Skip to content

Support infrastructure

Jump to bottom
Tristan Israël edited this page Jan 23, 2026 · 5 revisions

This page is not up-to-date

This page explains how to implement the deployment infrastructure.

Topologies

Different topologies can be implemented depending on whether you rely on Internet or not for Alpine mirrors.

Using Internet

If you will be using Internet to provide Alpine and PSEC mirrors you will only need to host you own products packages on standard HTTP server.

Using local mirror

If your systems are offline with no access to Internet, or if you want to implement local mirrors for better performance, you will have to provide a standard HTTP server for Alpine and PSEC packages, and for your own packages.

Using network boot

If your system will boot on the network you will have to implement the DHCP, TFTP and NFS servers.

Summary

This section summarizes the cases and the services to provide locally.

Use case DHCP TFTP NFS HTTP ADMIN
Network boot Yes Yes Yes (1) No (2) Yes
USB / embedded boot No No No (2) No Yes
Local cache No No No Yes Yes
Offline (no Internet) No No No Yes Yes

(1) If you want to manage user or specific hardware configurations. (2) Only for your own products' packets.

Common implementation

In all the cases you will have to implement the following services on your local area network (LAN):

Name IPv4 Address Description
DHCP 192.168.10.1 DHCP server for PXE boot
TFTP 192.168.10.1 TFTP server for PXE boot
HTTP 192.168.10.2 HTTP server serving the white stations configurations
NFS 192.168.10.2 NFS server allowing the integrator to store or modify white stations configurations
REPOSITORIES 192.168.10.3 HTTP server serving Alpine packages (APK)
ADMIN 192.168.10.250 Machine enabling the administrator to install and configure the deployment infrastructure

Assisted deployment

The assisted deployment offers a simple way to create the support infrastructure using the deployment system Ansible.

The operations consist in describing the configuration (services and machines) in an Ansible file in a format derived from JSON, and execute the deployment which runs automatically. This process can also be used to update the support infrastructure.

Prerequisites

The first step is to define which topology you want to implement (see Topologies).

(To be continued)

Configure Ansible

(To be continued)

Keep the mirrors up-to-date

The mirrors should be kept up-to-date as frequently as possible (daily to weekly) in order to benefit from the bug and security fixes.

The script infrastructure/scripts/update-alpine-mirror.sh is dedicated to updating a local Alpine mirror. It should be placed in the path of the mirror on the HTTP server.

Run the script: ./update-alpine-mirror.sh [arch] [version] where arch is x86_64, armv7 or aarch64 and version is the version of Alpine to update, for example 3.22.

The following command will update the local mirror:

$ ./udpate-alpine-mirror.sh x86_64 3.22

It will update all files in the folder ./alpine/v3.22/main/x86_64 and ./alpine/v3.22/community/x86_64. The local mirror will be an exact copy of the remote, meaning that all files removed from the official repository will be removed from the local mirror and all files added on the official repository will be added in the local mirror.

Steps [ORIGINAL DOCUMENTATION to be refreshed starting here]

The creation of the infrastructure is done in two steps:

  1. Creation of virtual machines

  2. Deployment and configuration of services

Prerequisites

The administrator must have available:

  • the installation kit which includes this documentation

  • the latest Alpine extended ISO

  • the latest Alpine XEN ISO image

  • the latest Alpine Virtual ISO image

  • a mirror of the official Alpine package repository (see Creating an Alpine package mirror)

Creating the Virtual Machines

This section describes the steps to create the infrastructure virtual machines. The machines must be created in the indicated order.

Administration Workstation

This section describes creating a machine for the administrator.

to be completed

Embedded Repositories

Alpine repositories can be stored on an existing HTTP server if one exists on the network. This section explains how to create a new HTTP server for Alpine repositories.

The machine must have at least 2 GB of memory.

  • Boot the machine using the standard Alpine ISO.

  • At the login prompt, type root then Enter. Authentication is done.

  • Type the command setup-keymap. Then type fr, Enter, fr, Enter. The keyboard is now set to French.

  • Type the command setup-interfaces.

  • At the question Which one do you want to initialize?, type eth0 then Enter.

  • At the question Ip address for eth0?, type 192.168.10.3 then Enter.

  • At the question Netmask?, type 255.255.255.0 then Enter.

  • At the question Gateway?, type none then Enter.

  • At the question Do you want to do any manual network configuration?, type n then Enter.

  • Type the command /etc/init.d/networking restart. The server is now configured with IP address 192.168.10.3.

  • Type the command rc-update add networking.

  • Type the command setup-sshd then Enter.

