Re: Alpine Linux Xen Dom0 LiveCD

hga@ancell-ent.com
Fri, 18 May 2012 13:10:27 -0000

From: Mark Schneider <ms@it-infrastrukturen.org>
  Date: Fri, 18 May 2012 13:47:21 +0200

  Am 18.05.2012 12:33, schrieb Roger Pau Monne:

  > Alpine Linux has just released a Xen Dom0 LiveCD that
  > contains a Linux Kernel 3.3.6 with PaX and grsec patches
  > and Xen 4.1.2 with the CVE fixes. This LiveCD doesn''t
  > include any kind of X11 desktop, as it is intended for
  > server use only.

And there''s no possibility of using the standard xorg, XFCE
etc. packages?  I ask because this could be an excellent
solution to one of my current requirements.  (I might be
willing to help in adding these.)

  > The traditional GNU/Linux base system is over 100MB in
  > size (excluding the kernel), while the base system in
  > Alpine Linux is only 4-5MB in size (excluding the
  > kernel).

  > ...

  > It''s great for experimenting: Since the system
  > configuration can be backed up to a single file, you
  > will be able to test configurations before deploying
  > them to production systems.

  > ...

I''d personally found it a great distribution for building a
firewall, although it''s more than a bit behind in its
package of shorewall.  Fortunately it''s not hard to add that
to an Alpine Linux installation, although you lose the
spiffy web interface to it due to version skew.

  > Also, Alpine Linux has the option to run from RAM, even
  > when installed to a HDD or USB, allowing the user to
  > save it''s changes on a USB, floppy or other medium which
  > then gets read at boot to leave the system as it was
  > before the reboot. This is specially interesting for Xen
  > Dom0, since it allows to have the whole system on RAM,
  > which is immune to HDD crashes (you could have access to
  > your Dom0 even after and HDD crash) and doesn''t consume
  > I/O resources.

  > This is still the first and experimental release of this
  > LiveCD, so I would like to encourage Xen users to test
  > it, and report back with the results.

  > The LiveCD can be found at: http://alpinelinux.org/downloads

  Roger,

  Thanks a lot for this usefull image. I''m missing however a
  bootable USB image. We are already in 21st century and
  many new systems simply don''t have CD/DVD drives anymore.
  Most of my servers run without it as I use *only* USB
  sticks as boot / install media instead of slow CD/DVD
  based images.

Use these instructions to create a base USB install and run
from there:

http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Installing_Alpine_on_USB

Here''s how to backup the particulars of a USB stick:

http://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Back_Up_a_Flash_Memory_Installation

In general the wiki is an excellent place to find your answers
to these sorts of questions.

- Harold