NTA Golden Image Release Notes

The CDRouter development team is constantly making improvements to the CDRouter software. Some of these changes require support in the underlying operating system and kernel. As a result, this means that the underlying operating system and kernel may need occasional updating. The way this works is by the QA Cafe team creating and cloning a new set of disk images with the appropriate kernel and all necessary operating system changes and upgrades. These disk images are then packaged onto a USB drive along with a utility to extract them onto the drives of other NTA systems. This “golden image” is used to build new NTA systems shipped to customers. It can also be used by customers to upgrade or rebuild their NTA systems that might be running much older images or that might have suffered a disk failure. The latest golden image is found on the QA Cafe website.

Detailed instructions on how to re-image your disk(s) can be found here for NTA3000 systems or here for NTA1000 systems.

9.3

  • File: nta3000-9.3.img
  • Date created: 2024-03-12
  • Based on: nta-create-9.3-1.el9.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,146,776,576 bytes
  • md5sum: df18ef5c9782caee2041113cbc7490d7
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Works on NTA3000 platform only!
  • Created from Rocky Linux 9.3 new install
  • kernel-cdr-6.7.3-20240214.0.4369b39d11a6.el9.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full dnf update
  • No image for the data drive (logical volume). It is created with a set of commands.

8.10

  • Files: nta1000-8.10-FWA8408.img | nta1000-8.10-FWA8308.img | nta1000-8.10-FWA8207.img
  • Date created: 2024-09-17
  • Based on nta1000-create-8.10-1.el8.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,146,776,576 bytes (all 3 files)
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Each file works on the corresponding hardware platform
  • Created from Rocky 8.10 new install
  • kernel-cdr-6.9.10-20240718.0.b3dc66ca3413.el8.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full dnf update
  • Several utilities now installed as RPMs: nta1000-lcd, nta1000-hw-info, nta1000-intel-x550t
  • Removed the nta1000-updates RPM
  • No image for the data drive. It is created with a set of commands.

8.8

  • Files: nta1000-8.8-FWA8408.img | nta1000-8.8-FWA8308.img | nta1000-8.8-FWA8207.img
  • Date created: 2023-09-26
  • Based on nta1000-create-8.8-4.el8.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,146,776,576 bytes (all 3 files)
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Each file works on the corresponding hardware platform
  • Created from Rocky 8.8 new install
  • kernel-cdr-6.2.16-20230822.0.3250b8706.el8.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full dnf update
  • Versionlock both linux-firmware and iwl7260-firmware
  • Introduce a new script that determines hardware information, used by several other code entities
  • cdrouter.py pre-installed

8.6

  • File: nta1000-8.6-FWA8408.img | nta1000-8.6-FWA8308.img | nta1000-8.6-FWA8207.img
  • Date created: 2022-09-26
  • Based on nta1000-create-8.6-2.el8.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,146,776,576 bytes (all 3 files)
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Each file works on the corresponding hardware platform
  • Created from Rocky 8.6 new install
  • kernel-cdr-5.17.15-20220718.0.adeb417f2b69.el8.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full dnf update
  • Fix to get Intel 10Gb/s ethernet card to advertise 2.5Gb/s and 5Gb/s speeds
  • Fix to prevent kernel from being updated via normal dnf updates
  • Versionlock linux-firmware

8.4

  • Files: nta1000-8.4-FWA8408.img | nta1000-8.4-FWA8308.img | nta1000-8.4-FWA8207.img
  • Date created: 2021-11-08
  • Based on nta1000-create-8.4-7.el8.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,146,776,576 bytes (all 3 files)
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Each file works on the corresponding hardware platform
  • Created from Rocky 8.4 new install
  • kernel-cdr-5.4.80-20201124.4b62454040ba.el8.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full dnf update

8.0

  • File: nta1000-8.0.img
  • Date created: 2020-05-06
  • Based on nta1000-updates-8.0-31.el8.x86_64.rpm
  • 8,053,063,680 bytes
  • Requires 8GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Works on all versions of NTA1000
  • Created from CentOS 8.1.1911 new install
  • kernel-cdr-5.2.21-20200219.6b287a4650db.el8.qacafe.x86_64.rpm
  • Full yum update
  • Latest Candela ath10k firmware

7.0

  • File: nta1000-7.0.img
  • Date created: 2020-01-13
  • Based on nta1000-updates-7.0-8.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 8,053,063,680 bytes
  • Requires 8GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Works on all versions of NTA1000
  • Created from CentOS 7.7 (1908) new install
  • kernel-cdr-4.19.86-20191127.157965373585.el7.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Newer Candela ath10k firmware
  • New front panel LCD program.

6.1

  • File: nta1000-6.1.img
  • Date created: 2019-07-26
  • Based on nta1000-updates-6.1-12.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,948,937,216 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Limited to v6 systems only
  • Created from CentOS 7.6 (1810) new install
  • kernel-ct-4.16.18-20190613.4e9f128.el7.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Newer Candela ath10 firmware
  • Supports the NTA1000 v6-10G platform

6.0

  • File: nta1000-6.0.img
  • Date created: 2019-01-24
  • Based on nta1000-updates-6.0-24.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,948,937,216 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Limited to v6 systems only
  • Created from CentOS 7.6 (1810) new install
  • kernel-ct-4.16.18-20181211.9ee9572.el7.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Candela ath10 firmware
  • Delete /etc/xdg/autostart/org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Account.desktop for polkit workaround
  • Handle nvme drive (fstab, smartd.conf)
  • Manually install smartmontools drivedb.h
  • Increase num open files
  • All scripts written in Python
  • LCD controlled by Python script, not C
  • Insomnia no longer included

5.5

  • File: nta1000-5.5.img
  • Date created: 2019-03-06
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.5.3.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 7,872,184,320 bytes
  • Requires 8GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Limited to pre-v6 systems only.
  • Created from CentOS 7.6 (1810) new install
  • kernel-lt-4.14.101-1.el7.qacafe.x86_64.rpm
  • Full yum update
  • Delete /etc/xdg/autostart/org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.Account.desktop for polkit workaround
  • Handle nvme drive (fstab, smartd.conf)
  • Manually install smartmontools drivedb.h
  • Increase num open files
  • All scripts written in Python
  • Insomnia no longer included

5.4

  • File: nta1000-5.4.img
  • Date created: 2018-07-03
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.4.3.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,948,937,216 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 7.5 (1804) new install
  • kernel-lt-4.14.40-1.el7.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Set NM_CONTROLLED=yes in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
  • The date/time in top right corner of desktop now displays seconds.

