Ubuntu VM Setup

This guide covers creating an Ubuntu VM for running the PISCES toolkit and connecting it to the cyber range network via OpenVPN.

Recommended VM specs


OS	Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or 26.04 LTS (desktop or server)
CPUs	2–4 vCPUs
RAM	4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended
Disk	40 GB minimum
Network adapter	NAT or bridged — either works for initial setup

Any hypervisor works (VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V, GNOME Boxes, etc.). Use whichever you're already comfortable with.

After Ubuntu is installed and you have a terminal, install the following:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y git curl openvpn

Package	Purpose
`git`	Cloning the pisces-scripts repository
`curl`	Installing `uv` (the package manager)
`openvpn`	Connecting to the cyber range network

Python 3 is included with Ubuntu by default — no separate install needed.

The easiest way to transfer your .ovpn certificate from your host machine to the VM is to serve it temporarily over HTTP.

On your host machine, navigate to the folder containing your certificate and run:

python3 -m http.server 8080

On the VM, download the certificate — replacing the IP with your host machine's local IP address:

wget http://192.168.x.x:8080/your-cert.ovpn

Once the download completes, stop the server on your host with Ctrl+C.

Your host's local IP is usually visible in your network settings, or by running ip addr (Linux/Mac) or ipconfig (Windows) on the host.

sudo openvpn --config your-cert.ovpn

Leave this running in a terminal. Once you see Initialization Sequence Completed you're connected.

To verify, try pinging a range host or check that DNS is resolving range hostnames correctly.

With the VM set up and connected to the network, follow the Getting Started guide to install and launch the toolkit.