  • At the question Which SSH server, type openssh then Enter.

  • The SSH server is now configured.

  • Type the command adduser admin then Enter. Then enter a strong password twice consecutively.

  • Type the following commands:

mkdir -p /var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
chown -R admin:admin /var/depots/main/x86_64
chmod -R 770 /var/depots/main/x86_64
  • From an administration machine connected to the same network, extract the archive alpine.tar containing the Alpine repository files into the /tmp/alpine folder, then type the following commands:
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/dosfstools-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/grub-efi-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/sfdisk-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/lddtree-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/xz-libs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/zstd-libs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/kmod-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/argon2-libs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/device-mapper-libs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/json-c-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/cryptsetup-libs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/mkinitfs-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/grub-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/libfdisk-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/libsmartcols-*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/linux-lts.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/linux-firmware*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/openssh*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/ncurses*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/libedit*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64
scp /tmp/alpine/main/x86_64/busybox*.apk admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine/main/x86_64

  • Edit the file /etc/apk/repositories and add the line /var/depots/alpine/main

  • Type the command apk update then Enter.

  • Type the command setup-disk then Enter.

  • At the question Which disk(s) do you like to use?, type sda then Enter.

  • At the question How would you like to use it?, type sys then Enter.

  • At the question WARNING: Erase the above disk(s) and continue?, type y then Enter.

  • At the end of installation, type reboot.

  • At the login prompt, type root then Enter. Authentication is done.

  • Type the command setup-hostname then Enter, then depots.local, then Enter.

  • Type the command passwd then Enter. Enter a strong password for the root account (twice).

  • Type the following commands:

mkdir -p /var/depots/alpine/
chown -R admin:admin /var/depots/
chmod -R 770 /var/depots/
  • From the administration machine, type the following commands:
cd [directory containing alpine files with folders main and community]
scp -r main community admin@192.168.10.3:/var/depots/alpine
  • Edit the file /etc/apk/repositories and add the following lines:
/var/depots/alpine/main
/var/depots/alpine/community

  • Type the command apk update then Enter.

  • Type the command setup-timezone then Enter, then Europe/Paris, then Enter.

  • Type the following commands:

apk add lighttpd
rc-update add lighttpd default
  • Edit the file /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf and add at the end of the file: server.dir-listing = "enable"

Repositories on Network Storage (CIFS)

If the repository mirror is on a network storage accessible via CIFS (Windows file share), this virtual machine will only serve as an intermediary. Configuration can be done as follows.

Configuration summary:
The virtual machine will be configured as a normal network server with a hostname. 512 MB of RAM is sufficient.

  • Boot the machine using the standard Alpine ISO.

  • At the login prompt, type root then Enter. Authentication is done.

  • Type the command setup-keymap. Then type fr, Enter, fr, Enter. The keyboard is now French.

  • Type the command setup-interfaces.

  • At the question Which one do you want to initialize?, type eth0 then Enter.

  • At the question Ip address for eth0?, type dhcp then Enter.

  • At the question Do you want to do any manual network configuration?, type n then Enter.

  • Type the command /etc/init.d/networking restart. The server is now configured with the IP address provided by the DHCP server.

  • Type the command rc-update add networking.

  • Type the command setup-sshd then Enter.

  • At the question Which SSH server, type openssh then Enter.

  • The SSH server is now configured.

  • Type the command adduser admin then Enter. Then enter a strong password twice consecutively.

TO BE COMPLETED

DHCP Server

The DHCP server must be installed from an Alpine Linux standard ISO 3.15 minimum.

  • Boot the machine using the standard Alpine ISO.

  • At the login prompt, type root then Enter. Authentication is done.

  • Type the command setup-alpine then Enter.

  • to be completed

Then follow the instructions in the Common configuration section.

HTTP/TFTP/NFS Server

The HTTP/TFTP/NFS server must be installed from an Alpine Linux standard ISO 3.15 minimum.

  • Boot the machine using the standard Alpine ISO.

  • At the login prompt, type root then Enter. Authentication is done.

  • Type the command setup-alpine then Enter.

  • to be completed

Then follow the instructions in the Common configuration section.

Common Configuration

Each machine must be configured with a user allowing deployment of services via Ansible.

  • Type the command adduser ansible then Enter. Enter a strong password for the user (twice consecutively).

  • Add the following lines in the file /etc/apk/repositories:

http://192.168.10.3/alpine/main
http://192.168.10.3/alpine/community
  • Type the command visudo then Enter.

Services Deployment

to be written

Clone this wiki locally