[conspire] Some CABAL meeting bits(+++?)

[Michael Paoli]

Some bits from the CABAL meeting earlier today.

Some folks *really* don't like systemd, and also mentioned many
distros using systemd.  I mentioned Debian, and though Debian's
default is systemd, it's not the only choice Debian offers.
And I gave teensy example of a running Debian host that's not
using systemd:
# ls -ld /proc/1/exe
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 0 Sep 10 05:39 /proc/1/exe -> /lib/sysvinit/init
#
(and in fact the host from which I'd joined the CABAL Jitsi Meet
meeting).

Bits of virtualiztion were mentioned, including QEMU, I mentioned I
use qemu-kvm on Debian, and in fact run Virtual Machines (VMs) under it,
most notably including the VM balug, which among other things hosts:
most all matters:
SF-LUG (excepting list, on linuxmafia.com)
BerkeleyLUG (excepting list, on Google Groups)
BALUG
(and excepting from the above set, DNS slaves)
And bit of question was asked about network setup, notably how one
makes it as close to like physical machine on network,
I pointed out my TEMPLATE program which I generally use for creating
virtual machines - I most commonly use one of two network settings,
bridged generally being the most physical-like and direct on network
I also showed bit from my program that handles that (I basically make
a copy of the TEMPLATE to create my VM, modify it as I
wish, then execute it to create the VM):
# unset or null for none
NETWORK=
NETWORK=network=default
#NETWORK=bridge=br0
#NETWORK=bridge=br0,mac=52:54:00:3f:c0:75
Of the above, the active
NETWORK=network=default
would do the NATed thing on private subnet
(following qemu-kvm's default),
For the most physical-like direct on network, I'd use:
NETWORK=bridge=br0
That bridges it and gives very direct network access,
I also pointed out:
NETWORK=bridge=br0,mac=52:54:00:3f:c0:75
Where I can set a specific Ethernet MAC address, if desired (by
default qemu-kvm would randomly create one in suitable range).
Anyway, the NETWORK setting in my program then uses
virt-install
And either option:
--nonetworks
or suitably set option:
--network=...
I also made the TEMPLATE program script available for easy
inspection/retrieval:
http://www.mpaoli.net/~root/bin/TEMPLATE
+++ didn't get around to mentioning, but other features of the
program:
By default the VM name will be that of whatever the program is called,
so typically pick that name as target name when copying the TEMPLATE.
MiB - set to allocate RAM other than what I have set for default
PATHTOISO - the boot/install/"Live" ISO image,
I have it set to determine a default on my host, but I can also
explicitly set it (including unset or null for none).
PXE - set to some non-null value to do PXE boot
DISK drive - if non-null the file or device to use for the virtual
drive (e.g. file pathname, or LVM volume - at least as I'd typically
do it ... also, if file, can be sparse file - so can do disk much
larger virtually than the physical blocks given it ... so long as one
doesn't run out of space for blocks later allocated).
IMPORT - non-null to build a VM around an existing disk image (handy
for, e.g. moving from physical to virtual).
LIVECD - set non-null to configure to always boot from the ISO (e.g.
like always boot and run a "Live" CD/DVD/BD)

Did also mention:
https://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:offered_wanted_hardware_etc
but maybe a bit too late
can be handy for coordinating hardware giveaways (or wanted) or the
like ... and probably also most useful when mentioned on relevant list(s).

Fair bit of discussion around Jitsi Meet.
I also mentioned program script I wrote:
http://www.mpaoli.net/~michael/tmp/2jitsi
to quickly turn a quite minimal base Debian install,
into to a fully functional and configured Jitsi Meet server
(but with some resource limitations, as also mentioned in
the program, as I was doing this on a small VM mostly to work
out authorization configuration issues - and having reproducibility
to go from base Debian to configured and operational basic (but
resource limited) Jitsi Meet server.
I also did a mini-demo of it during the meeting ... took only a
little over 5 minutes to go from base to operational Jitsi Meet server.
After the meeting I also tweaked a bit - notably updating pre-seeded
cache of packages to install, and update the the bare base OS and ran
it again and ...
2m39.060s
So, well under 3 minutes - might be the fastest I've seen it thus far.

And dig go over a bit:
https://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:covid-19
And yes, CABAL is on there (Rick had earlier put it on,
I fixed one typo and tweaked formatting a bit).
I also mentioned Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts,
something I'd found more recently and added on the list.
Looks like they very much have their act together, and in the
impending face of COVID-19 went to on-line/virtual in quick order,
very possibly sooner than any other LUG in at least the US, perhaps
on the planet.  They'd made their first meeting switch to on-line/virtual
with their meeting on 2020-03-15 ... that was slightly sooner than
the San Francisco Bay Area had even started its shelter-in-place.