Pular para o conteúdo principal

Tiny Core Linux and Operational Readiness

Tiny Core Linux and Operational Readiness: "

When installing, configuring, or managing VMware virtual infrastructure, one of the steps which should be performed before releasing a host (back) to production is to perform operational readiness tests. One test which is quite critical is that of testing virtual infrastructure networking. After all, what good is a running VM if it has no connectivity to the rest of the network? Each ESX or ESXi host pNIC should be individually tested for internal and upstream connectivity, VLAN tagging functionality if in use (quite often it is), in addition to proper failover and fail back, and jumbo frames at the guest level if used.


There are several types of VMs or appliances which can be used to generate basic network traffic for operational readiness testing. One that I’ve been using recently (introduced to me by a colleague) is Tiny Core Linux. To summarize:


Tiny Core Linux is a very small (10 MB) minimal Linux GUI Desktop. It is based on Linux 2.6 kernel, Busybox, Tiny X, and Fltk. The core runs entirely in ram and boots very quickly. Also offered is Micro Core a 6 MB image that is the console based engine of Tiny Core. CLI versions of Tiny Core’s program allows the same functionality of Tiny Core’s extensions only starting with a console based system.


TCL carries with it a few of benefits, some of which are tied to its small stature:



  • The minimalist approach makes deployment simple.

  • At just 10MB, it’s extremely portable and boots fast.

  • As a Linux OS, it’s freely distributable without the complexities of licensing or activation.

  • It’s compatible with VMware hardware 7 and the Flexible or E1000 vNIC making it a good network test candidate.

  • No installation is required. It runs straight from an .ISO file or can boot from a USB drive.

  • Point and click GUI interface provides ease of use and configuration for any user.

  • When deployed with internet connectivity, it has the ability to download and install useful applications from an online repository such as Filezilla or Firefox. There are tons of free applications in the repository.


As I mentioned before, deployment of TCL is pretty easy. Create a VM shell with the following properties:



  • Other Linux (32-bit)

  • 1 vCPU

  • 256MB RAM

  • Flexible or E1000 vNIC

  • Point the virtual CD/DVD ROM drive to the bootable .ISO

  • No HDD or SCSI storage controller required


First boot splash screen. Nothing real exciting here other than optional boot options which aren’t required for the purposes of this article. Press Enter to continue the boot process:


SnagIt Capture


After pressing Enter, the boot process is briefly displayed:


SnagIt Capture


Once booted, the first step would be to configure the network via the Panel applet at the bottom of the Mac like menu:


SnagIt Capture


If DHCP is enabled on the subnet, an address will be automatically acquired by this point. Otherwise, give eth0 a static TCP/IP configuration. Name Servers are optional and not required for basic network connectivity unless you would like to test name resolution in your virtual infrastructure:


SnagIt Capture


Once TCP/IP has been configured, a Terminal can be opened up and a basic ping test can be started. Change the IP address and vNIC portgroup to test different VLANs but my suggestion would be to spawn multiple TCL instances, one per each VLAN to test because you’ll need to vMotion the TCL VMs to each host being tested. You don’t want to continuously be modifying the TCP/IP configuration:


SnagIt Capture


What else of interest is in the Panel applet besides Network configuration? Some ubiquitous items such as date/time configuration, disk and terminal services tools, and wallpaper configuration:


SnagIt Capture


The online application repository is packed with what seems like thousands of apps:


SnagIt Capture


After installing FileZilla, it’s available as an applet:


SnagIt Capture


FileZilla is fully functional:


SnagIt Capture


So I’ve only been using Tiny Core Linux as a network testing appliance, but clearly it has some other uses when paired with extensible applications. A few other things that I’ll point out is:



  1. TCL can be Suspended in order to move it to other clusters (with compatible CPUs) so that both a host and a storage migration can be performed in a single step. Once TCL reaches its destination cluster, Unsuspend.

  2. During my tests, TCL will continue to run without issue after being severed from its boot .ISO. This is possible because it is booted into RAM where it continues to run from that point on.


I’ve been watching Tiny Core Linux for several months and the development efforts appear fairly aggressive and backed by an individual or group with a lot of talent and energy which is good to see. As of this writing, version 3.5 is available. Give Tiny Core Linux a try.


Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist


Copyright (c) 2010 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Tiny Core Linux and Operational Readiness


Related Posts

"

Comentários

Postar um comentário

Postagens mais visitadas deste blog

Favigen, Favicon Generator

Favigen, Favicon Generator : " Favicons are small icons that help identify websites. They are used as a visual representation of a website both in the web browser and at many online services. The three most prominent locations of favicons are the browser’s address bar, the tabbar and the bookmarks folder. Many webmasters like to create custom favicons to add that custom identifier to their website. Favicons can be created in many image and icon editors, but also online. Favigen is a straightforward favicon generator that can turn an image into a favicon. All that it takes is to pick an image from the local hard drive first, select the dimensions of the favicon and click the submit button to make the service generate the favicon. Favigen supports several image formats, including jpg and png, and it does not seem to have size restrictions either. Available image dimensions range are 16×16, 32×32 and 64×64. The generated favicon is displayed directly on the page. A click on do...
Postar um comentário
Leia mais

A simple rsync script to back up your home directory

A simple rsync script to back up your home directory : " Backing up important data is obviously something we should all do. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to make it happen. We get lazy; we do not have the additional hardware for a backup server; it takes a long time and a lot of CDs to back up to optical media; we do not trust online backup services; backup schemes are difficult to set up and use — any of dozens of reasons can stand in our way. Still, we know we should be backing up our important data. Modern open source Unix-like operating systems offer a plethora of options for incredibly simple, effective backup schemes, however. If the problem is figuring out how to set one up, a simple rsync solution may be exactly what you need. The rsync utility is used to synchronize files between two systems. It does so by way of incremental copies, only copying from the source to the destination what has not already been copied there, saving time, network bandwidth, and syst...
Postar um comentário
Leia mais

The 10 hottest checklists, forms, and templates of 2010

The 10 hottest checklists, forms, and templates of 2010 : " The 10 hottest checklists, forms, and templates of 2010 Takeaway: TechRepublic published nearly 400 original downloads in 2010 — from cost calculators to cheat sheets to logs, templates, and PowerShell scripts. Here’s a rundown of some of the most popular items of the year. This year, we added hundreds of resources to the TechRepublic downloads library , including PDFs detailing the latest technologies, problem-solving techniques, and tips for handling tasks efficiently. We also updated a few favorite custom tools and introduced some new ones. Among the biggest crowd-pleasers were several checklists designed help you systematically address tasks ranging from server deployments to virus removal to project risk management. Here’s what you liked best in 2010. 1: Workstation Tune-up Checklist Optimizing a slow-performing system requires a number of diagnostic and repair steps, often with...
Postar um comentário
Leia mais