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Alpine Two Nodes

(Lab Series)

1 Overview

The lab runs in a Docker container with two QEMU VMs inside.
The VMs connect to each other through the below bridge interfaces:
- br1 (191.0.0.0/24): For ssh.
- br2 (192.0.0.0/24): For testing.
- br3 (193.0.0.0/24): For testing.
The containter acts as router, forwards traffics between VMs.
Each VM has the below disks:
- /dev/sda: Boot and filesystem.
- /dev/sdb: For testing.
- /dev/sdc: For testing.

         VM1            Container           VM2
          +                 +                +
      191.0.0.10 eth1 +----br1----+ eth1 191.0.0.20
      192.0.0.10 eth2 +----br2----+ eth2 192.0.0.20
      193.0.0.10 eth3 +----br3----+ eth3 193.0.0.20
          +                                  +

2 Setup

2.1 Setup Container

Clone code.

host$ git clone https://github.com/thachmpham/lab.git
host$ cd lab/alpine/2-nodes

Setup the container.

host$ docker compose build
host$ docker compose up --detach

2.2 Setup VM1

Access the container.

host$ docker exec -it apk bash

Create VM1.

cont$ ./create_vm1.sh

On VM1, create a file named ans_vm1 with the same content as lab/alpine/2-node/ans_vm1.
Install Alpine to VM1.

vm1$ setup-alpine -e -f ans_vm1

vm1$ poweroff

Start VM1.

cont$ ./start_vm1.sh

Allow root ssh login with a empty password.

vm1$ vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# ------------------------------ #
PermitRootLogin yes
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitEmptyPasswords yes
# ------------------------------ #

vm1$ rc-service sshd restart

Check ssh access from the container to VM1.

cont$ ssh vm1

Enable community repository.

vm$ vi /etc/apk/repositories
http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.24/main
http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.24/community

2.3 Setup VM2

Create VM2.

cont$ ./create_vm2.sh

On VM2, create a file named ans_vm2 with the same content as lab/alpine/2-node/ans_vm2.
Install Alpine to VM2.

vm2$ setup-alpine -e -f ans_vm2

vm2$ poweroff

Start VM1.

cont$ ./start_vm2.sh

Allow root ssh login with a empty password.

vm2$ vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# ------------------------------ #
PermitRootLogin yes
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitEmptyPasswords yes
# ------------------------------ #

vm2$ rc-service sshd restart

Check ssh access from the container to VM1.

cont$ ssh vm2

Enable community repository.

vm$ vi /etc/apk/repositories
http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.24/main
http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.24/community

3 Shortcuts

QEMU keys:

Ctrl + a h: Help Menu
Ctrl + a x: Exit
Ctrl + a c: Switch between VM console and QEMU monitor.

4 References