote SSH settings to fix the timeout bug

Everything is scripted. make re destroys everything and rebuilds from scratch.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

VirtualBox installed (or run make deps to install it)
xorriso and curl (also installed by make deps)
~4GB free disk space

Build the VM

git clone https://github.com/LESdylan/setup_arch_linux.git
cd setup_arch_linux
make

The orchestrator will:

Install dependencies if needed
Download the Debian ISO
Inject the preseed + setup scripts into the ISO
Create the VirtualBox VM (2GB RAM, 3 CPUs, 32GB disk)
Boot and install Debian automatically (~15-25 min depending on your machine)
Power off when done

First Boot

After installation finishes:

Start the VM: make start_vm (GUI) or make bstart_vm (headless)
Enter the LUKS passphrase: tempencrypt123
Wait ~30 seconds for SSH to be ready
Connect: ssh b2b

Connect with VS Code

Ctrl+Shift+P → "Remote-SSH: Connect to Host..."
Select b2b
No password needed (SSH key was injected during install)

What `make` Does (Step by Step)

make
  │
  ├─ 1. Check/install dependencies (VirtualBox, xorriso, curl)
  │
  ├─ 2. Download latest Debian netinst ISO
  │     └─ Automatically detects the latest version from cdimage.debian.org
  │
  ├─ 3. Build custom ISO
  │     ├─ Inject preseed.cfg into initrd (fully automated install)
  │     ├─ Copy b2b-setup.sh (SSH, UFW, sudo, password policy, AppArmor, etc.)
  │     ├─ Copy monitoring.sh (Born2beRoot monitoring script)
  │     ├─ Copy first-boot-setup.sh (Docker + WordPress on first real boot)
  │     ├─ Copy host SSH public key (for passwordless auth)
  │     └─ Rebuild ISO with modified boot menu (auto-selects automated install)
  │
  ├─ 4. Create VirtualBox VM
  │     ├─ 2048 MB RAM, 3 CPUs, 64 GB dynamic disk
  │     ├─ NAT networking with port forwarding:
  │     │   SSH:4242  HTTP:80  HTTPS:443  Frontend:5173
  │     │   Backend:3000  Docker:5000  MariaDB:3306  Redis:6379
  │     └─ Attach the custom ISO
  │
  ├─ 5. Boot and install (unattended)
  │     ├─ Debian installer runs preseed.cfg
  │     ├─ LUKS + LVM partitions created automatically
  │     ├─ b2b-setup.sh runs in chroot (16 configuration sections)
  │     └─ VM powers off when done
  │
  └─ 6. Configure host
        ├─ Write ~/.ssh/config (b2b alias, keepalives)
        ├─ Configure VS Code settings.json (fix SSH timeout bug)
        └─ Display summary with credentials and URLs

Makefile Commands

Command	Description
`make`	Full pipeline — build everything from zero
`make re`	Destroy and rebuild — clean slate
`make status`	Show environment status dashboard
`make start_vm`	Start the VM (GUI mode)
`make bstart_vm`	Start headless + auto-unlock encryption
`make poweroff`	Shut down the VM
`make deps`	Install VirtualBox + tools
`make gen_iso`	Download Debian ISO + inject preseed
`make setup_vm`	Create the VirtualBox VM
`make clean`	Remove downloaded ISOs
`make fclean`	Remove ISOs + disk images
`make rm_disk_image`	Delete the VM completely
`make prune_vms`	Delete ALL VirtualBox VMs
`make list_vms`	List all VirtualBox VMs
`make help`	Show this help in the terminal

Connecting with VS Code Remote SSH

After make completes, your host is already configured. Just:

Ctrl+Shift+P → Remote-SSH: Connect to Host → b2b

The orchestrator automatically:

Wrote ~/.ssh/config with a b2b alias pointing to 127.0.0.1:4242
Injected your SSH public key into the VM (no password needed)
Configured VS Code settings to prevent the SOCKS proxy timeout bug

SSH Aliases

You can connect from the terminal with any of these:

ssh b2b            # shortest
ssh vm             # also works
ssh born2beroot    # full name

⚠️ Known Issue: VS Code SSH Connection Drops After ~15 Minutes

The Problem

If you use VS Code Remote SSH with the default settings to connect to a VirtualBox VM with NAT networking, the connection will die after ~15 minutes of idle time with:

Connection timed out during banner exchange

The VS Code log shows:

Running server is stale. Ignoring

SSH from the terminal works fine. Only VS Code breaks.

