Managing a NodeZero^® Runner

This page provides essential commands and best practices for controlling your Runner, from checking its status and viewing logs to configuring auto-restarts and handling advanced features like credential injection. Whether you're scheduling recurring tests or troubleshooting, these tools help you maintain consistent security testing across your network.

Runner service commands using systemd

These commands use systemd to manage the NodeZero Runner as a service on your NodeZero Host:

Check status:

systemctl status nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner

Stop the service:

sudo systemctl stop nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner

Disable auto-start:

sudo systemctl disable nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner

Re-enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner
sudo systemctl start nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner

Runner management commands using h3-cli

These commands leverage the h3-cli tool to manage your NodeZero Runner directly:

View logs:

Check the Runner log for activity or errors:

h3 tail-runner my-nodezero-runner

Stop the Runner:

Terminate the Runner process:

h3 stop-runner my-nodezero-runner

Delete the Runner:

Remove the Runner registration from Horizon3.ai. If the Runner is still running, it will re-register on its next heartbeat.

h3 delete-runner my-nodezero-runner

Auto-start Runner at system startup

To ensure your Runner restarts automatically after a system reboot:

• Register with systemd: If your NodeZero host uses systemd, use the following command:

  h3 start-runner-service my-nodezero-runner /tmp/my-nodezero-runner.log
  

• This requires sudo for systemd operations.

• The Runner will be registered as nodezero-runner-my-nodezero-runner.

• Benefits:

  • Starts automatically at boot.
  • Restarts if the process fails.

Other tasks:

Renaming a Runner

• Stop (and optionally delete) the Runner.
• Start a new Runner with the desired name.
• Update any templates with the new name.

Auto-Inject credentials

Use the Runner to auto-inject credentials into pentests for enhanced testing.