January 2012 Archives

Having tried all the major virtualization vendor's products over the years, I am most familiar with Microsoft Hyper-V and so my network lab runs that hypervisor on hardware. Microsoft has done an ever improving job over recent years to support non-Microsoft Operating Environements, NMOE, on their Hyper-V platform.

This post is to report my recent experience and supplient other available instructions for getting CentOS 6.2 running on the Hyper-V platform. At the end of the post, there are a series of questions I am left with about how this could be replicated easily.

Step 1: Download the CentOS minimal iso. (From CentOS)

Step 2: Download the Linux Intergration Components. (From Microsoft Current as of publication, check for newer versions. )

Step 3: Create a new virtual machine:

a) Use the CentOS DVD iso to install. (Attach the file to an IDE DVD in the settings)

b) A 10GB VHD will suit most users, you can add storage if your application demands it.

c) Use at least 1GB RAM at least to install. (This gets us a graphical install albeit with no mouse, which we need to make a simpler disk layout. If you do a text install, you do not get to change the disk layout. You can change it to 512MB if you want after install.)

d) Once the machine is created but before you boot up to install, go back to the settings. Remove the network adapter and install a Legacy Network Adapter. The legacy adapter will let the OS installation see a network and set all that up for us.

e) Make sure you record the MAC address that Hyper-V assigns. You will need this information later.

Step 4: Boot the VM for the first time and Install the OS as normal for your application.

Step 5: Remember that CentOS 6 will not enable the interface by default. I usually go into the network manager during install and check the box to bring the interface up at boot.

Step 6: At the end of the OS install, it will eject the DVD and reboot. You may log in and verify that the interface was setup as you desired. Shut the VM down.

Step 7: Attach the MS Linux IC iso to the vm and boot up.

Step 8: Mount DVD.

mount /dev/cdrom /media

Step 9: Install integration components.

/media/install.sh

update on step 9 Some readers report that my fully qualified command did not work correctly for them. See the comments from Chris and Peter N regarding alternative methods to call the command.- [April 13 2012]

Step 10: Shutdown the VM.

Step 11: In settings remove legacy network adapter, insert network adapter.

Step 12: Change MAC address of network adapter to static and supply the MAC address you recorded earlier for the legacy adapter.

Step 13: Boot and verify network is still working.

As I wonder how to easily duplicate this virtual machine I am left with the problem that I cannot attach a cloned VHD to a running machine. So I cannot just mount a copy of the image and edit the required files. I could have a Linux machine dedicated to doing this and rebooting to achieve it... but that seems kind of ugly. I wish Windows Disk Manager knew what to do with EXT4.

For reference in CentOS 6, the MAC address is configured in a few places. At least one of which is new since ContOS 5.7. When devices are created the software udev is used and this represents a change from previous releases. The MAC address of interfaces is stored in

/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-network.rules

as well as

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

. In production I would probably want to set static IP address as well on machines before deploying them.

Root password would need to be changed, and possibly hostnames.

Oh well, its a start. I hope the instructions help you get it going in your lab.

A few days ago I read an interview with a teenager who was reported to have stolen "Israeli credit cards". I know what a American Express credit card is. I know what a MasterCard credit card is. I have never heard of an Amercian credit card or an Israeli credit card. I'm betting that Amex and MasterCard are both multinational corporations. But I will leave that distinction alone.

The interviewer and the teenager both misidentify the activity as hacking, it is cracking. But I will leave that alone too.

Credit card companies (nationality unspecificed) claim he only got 15,000 valid numbers. He says it is half a million, and additional documents from Israeli defense contractors and "the entire Israeli population database even dead people."

Apparently all parties involved agree that he broke into computer systems without permission and once there he stole information.

The teenager claims to be a Saudi and he claims to have political motives for his actions. (This claim to be a Saudi may or may not be true. We do not actually know who the teenager is. We don't know he is a teenager. Its not even clear why the interviewer thinks it is a male.)

I think the motive for theft is irrelevant. Theft is wrong.

But then today, I read that Israeli Deputy Foriegn Minister Danny Ayalon said that cyber crimes like this are "a breach of sovereignty comparable to a terrorist operation, and must be treated as such."

I don't think that is even near to correct. Taking hostages and threatening to kill them is terrorism. Flying airplanes into the side of civilian buildings is terrorism. Blowing up bombs on city streets is terrorism.

Theft is a crime. Breaking the law. A sign of poor moral character. Theft is not terrorism.

What I really want to know is: If he really thinks that breaking into a computer is akin to terrorism, what does Danny Ayalon propose should be done about the people who created Stuxnet and targeted equipment for destruction at Natanz?