Why This Happens

VS Code Remote SSH defaults to "Local Server Mode" (remote.SSH.useLocalServer: true). In this mode, it runs:

ssh -T -D 49963 -o ConnectTimeout=15 user@host

That -D flag creates a SOCKS5 proxy. All VS Code traffic goes through this single shared tunnel. VirtualBox NAT has a connection tracking table with an idle timeout (~5-15 min). When the SOCKS proxy data channels go idle, VirtualBox NAT silently drops them. The SSH keepalives keep the TCP connection alive, but the SOCKS data inside the tunnel is dead.

This is a VS Code + VirtualBox NAT issue, not an SSH issue. Documented in:

The Fix

Add these to your VS Code settings.json (Ctrl+Shift+P → "Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)"):

{
    "remote.SSH.useLocalServer": false,
    "remote.SSH.enableDynamicForwarding": false,
    "remote.SSH.useExecServer": false,
    "remote.SSH.connectTimeout": 60,
    "remote.SSH.showLoginTerminal": true
}

What this does:

useLocalServer: false → Terminal Mode: each window gets its own direct SSH connection (no shared SOCKS proxy)
enableDynamicForwarding: false → removes the -D flag entirely, uses direct TCP forwarding
useExecServer: false → simpler connection, less cached state to go stale

Then clean stale server cache:

rm -rf ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh/vscode-ssh-host-*

Or run this one-liner to fix everything automatically:

python3 -c "
import json, os, glob

# Fix VS Code settings
p = os.path.expanduser('~/.config/Code/User/settings.json')
try:
    s = json.load(open(p))
except:
    s = {}
s['remote.SSH.useLocalServer'] = False
s['remote.SSH.enableDynamicForwarding'] = False
s['remote.SSH.useExecServer'] = False
s['remote.SSH.connectTimeout'] = 60
s['remote.SSH.showLoginTerminal'] = True
json.dump(s, open(p, 'w'), indent=4)

# Clean stale cache
for d in glob.glob(os.path.expanduser('~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh/vscode-ssh-host-*')):
    import shutil; shutil.rmtree(d, ignore_errors=True)

print('Done! Reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window)')
"

Note: make already does this automatically. This section is for people who configured their VS Code manually or are hitting this issue on an existing setup.

For the full deep dive (12 hours of debugging distilled into one doc), see doc/SSH_VSCODE_FIX.md.

⚠️ Known Issue: Docker "Permission Denied" After First Boot

The Problem

After make re and connecting to the VM, Docker commands fail:

permission denied while trying to connect to the Docker daemon socket
at unix:///var/run/docker.sock

Why This Happens

Docker is installed by first-boot-setup.sh during the first real boot (it needs systemd + network, so it can't run during preseed). When Docker installs, it adds dlesieur to the docker group. But if VS Code's Remote SSH server was already running before Docker finished installing, the server process has a stale group list — it doesn't know about the docker group.

Linux group changes only take effect on new login sessions. The VS Code server is a persistent process (--enable-remote-auto-shutdown), so even reconnecting from VS Code reuses the same stale server.

This is now auto-fixed: first-boot-setup.sh kills any running VS Code server after adding the docker group, and b2b-setup.sh pre-creates the docker group during preseed so it's present from the very first login. If you still hit this on an older build, use the manual fix below.

The Fix

Kill the VS Code server on the VM and reconnect:

# From the host — kill stale VS Code server
ssh b2b 'pkill -f vscode-server'

# Then reconnect from VS Code:
# Ctrl+Shift+P → Remote-SSH: Connect to Host → b2b

Or from VS Code:

Ctrl+Shift+P → Remote-SSH: Kill VS Code Server on Host → select b2b
Then reconnect.

Or from a terminal inside the VM:

# Start a new shell with the docker group
newgrp docker

# Verify it works
docker ps

This is a one-time issue that only happens on the very first connection after make re. Every subsequent connection will have the docker group loaded.

Verify Docker is Working

# From the host
ssh b2b 'docker ps && echo "Docker OK"'

# From inside the VM
docker run --rm hello-world

Credentials

What	Value
Root password	`temproot123`
User (dlesieur)	`tempuser123`
LUKS disk encryption	`tempencrypt123`
SSH port	`4242`

⚠️ Change these passwords after setup if you're doing the real Born2beRoot evaluation.

