Advanced Setup & Makefile Reference

If you want more control over your LongHaul C2 deployment or just want to know exactly what's happening under the hood, this page is for you.

A Makefile handles the heavy lifting for both development and production deployments.

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Development vs Production

There are two distinct installation paths:

Mode	Command	Description
Development	make dev_install	Local venv, Docker containers, live reloads. Run directly with Python.
Production	sudo make deploy	Installs as systemd services under a restricted longhaul user.

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Development Setup

git clone https://github.com/LongHaulC2/LongHaulC2
cd LongHaulC2

# Install dependencies, create venv, spin up Docker containers, create .env
make dev_install

# Activate the venv
source venv/bin/activate

# Run the server
PYTHONPATH=. python -m server.main

# Run the client (separate terminal)
PYTHONPATH=. python -m client.main

Development Makefile Commands

Command	What it does
make dev_install	Installs apt deps, creates venv, installs Python deps, creates .env, creates workspace dirs at /var/lib/longhaulc2, pulls and starts Docker containers.
make dev_uninstall	Stops and removes Docker containers, removes venv and .env, wipes workspace and log dirs.
make dev_reinstall	Runs dev_uninstall then dev_install — clean slate for dev.

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Production Deployment

sudo make deploy

This installs everything to /opt/longhaulc2 and runs both services under the longhaul system user.

# Check service status after deploy
sudo systemctl status longhaulc2-server
sudo systemctl status longhaulc2-web

Production Makefile Commands

Command	What it does
sudo make deploy	Full production install: apt deps, system user, directory structure, venv, systemd services, Docker Compose services, TLS certs.
sudo make undeploy	Full removal: stops services, removes systemd units, Docker containers and volumes, install dirs, workspace, logs, and system user.
sudo make undeploy KEEP_DATA=1	Same as above but preserves Docker volumes and /var/lib/longhaulc2. Use before an upgrade to retain database state.
sudo make redeploy	Runs undeploy KEEP_DATA=1 then deploy. The standard upgrade path — tears down and reinstalls code/services while preserving all database and workspace data.

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Credentials

Production (make deploy)

make deploy automatically generates random 32-character passwords for every service: MySQL, Redis, Neo4j, the JWT signing key, and the initial operator account. No manual credential setup is needed.

At the end of a successful deploy, the operator username and password are printed to the screen:

==================================================
  Deployment complete.
==================================================

  Initial operator credentials:
    Username: longhaul
    Password: <randomly generated>

  Save these credentials — they will not be shown again.
  All service passwords are stored in .env
==================================================

All generated passwords are stored in .env. Back this file up — it is the only record of the service credentials.

On a make redeploy (or make undeploy KEEP_DATA=1 followed by make deploy), the existing .env is preserved so credentials stay in sync with the database volumes.

Development (make dev_install)

Development installs use the hardcoded defaults below for convenience. These are not suitable for production.

Overriding Defaults

Pass variables directly to make dev_install (or make create_env) to override individual defaults:

make dev_install \
  MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=MySuperSecretPassword \
  REDIS_PASSWORD=AnotherSecret \
  NEO4J_PASSWORD=YetAnotherSecret

All Configurable Variables

Variable	Dev Default	Production	Description
MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD	P@ssw0rd1!	Auto-generated	MySQL root user password
MYSQL_ROOT_USER	root	root	MySQL root username
REDIS_PASSWORD	P@ssw0rd1!	Auto-generated	Redis password
REDIS_USER	default	default	Redis username
NEO4J_USER	neo4j	neo4j	Neo4j username
NEO4J_PASSWORD	P@ssw0rd1!	Auto-generated	Neo4j password
JWT_SECRET_KEY	P@ssw0rd1!	Auto-generated	Secret key for signing JWT tokens
INIT_API_USER	longhaul	longhaul	Username for the initial operator account
INIT_API_PASS	P@ssw0rd1!	Auto-generated	Password for the initial operator account
MYSQL_HOST	localhost	localhost	MySQL host
MYSQL_PORT	3306	3306	MySQL port
REDIS_HOST	localhost	localhost	Redis host
REDIS_PORT	6379	6379	Redis port

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Docker Compose

Database services (MySQL, Redis, Neo4j) are managed via docker-compose.yml in the project root. The compose file reads credentials and container names directly from .env.

Key properties

• Auto-restart: All services use restart: unless-stopped — containers come back automatically after a system reboot (as long as the Docker daemon is enabled).
• Localhost-only networking: Every port is bound to 127.0.0.1. No database port is exposed on 0.0.0.0.
• Named volumes: Data is persisted in Docker named volumes (mysql_data, redis_data, neo4j_data), which survive container recreation. Use KEEP_DATA=1 on undeploy to preserve them across upgrades.

Docker Makefile Commands

Command	What it does
make start_docker_images	Starts all database services via docker compose up -d. Pulls images automatically if not present locally.
make stop_docker_images	Stops all database services via docker compose down. Containers are removed but named volumes are kept.
make pull_docker_images	Pulls latest images for all services via docker compose pull.
make create_docker_images	Builds the cross-compilation Docker images from setup/docker_images/ (e.g., win_x64). This is separate from the database services.

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Infrastructure Summary

Service Ports

All database ports are bound to 127.0.0.1 only (not externally accessible).

Service	Port(s)	Notes
LongHaulC2 API (Server)	0.0.0.0:45045	Flask REST API
LongHaulC2 UI (Client)	0.0.0.0:8083	NiceGUI web interface
MySQL	127.0.0.1:3306, 127.0.0.1:33060	C2 database
Redis	127.0.0.1:6379	Task queue
Redis Insight (Web GUI)	127.0.0.1:8001	Redis management UI
Neo4j (Web UI / Browser)	127.0.0.1:7474	Graph database web UI
Neo4j (Bolt)	127.0.0.1:7687	Neo4j driver connection

Docker Containers

Container	Image	Volume	Purpose
C2_mysql	mysql:latest	mysql_data	Long-term storage (tasks, payloads, users, files)
C2_redis-stack	redis/redis-stack:latest	redis_data	Task queue and response inbox per implant
C2_neo4j-stack	neo4j:latest	neo4j_data	Graph state (implant topology, host/network relationships)

Filesystem Layout (Production)

Path	Purpose
/opt/longhaulc2/server/	Server application code + venv
/opt/longhaulc2/client/	Client application code + venv
/var/lib/longhaulc2/	Workspace: implant templates, user scripts
/var/lib/longhaulc2/implant_templates/	C++ implant source used by the build system
/var/log/longhaulc2/	Application logs
/etc/ssl/certs/longhaulc2_api_cert.pem	TLS certificate (auto-generated on deploy)

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TLS Certificates

make deploy automatically generates a self-signed TLS certificate (4096-bit RSA, 365-day validity) and places it in /etc/ssl/certs/. The server uses this for HTTPS.

To regenerate:

sudo make clean-certs
sudo make certs

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Linting & Pre-Push Checklist

# Lint & format (runs ruff check + ruff format via pre-commit)
pre-commit run --all-files

# Full pre-push prep: lint, freeze deps, clean .pyc files, dry-run install
make prep_for_push

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Testing

Target	Requires	Description
make web_tests	Nothing	UI smoke tests — pages render, auth guards fire
make server_tests	Server + Docker containers	API tests — all endpoints, CRUD, auth
make local_tests	Server + Docker containers	Both of the above
make integration_test	Full stack + live Windows implant	Full E2E with real implant (CI only)
make no_fail_test	Full stack	Integration tests, exits 0 on failure

For full prerequisites, per-test-file coverage, and common failure causes, see Testing Overview.