Disable Kernel modules in Alpine Linux Cloud image for Oracle Cloud

Download Alpine Linux Cloud Image from: https://www.alpinelinux.org/cloud/

Upload the image to OCI and create an instance from it.

I disabled some Kernel modules for security and saving memory.

Remove old drivers from: /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf
From:

features="ata base ide scsi usb virtio ext4 nvme"

To:

features="base scsi virtio ext4"

Add 'blacklist drm' to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

echo 'blacklist drm' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
mkinitfs -c /etc/mkinitfs/mkinitfs.conf -b / 
reboot

The grub modprobe.blacklist=drm, does not work either.

updating /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash modprobe.blacklist=drm"

I will try [cloud-init] Bootstrap image next time.

Reference:
https://dev.alpinelinux.org/~clandmeter/other/forum.alpinelinux.org/forum/kernel-and-hardware/blacklist-drivers-builtin-kernel.html
https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Initramfs_init
https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Xen_PCI_Passthrough

Get SPF DNS record for Oracle Cloud Email Delivery service

Follow Oracle's Offical guide Configuring SPF

For Americas Region SPF Record

v=spf1 include:rp.oracleemaildelivery.com ~all

The following is an example of a command used to view an SPF record:

dig -t TXT +short syd1.rp.oracleemaildelivery.com

Example output:

"v=spf1 ip4:192.168.0.2/25 -all"

For Canada Regions and Availability Domains

Region Name	Region Identifier	Region Location	Region Key	Availability Domains
Canada Southeast (Montreal)	ca-montreal-1	Montreal, Canada	YUL	1
Canada Southeast (Toronto)	ca-toronto-1	Toronto, Canada	YYZ	1

For Toronto Region:

v=spf1 include:yyz1.rp.oracleemaildelivery.com ~all

Run this command to get the IP address range:

dig -t TXT +short yyz1.rp.oracleemaildelivery.com

Output:

"v=spf1 ip4:192.29.72.0/25 ~all"

Update the SPF DNS record with IP address has a benefit of spf flattening to Fix “Too Many DNS Lookups”

My DNS settings:

"v=spf1 ip4:192.29.72.0/25 -all"

How to Deleting a Tenancy and Oracle Cloud Account

Try to clean up your Oracle Cloud Account and Tenancy?

You can delete your Account / Tenancy by following the steps mentioned in the link below:

1. While signed in as an OCI administrator, open the Tenancy Details page.
Otherwise, if not signed in as an administrator, the Request tenancy deletion button isn't available.
Click Request tenancy deletion.

2. The Request tenancy deletion confirmation is displayed
Confirm deletion in Enter the tenancy name to confirm deletion by entering the name of the tenancy to delete.
Click Request tenancy deletion.

3. A message is displayed to indicate that you successfully created a work request to delete the tenancy.
Under Work requests, a Tenancy deletion requested operation appears, where you can view the status of the deletion request.
The work request operation displays the state, percent completion, date, and time accepted, and when the operation started and finished.
You can also click the Delete Tenancy work request to view the Delete tenancy work request details page.
You also receive an email notifying you that the tenancy deletion process has completed.

Reference:
Deleting a Tenancy and Cloud Account
Viewing the Tenancy Details Page

Growing a ext4 disk on a cloud / VMware VM

Normal I use GParted CD boot a VM to growing a Linux ext4 disk partition. Or using LVM. It's way easier on Windows VM. I tried cloud-utils tool on a Debian 10 VM on VMware ESXi 7. Just a bare ext4 partition without LVM. It should works on any other Cloud plantform like: AWS, Oracle or Google. Install cloud-utils after increase the disk size from the Cloud Control Console:

sudo apt-get install -y cloud-utils

################### ### Before ########## ###################

df -h
	Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
	/dev/sda1        16G   11G  4.2G  72% /
	/dev/sdb1       295G  247G   33G  89% /data

################### ### grow /dev/sdb1 ### ###################

echo 1 > /sys/class/block/sdb/device/rescan
growpart /dev/sdb 1
	CHANGED: partition=1 start=2048 old: size=629143552 end=629145600 new: size=880801759,end=880803807

resize2fs /dev/sdb1
	resize2fs 1.44.5 (15-Dec-2018)
	Filesystem at /dev/sdb1 is mounted on /data; on-line resizing required
	old_desc_blocks = 38, new_desc_blocks = 53
	The filesystem on /dev/sdb1 is now 110100219 (4k) blocks long.

################### ### grow /dev/sda1 ### ###################

echo 1 > /sys/class/block/sda/device/rescan
growpart /dev/sda 1
	CHANGED: partition=1 start=2048 old: size=33550336 end=33552384 new: size=83883999,end=83886047

resize2fs /dev/sda1
	resize2fs 1.44.5 (15-Dec-2018)
	Filesystem at /dev/sda1 is mounted on /; on-line resizing required
	old_desc_blocks = 2, new_desc_blocks = 5
	The filesystem on /dev/sda1 is now 10485499 (4k) blocks long.

################### ### After ########### ###################

df -h
	Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
	/dev/sda1        40G   11G   27G  29% /
	/dev/sdb1       413G  247G  146G  63% /data

Best Online Backup Solution: mozy.com

Best Online Backup Solution Mozy hold By EMC

Every Database/System/Storage Engineer knows EMC.
And they bought Mozy.com for $76 million.

I would say online storage/ Cloud Storage is the future.
$4.95/month with unlimited space and upload/download coast, there is nothing better than this for my Home Server ( with about 2 TB personal files).

And with EMC's support, I will give it a 5 start from the secure side.

Only thing is there is no Linux client right now.
Hope it coming soon.

Oracle bought SUN will it affect SUN's Cloud marketing?

Oracle bought SUN will it affect SUN's Cloud marketing?