What's Inside the VM

Born2beRoot Mandatory Part

✅ Debian Trixie (latest stable)
✅ LUKS encrypted disk + LVM partitions (root, swap, home, var, srv, tmp, var-log)
✅ SSH on port 4242 (no root login)
✅ UFW firewall (only 4242, 80, 443 open)
✅ sudo with strict rules (3 tries, TTY required, full logging)
✅ Password policy (min 10 chars, uppercase, lowercase, digit, max 3 repeats)
✅ AppArmor enabled at boot
✅ Monitoring script via cron (every 10 minutes, wall broadcast)
✅ Hostname: dlesieur42

Born2beRoot Bonus Part

✅ WordPress with lighttpd + MariaDB + PHP-FPM
✅ Docker + Docker Compose
✅ Custom LVM partition layout per subject requirements

Extra (Quality of Life)

✅ tmux with auto-attach (SSH sessions survive disconnects)
✅ Git configured for NAT (large clone fix)
✅ Developer tools (build-essential, python3, curl, vim, htop, etc.)
✅ SSH key auth (no passwords for VS Code)
✅ NAT keepalive service (prevents VirtualBox NAT timeout)
✅ SSHD watchdog service (auto-restarts if sshd dies)
✅ Aggressive keepalives (both client and server side)

Partition Layout

sda
├── sda1          500 MB   /boot        (ext2, unencrypted)
└── sda5          ~31 GB   LUKS encrypted
    └── LVM
        ├── root      5.0 GB   /
        ├── swap      1.0 GB   [SWAP]
        ├── home      5.0 GB   /home
        ├── var      12.0 GB   /var
        ├── srv       1.0 GB   /srv
        ├── tmp       1.5 GB   /tmp
        └── var-log   ~5 GB    /var/log   (fills remaining space)

Port Forwarding (NAT)

Service	Host Port	VM Port
SSH	4242	4242
HTTP	80	80
HTTPS	443	443
Vite Frontend	5173	5173
Backend API	3000	3000
Docker Registry	5000	5000
MariaDB	3306	3306
Redis	6379	6379

Project Structure

.
├── Makefile                    # Entry point — all commands start here
├── README.md                   # This file
│
├── preseeds/
│   ├── preseed.cfg             # Debian preseed — fully automated install
│   ├── b2b-setup.sh            # Main post-install script (SSH, UFW, sudo, etc.)
│   ├── first-boot-setup.sh     # Docker + WordPress install (runs on first boot)
│   └── monitoring.sh           # Born2beRoot monitoring script
│
├── generate/
│   ├── orchestrate.sh          # TUI dashboard — orchestrates `make all`
│   ├── create_custom_iso.sh    # Downloads Debian ISO + injects preseed
│   ├── status.sh               # Environment status dashboard
│   └── help.sh                 # Makefile help display
│
├── setup/
│   └── install/vms/
│       └── install_vm_debian.sh # VirtualBox VM creation script
│
├── monitore/
│   ├── monitoring.sh           # Main monitoring script
│   └── classes/                # Modular monitoring components
│       ├── cpu-load-module.sh
│       ├── memory-module.sh
│       ├── disk-module.sh
│       └── ...
│
├── diagnostic/                 # Diagnostic scripts (run inside VM)
│   ├── b2b_verifier.sh
│   ├── check_internet.sh
│   ├── disk_details.sh
│   ├── LVM_CHECK.sh
│   └── ...
│
├── fixes/                      # Fix scripts for common issues
│   ├── fix_ssh_stability.sh
│   ├── fix_lighttpd_php_mysql.sh
│   └── ...
│
├── doc/
│   ├── SSH_VSCODE_FIX.md       # Deep dive: VS Code SSH timeout fix
│   └── en.subject.pdf          # Born2beRoot subject PDF
│
├── wordpress/                  # WordPress themes + plugins
├── management_tools/           # sudo/user management scripts
├── utils/                      # Color schemes, welcome screen
└── tests/                      # Security tests (AppArmor, WordPress)

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" when trying `ssh b2b`

The VM isn't running or SSH isn't ready yet.

# Check VM status
make status

# Start the VM
make start_vm

# Wait for SSH (check every 2 seconds)
while ! ssh -o ConnectTimeout=2 -o BatchMode=yes b2b exit 2>/dev/null; do
    echo "Waiting..."; sleep 2
done && echo "Ready!"

