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Roles in the Crucible Ecosystem

When we discuss "roles" in Crucible, we're discussing two concepts:

  1. Organizational roles: That is, what a person does in their program (e.g., Infrastructure Administrator, Range Builder, Instructor, and Participant).
  2. Application roles: Permission bundles applied to users in each application (e.g., Administrator, Content Developer, Observer, View Admin, View Member).

A Permission defines what action (or actions) a user can perform within a Crucible application. For example: an Alloy Content Developer can create an Event Template.

In the Role-Based Guides we provide detailed information for the following organizational roles within a typical Crucible ecosystem:

  1. Infrastructure Administrator
  2. Range Builder
  3. Instructor
  4. Participant

Organizational Roles

Infrastructure Administrator

Infrastructure Administrator: Keeps Crucible platforms healthy, secure, and scalable; provisions environments, manages access, and monitors day-to-day operations.

Range Builder

Range Builder: Designs and delivers complete cyber ranges; combines infrastructure, scenarios, and learner-facing content into cohesive exercises.

Instructor

Instructor: Leads and executes Crucible exercises and training sessions; guides participants, evaluates performance, and ensures teams meet learning objectives.

Participant

Participant: Engages in exercises to build and demonstrate skills. (Sometimes called a player in Player, competitor in Gameboard.)

Application Roles and Permissions

In the Core Application Guides we provide detailed information on each application's permissions and roles:

  1. Alloy Roles and Permissions
  2. Player Roles and Permissions
  3. Caster Roles and Permissions
  4. Steamfitter Roles and Permissions

The table below maps each Crucible organizational role to its Alloy, Player, Caster, and Steamfitter permissions. Use it to see what each person can do in each application.

Role Alloy Player Caster Steamfitter
Infrastructure Administrator Administrator: Full control of Alloy configuration and integrations. Administrator: Full control of Player, including role delegation and notifications. Administrator: Full control of Caster projects, modules, and system settings. Administrator: Full control of Steamfitter scenarios, tasks, and system settings.
Range Builder Content Developer: Create and manage event templates (requires Player integration to preview views). View Admin: Build and maintain views, including toggling inactive states.
Content Developer: Create views with Terraform and manage ISO/file upload toggles.		 Content Developer: Create and manage projects and membership for projects they author. Content Developer: Create and manage scenarios and templates they own.
Instructor Observer: View and execute events assigned to their classes. View Member: Access Player views assigned to their cohorts, with ability to revert snapshots on VMs when enabled. Observer: Review projects tied to their events; no edits or workspace runs. Observer: Review scenarios assigned to their events; no edits or task runs.
Deep Dive into CERT Research

For more background, CERT has a long history of building cyber ranges and training/exercise/challenge environments. Some of our relevant research publications include: