1-2: Pre-lab Setup

There are a handful of prep steps I take before starting on any lab.

1. Make a subdirectory in my notes system for the specific lab, and start a new markdown file with some basic YAML metadata.
2. Launch a terminal (NOT terminator) on Kali to connect the VPN server (if needed) and minimize it. Using the standard Kali terminal helps me avoid accidentally killing this window and closing the connection.
3. Open a new Terminator window, create a new directory for the lab in my home folder, and navigate to it.
4. Start Terminator's logger (right click in the terminal window > Start Logger) and save the file into the lab's directory.
5. Launch ZAP or Burp (usually ZAP) as they take a little while to get running.
6. Get the IP(s) for the lab machines and save them as environment variables in the terminal with export ip=[labIP].

Once that's all done, we're ready to move on to the recon phase