Threat Intelligence Exchange Server supported virtualization methods

Specifications (kernel modules for each virtualization system)

TIE Server runs in its own custom Linux distribution based on CentOS 6 (x86_64). To support different virtualization methods, some initial scripts load different kernel modules depending on the virtualization platform detected.

The following lists show the kernel modules that are loaded for each virtualization system.

VMware

drivers/net/vmxnet3/vmxnet3.ko
drivers/net/vmxnet.ko
drivers/misc/vmw_balloon.ko
drivers/misc/vmw_vmci/vmw_vmci.ko
drivers/scsi/vmw_pvscsi.ko
fs/vmhgfs/vmhgfs.ko

XEN

IMPORTANT: For XEN, only the HVM (hardware virtual machine) virtualization type is supported.

drivers/xen/xen-acpi-processor.ko
drivers/xen/xen-gntalloc.ko
drivers/xen/xen-pciback/xen-pciback.ko
drivers/xen/xen-gntdev.ko
drivers/net/xen-netfront.ko
drivers/net/xen-netback/xen-netback.ko
drivers/block/xen-blkfront.ko
drivers/block/xen-blkback/xen-blkback.ko
drivers/scsi/xen-scsifront.ko

Hyper-V
If the Hyper-V host uses Broadcom-based NICs, performance might be affected. We recommend that you use Intel-based NICs.

drivers/net/hyperv/hv_netvsc.ko
drivers/hv/hv_utils.ko
drivers/hv/hv_balloon.ko
drivers/hv/hv_vmbus.ko
drivers/scsi/hv_storvsc.ko
drivers/input/serio/hyperv-keyboard.ko
drivers/hid/hid-hyperv.ko
drivers/video/fbdev/hyperv_fb.ko

KVM VirtIO

drivers/net/virtio_net.ko
drivers/block/virtio_blk.ko
drivers/char/virtio_console.ko
drivers/char/hw_random/virtio-rng.ko
drivers/scsi/virtio_scsi.ko
drivers/virtio/virtio_ring.ko
drivers/virtio/virtio_mmio.ko
drivers/virtio/virtio_pci.ko
drivers/virtio/virtio.ko
drivers/virtio/virtio_balloon.ko
kernel/arch/x86/kvm/kvm-intel.ko
kernel/arch/x86/kvm/kvm.ko

NOTE: To identify the kernel and driver versions on a running appliance, run the following commands from the console:

$ uname -r
$ modinfo /lib/modules/*/kernel/drivers/xen/*.ko

Requirements

You must have the following to achieve performance that's similar to what's obtained with the VMware OVA:

1 CPU with 8 cores
16 GB RAM
120 GB Disk (thick provisioning)

The minimum requirement to install using the ISO is a 4 GB RAM. If you try to install with less than 4 GB RAM, the PostgreSQL service fails to start, and the following messages appear in the postgresql.log file:

FATAL: could not map anonymous shared memory: Cannot allocate memory

HINT: This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request for a shared memory segment exceeds the available memory or swap space. To reduce the request size (currently 4,423,376,896 bytes), reduce the PostgreSQL's shared memory usage, perhaps by reducing shared_buffers or max_connections.

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Installation Process

NOTE: The following sequence applies to bare metal and other virtualization platforms.

Create a VM with the previously specified requirements and boot from the provided ISO file.

The ISO first detects the type of virtualization, and then loads the corresponding kernel modules:
The installer partitions the disk.

CAUTION: The entire disk is formatted!
Basic RPM packages are installed:
The TIE platform and several custom RPM packages are installed:
The ISO installs the correct kernel:
The ISO displays a dialog that notifies the user that this system is shutting down automatically.

NOTE: This step is automatic and requires no interaction from the user.
After the VM turns off, remove the ISO file and power the VM on to continue the TIE configuration and installation.