Step 4 - Testing & Deployment

Your lab is complete and ready for learners! Since you’ve been pushing changes to GitHub throughout this guide, your lab has been automatically deploying to the Instruqt platform. In this final step, you’ll test it as a learner would experience it to ensure everything works correctly.

Understanding Automatic Deployment

The Instruqt platform automatically syncs with your GitHub repository:

• Every git push deploys - Your lab updates on the platform within minutes of pushing
• No manual upload needed - The platform continuously monitors your repository
• Validation happens automatically - The platform validates your lab during deployment

Since you’ve been committing and pushing throughout this guide, your lab is already live on the platform!

Access Your Lab

To find and test your lab:

1. Log into the Instruqt platform at instruqt.com
2. Navigate to your labs in the dashboard
3. Find your lab in the list - Look for “my-web-server-lab”
4. Check the sync status - It should show a green checkmark with “Success”
5. Click “Start” to launch your lab

Test the Learner Experience

Now test your lab exactly as a learner would experience it:

Start Your Lab

Click the “Start” button next to your lab in the labs list. This will launch your lab in a new window where you can experience it as a learner would.

Verify Infrastructure

Check that all your infrastructure components are working:

1. Terminal access - Ensure you can run commands in the terminal tab
2. Web service - Verify the nginx welcome page loads in the service tab
3. File system - Confirm you can navigate to /usr/share/nginx/html/ and see the index.html file

Complete the Task

Go through the lab as a learner would:

1. Read the instructions - Review the educational content you created
2. Edit the homepage - Add “Hello from my web server!” to the nginx homepage
3. Test the validation - Ensure the task validates correctly when completed
4. Check the service tab - Verify your changes appear in the web browser

Verify Task Validation

The most critical test is ensuring your validation script works correctly:

• When incomplete: The task should show as not completed and provide helpful feedback
• When completed: The task should automatically validate and show success
• Error handling: If learners make mistakes, they should receive clear guidance

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If you encounter problems during testing:

Lab won’t start:

• Check the validation output for configuration errors
• Ensure all resource references are correct
• Verify your GitHub repository is accessible

Task validation fails:

• Test your validation script manually in the terminal
• Check file paths and permissions
• Ensure the script logic matches the task requirements

Infrastructure issues:

• Verify container images are pulling correctly
• Check network connectivity between resources
• Confirm service ports are properly exposed

What You’ve Accomplished

Congratulations! You’ve successfully created and deployed a complete Instruqt lab that includes:

• Infrastructure as code with containers, networking, and services
• Interactive educational content that teaches real-world skills
• Automated validation that provides immediate feedback to learners
• Professional deployment on the Instruqt platform ready for use

You now have the foundation to create more complex labs with multiple tasks, advanced infrastructure, and sophisticated learning experiences.

What’s Next

With this foundation, you can:

• Add more tasks to create multi-step learning experiences
• Expand infrastructure with databases, APIs, or cloud services
• Create lab series that build upon each other
• Explore advanced features like dynamic content and branching scenarios

Your journey in creating interactive learning experiences with Instruqt has just begun!