BrokenOps

A community-driven Linux lab platform. Master local troubleshooting by breaking, fixing, and verifying real systems.

Read SetupSee Labs

01. NATIVE

Runs directly on your hardware for realism.

02. KVM

Standard virtualization for lab isolation.

03. OPEN

Driven by practitioners and real scenarios.

SCROLL TO EXPLORE ↓

01. PHILOSOPHY

Local-First Troubleshooting

BrokenOps isn't another cloud-based sandbox. It's a collection of intentionally broken local environments designed to teach you how Linux systems fail and how to fix them.

By focusing on local Linux installations with KVM/libvirt, we ensure that you're learning skills that translate directly to production environments.

02. LATEST RELEASE

No release loaded yet

Fetching the latest updates from GitHub...

03. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

CPU

3 Cores

FREE AT IDLE

RAM

3 GB

FREE AT IDLE

DISK

25 GB

FREE SPACE

Calculated from the largest lab scenario (2 vCPU, 2048MB RAM) plus host OS overhead.

Getting Started

1. CLONE THE REPOSITORY

git clone https://github.com/HimanM/BrokenOps.git
cd BrokenOps

2. INSTALL HOST PREREQUISITES

# install KVM, libvirt, dnsmasq, and Docker with your distro package manager
# then make sure libvirtd is running and the default network is active
sudo systemctl enable --now libvirtd
sudo virsh net-start default
sudo virsh net-autostart default

3. DEPLOY A LAB

./deploy.sh
# choose a lab from the dashboard

BrokenOps requires a native Linux host with KVM and libvirt available locally. WSL2, Docker Desktop virtualization, and nested virtualization are not supported.

Recent Labs

LATEST COMMITS IN THE LABS TREE

LINUX6/10/2026

ACL Misconfiguration

Scenario A web application running as the webapp user is failing to write its logs to /var/log/webapp.

INTERMEDIATEacl-misconfiguration
LINUX6/10/2026

Fix Broken Soft and Hard Symlinks

Scenario A junior administrator recently attempted to migrate the backend application data to a new directory structure (/opt/app/new_location/).

BEGINNERbroken-symlinks
LINUX6/10/2026

HTTPS Downloads Fail Because CA Certificates Are Missing

Scenario A bootstrap service is supposed to download and install a tiny internal package from a local HTTPS endpoint.

INTERMEDIATEca-certificates-missing
LINUX6/10/2026

Cron Job Never Executes

Scenario A system administrator configured a cron job to run a cleanup script /opt/cleanup.sh every minute.

BEGINNERcron-broken
LINUX6/10/2026

DNS Resolution Failure

Scenario A teammate changed DNS settings on this server.

BEGINNERdns-broken
NETWORKING6/10/2026

Broken DNS Search Domain

Scenario Internal application services use short hostnames to communicate with each other.

INTERMEDIATEdns-search-domain
DOCKER6/10/2026

Docker Bind Mount Permissions

Scenario A microservice named web-app is running as a Docker container.

INTERMEDIATEdocker-bind-mount-permissions
CONTAINERS6/10/2026

Docker Daemon Crash

Scenario A developer was trying to configure the Docker daemon to use a custom data root (/var/lib/docker_custom), but something went wrong and now the docker service refuses to st

ADVANCEDdocker-broken

Join the Project

Whether it's a new lab scenario, a fix for a bug, or documentation updates, your help is welcome.

ADD A LAB

Share a troubleshooting scenario you've encountered.

REVISE DOCS

Help make our guides clearer for new users.

REVIEW PRS

Join the discussion and help maintain quality.

OPEN REPOSITORY

Maintainers

HimanM

HimanM

LEAD MAINTAINER

GITHUBLINKEDIN

FAQ

What is BrokenOps?

BrokenOps is a community-driven platform for local Linux labs. Each lab starts broken on purpose so you can practice diagnosis, repair, and verification.

How are recent labs selected?

The website builds a lab index from commit history in the labs/ tree, then renders the newest lab folder updates first.

How do I run it locally?

Clone the repo, use a native Linux host with KVM/libvirt, then run ./deploy.sh and choose a lab from the dashboard.

How can I contribute?

Open a PR with a new lab, documentation improvements, or verification fixes. The project is intentionally community-shaped.