Decompetition Server

Quickstart

Decompetition runs as a simple Python (Flask) server. Make sure you have all the dependencies, initialize your database, and run it:

pip3 install -r requirements.txt
./server.py --init-db
./server.py

If everything worked, you'll have a local Decompetition server listening on port 5000. The first user you create will automatically become an admin.

This will create a SQLite DB file called development.db. If you want to use a PostgreSQL DB like the AWS environment does, stand one up locally and use the "staging" config (or use it as an example and write your own config):

./server.py app/config/staging.json

Development

All code for the webserver is in the app directory. Most importantly:

• app/__init__.py Startup code for the web server.
• app/lib Python "library" code (SQLAlchemy models and other non-web-endpoint code).
• app/web Handler code, forms, and Jinja templates for all the web endpoints.

There are also some supporting directories:

• app/config Config files, used when starting the server.
• app/static Static UI files (images, stylesheets, and JavaScript).
• app/templates A few more Jinja templates, plus symlinks to the main templates.
• app/tests Partial unit tests for the web server (cd app && pytest).

Running on AWS

0. Make sure you have Terraform and Ansible installed locally.

1. ./deploy.sh init ENVNAME
   Create a new environment named ENVNAME.

2. Edit the inf/vars/ENVNAME/config.json file to add your AWS credentials. If your challenges should always be available, delete the start and stop items from the JSON.

3. ./deploy.sh provision ENVNAME
   Use Terraform to create the AWS infrastructure you need. You can find your servers' IP addresses in the inf/vars/ENVNAME/ssh_config file afterwards.

4. ./deploy.sh configure ENVNAME
   Use Ansible to configure your machines. Your app will be accessible through the web server after this step.

5. Create a user account in the web UI; the first user will automatically become an administrator. Go to the challenge page and use the "Bulk Upload" link to add your challenges (challenges are rsynced to the /app folder).

6. Run a competition!

7. ./deploy.sh teardown ENVNAME
   Destroy all your AWS infrastructure.

8. ./deploy.sh delete ENVNAME
   Delete all local config files.

Other Resources

• You can download Terraform here:
  https://learn.hashicorp.com/tutorials/terraform/install-cli
• And you can download Ansible here:
  https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/installation_guide/intro_installation.html
• How to create / upload an AWS keypair:
  https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-key-pairs.html
• How to get your AWS access key and secret key:
  https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html