"Connection timed out during banner exchange"

This is the VS Code SOCKS proxy bug. Run the fix:

python3 -c "
import json, os, glob, shutil
p = os.path.expanduser('~/.config/Code/User/settings.json')
try: s = json.load(open(p))
except: s = {}
s.update({'remote.SSH.useLocalServer':False,'remote.SSH.enableDynamicForwarding':False,'remote.SSH.useExecServer':False,'remote.SSH.connectTimeout':60,'remote.SSH.showLoginTerminal':True})
json.dump(s, open(p,'w'), indent=4)
[shutil.rmtree(d, True) for d in glob.glob(os.path.expanduser('~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh/vscode-ssh-host-*'))]
print('Fixed! Reload VS Code.')
"

See doc/SSH_VSCODE_FIX.md for the full explanation.

Docker "permission denied"

Close and reopen your VS Code window. The docker group wasn't loaded in your current session. See Known Issue: Docker Permission Denied.

VM asks for password despite SSH key setup

Your SSH key wasn't injected during install (ISO build issue). Fix it manually:

# Copy your key to the VM (will ask for password ONE time)
ssh-copy-id -p 4242 dlesieur@127.0.0.1
# Password: tempuser123

# Verify — should NOT ask for password
ssh b2b echo "Key auth works"

VM hangs at "System halted" and doesn't power off

# Force power off from host
VBoxManage controlvm debian poweroff

"Host key verification failed" after `make re`

Normal — the VM was rebuilt with a new host key. The ~/.ssh/config already has StrictHostKeyChecking no and UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null for the b2b host, so this shouldn't happen. If it does:

ssh-keygen -R "[127.0.0.1]:4242"

Full diagnostic dump (run from host)

ssh -o BatchMode=yes -p 4242 dlesieur@127.0.0.1 '
echo "=== UPTIME ===" && uptime
echo "=== MEMORY ===" && free -m
echo "=== SSH ===" && systemctl is-active ssh && ss -tlnp | grep 4242
echo "=== DOCKER ===" && docker ps 2>&1 | head -3
echo "=== SERVICES ===" && systemctl is-active nat-keepalive sshd-watchdog docker
echo "=== GROUPS ===" && groups
echo "=== AUTH KEYS ===" && wc -l ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
'

License

This is a 42 school project. Use it, learn from it, make it your own. Don't copy it blindly for your evaluation — understand what each script does.

Built with frustration, caffeine, and 12 hours of debugging VS Code SSH timeouts. 🫠

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 56 Commits
bak_conf		bak_conf
diagnostic		diagnostic
doc		doc
docker		docker
fixes		fixes
generate		generate
management_tools		management_tools
monitore		monitore
preseeds		preseeds
setup		setup
sh42 @ d614838		sh42 @ d614838
tests		tests
utils		utils
wordpress		wordpress
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitignore		.gitignore
.gitmodules		.gitmodules
Makefile		Makefile
README.md		README.md
active_ssh_from_host.sh		active_ssh_from_host.sh
issue		issue
rebuild_iso_create_vm.sh		rebuild_iso_create_vm.sh
test.sh		test.sh
unlock_vm.sh		unlock_vm.sh
vm_boot.log		vm_boot.log
vm_pass.txt		vm_pass.txt

Folders and files

Latest commit

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Born2beRoot — Fully Automated VM Builder

Table of Contents

What Is This

Quick Start

Prerequisites

Build the VM

First Boot

Connect with VS Code

What make Does (Step by Step)

Makefile Commands

Connecting with VS Code Remote SSH

SSH Aliases

⚠️ Known Issue: VS Code SSH Connection Drops After ~15 Minutes

The Problem

Why This Happens

The Fix

⚠️ Known Issue: Docker "Permission Denied" After First Boot

The Problem

Why This Happens

The Fix

Verify Docker is Working

Credentials

What's Inside the VM

Born2beRoot Mandatory Part

Born2beRoot Bonus Part

Extra (Quality of Life)

Partition Layout

Port Forwarding (NAT)

Project Structure

Troubleshooting

"Connection refused" when trying ssh b2b

"Connection timed out during banner exchange"

Docker "permission denied"

VM asks for password despite SSH key setup

VM hangs at "System halted" and doesn't power off

"Host key verification failed" after make re

Full diagnostic dump (run from host)

License

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What `make` Does (Step by Step)

"Connection refused" when trying `ssh b2b`

"Host key verification failed" after `make re`

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