see v1.3.7 releases: Sandboxed Execution Environment

by do son · Published October 16, 2019 · Updated April 7, 2020

Sandboxed Execution Environment

Sandboxed Execution Environment (SEE) is a framework for building test automation in secured Environments.

The Sandboxes, provided via libvirt, are customizable allowing a high degree of flexibility. Different types of Hypervisors (Qemu, VirtualBox, LXC) can be employed to run the Test Environments.

Plugins can be added to a Test Environment that provides an Event mechanism synchronization for their interaction. Users can enable and configure the plugins through a JSON configuration file.

Audience

SEE is for automating tests against unknown, dangerous or unstable software tracking its activity during the execution.

SEE is well suited for building modular test platforms or managing executable code with a good degree of isolation.

SEE allows writing sandboxed tests both for quick prototyping and for running on the production environment.

Principles

SEE is an event-driven, plugin-based sandbox provider for synchronous and asynchronous test flow control.

                                                                  +----------+

                                                                  |          |

                                                          +-------| SEE Hook |

                                                          |       |          |

                                                          |       +----------+

              +---------+-------+       +---------+       |       +----------+

              |                 |       |         |       |       |          |

User -------> | SEE Environment |-------| Sandbox |-------+-------| SEE Hook |

              |                 |       |         |       |       |          |

              +-----------------+       +---------+       |       +----------+

                                                          |       +----------+

                                                          |       |          |

                                                          +-------| SEE Hook |

                                                                  |          |

                                                                  +----------+

A SEE Environment encapsulates all the required resources acting as a handler for the User. The Sandbox is controlled by the Hooks which act as plugins, Hooks communicate and coordinate themselves through Events.

Each Hook has direct access to the Sandbox which exposes a simple API for its control and libvirt’s APIs for more fine-grained control.