Linux – How to configure ssh access for an unattended linux-distro ISO image for local development env similar to accessing cloud service VM instances

automated-installdebianlinuxpackerssh

I configured Packer to build unattended ISO installs of various Debian-derived distros to VMware fusion. As I configure the VMs manually for ssh access, it times out and the build artifacts created are erased.

How do you go about pre-installing ssh access as part of an OS installation image similar to how its done for cloud service VM instances? I am going to try to configure it via kickstart or Debian preseed late-command into the remastered ISO image to resolve my problem but i would be interested to hear other methods that are more flexible. The goal of all this is to create a development infrastructure that can easily be brought up and down in an automated fashion that can be used to simulate a cloud environment locally.

Best Answer

You could pre-install the Userify agent on the ISO's. These will keep your SSH keys updated over time and allow you to create users (sudo perms, etc) remotely. It only needs outbound HTTPS, so it should easily work from a VM unless you've shut off outbound net access.

Related Solutions

Linux – How to bestly setup a ssh tunnel for access to a remote network (Linux)

I trust you can already SSH to a system on the remote private network (10.0.0.0). If your local system is running openssh, add to your $HOME/.ssh/config:

Host gatewaymachine
  LocalForward 12080 remote_ip:portnum

Where 'remote_ip' is the IP address of the remote clustermachine system where gdbserver runs, and portnum is the port that it listens on. SSH to gatewaymachine, then connect your application to localhost, port 12080. For example if this is a web application

http://localhost:12080

If you're not using a web application, you'll need to set up your connection information to reflect that you're going to 'localhost' port '12080' (or whatever port you like, see below).

Instead of editing your ssh config, you can also use ssh command parameters:

ssh -L 12080:remote_ip:portnum gatewaymachine

(change 12080 to whatever port you want above 1024; below 1024 and you'll need root access to bind to the port)

Ssh – How to configure a tun interface on Linux for SSH port forwarding

Regarding <1024 you can only do that by using root for the ssh tunnel:

http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/5.1/Deployment_Guide/s2-ssh-beyondshell-tcpip.html

Note

Setting up port forwarding to listen on ports below 1024 requires root level access.

Regarding 127.0.0.1 you probably need to use '-g' in your ssh setup:

 -g      Allows remote hosts to connect to local forwarded ports.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Linux – How to bestly setup a ssh tunnel for access to a remote network (Linux)

Ssh – How to configure a tun interface on Linux for SSH port forwarding

Related Topic