5.3

  • File: nta1000-5.3.img
  • Date created: 2018-05-17
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.3-24.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 3,948,937,216 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 7.5 (1804) new install
  • kernel-lt-4.14.40-1.el7.qacafe.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Fixes the meltdown and spectre issues (microcode_ctl RPM installed).
  • Network Manager seems to work now, so we’re enabling that and disabling network.service. Clean up start_eth0 and dhclient.conf (no longer needed).
  • Using a generic /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf and creating new /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/nta1000.conf
  • Explicitly bundle and install specific versions of crda, iw7260-firmware, and linux-firmware packages, and lock them down with yum versionlock
  • Revert back to default TCP congestion control (not reno)
  • In /etc/systemd/journald.conf, set MaxLevelStore and MaxLevelSyslog to info
  • Latest version of Insomnia
  • Some tweaks to the LCD program to work with both old and new cdrouter/buddy commands.

5.2

  • File: nta1000-5.2.img
  • Date created: 2017-12-06
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.2-80.el7.x86_64
  • 3,948,937,216 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 7.4 (1708) new install
  • kernel-lt-4.9.65-1.el7.qacafe.x86_64.rpm
  • Full yum update
  • A single USB image contains disk images for both v5 hardware (AHCI) and older v1, v2, v3, v4 hardware (IDE), so it’s technically 2 sets of images (2 drives for each system), but it’s all bundled together onto a single USB drive image.
  • A smarter menu script now determines NTA hardware version and allows the user to rebuild the disk(s) without rebooting.
  • Use the regular iwl7260-firmware linux-firmware crda rpms.
  • This version of CentOS 7 uses giant desktop icons. We fix that.
  • yum remove PackageKit and ntp.
  • Install Insomnia with the CDRouter API loaded.
  • Add the qacafe user to the wireshark group.
  • Add sections the the ifcfg-eth0 file for IPv6.
  • /etc/modprobe.d/kvm.conf file to quiet boot error.
  • Explicitly create a cdrouter user and group to try and keep the uid and guid consistent.
  • No need to configure ntp since it’s been removed (chrony is the default).
  • /etc/udev/rules.d/99-hide-cf.rules file to hide the CF card in v2 hardware.
  • Used a newer version of Clonezilla: 2.4.7-8
  • Minimum disk size to restore to is now 128GB.

5.1

  • File: nta1000-5.1.img
  • Date created: 2016-09-28
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.1-1.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 7.0 new install
  • kernel-lt-4.4.20-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • In /etc/systemd/system/start_eth0.service, Type is set to “forking”
  • The /usr/share/nta1000/bin/start_eth0.pl script was simplified by removing the waiting loop for an IP address. By that point, dhclient has already daemonized, so no need to wait.
  • During the clone, I removed any dhcp leases from /var/lib/dhclient/
  • The resize_partition.pl script now has a 3 second delay after growing the partition. The /dev/sdb1 partition didn’t always seem to be ready to be mounted right away.

5.0

  • File: nta1000-5.0.img
  • Date created: 2016-09-13
  • Based on nta1000-updates-5.0-22.el7.x86_64.rpm
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 7.0 new install
  • kernel-lt-4.4.20-1.el7.elrepo.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Uses the new networking naming scheme involving:
    • /etc/udev/rules.d/00-nta1000-net.rules
    • /etc/udev/rules.d/60-net.rules
    • /etc/udev/rules.d/71-biosdevname.rules
    • /etc/udev/rules.d/80-net-name-slot.rules
    • /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf (now uses names instead of MAC addresses)
  • biosdevname=0, net.ifnames=1 in grub
  • No /usr/share/nta1000/bin/configure_network_interfaces.pl script anymore.
  • NetworkManager has been disabled.
  • Custom /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf
  • Custom start_eth0 script and service file to make sure eth0 has an IP address before CDRouter starts.
  • SMARTD configured for each drive.
  • selinux disabled.
  • latest wireless regulatory file
  • /etc/cron.daily/trim
  • delete/prevent kernel rescue images.
  • no debugging grub options.
  • ath9k conf file
  • latest ath10k firmware
  • latest iwlwifi firmware (just in case)
  • TCP congestion algorithm set to reno
  • Avahi configured to use only eth0.
  • NTP configured to use only eth0.
  • New fancy LCD stuff.

4.3

  • File: nta1000-4.3.img
  • Date created: 2016-09-20
  • Based on nta1000-updates-4.3-16.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.8 new install
  • kernel-lt-3.10.103-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Replaces /root/reprogram_mac_addresses.pl with newer /usr/share/nta1000/bin/configure_network_interfaces.pl that uses the new /etc/udev/rules.d/00-nta1000-net.rules method of interface naming.
  • The “net.ifnames=0” kernel parameter has been removed.
  • We used to have “ifconfig eth[1-6⁄7] up in /etc/rc.local. These have been removed.
  • The /etc/smartd.conf now only considers disks that have ext3, ext4, or xfs file systems. This will ignore the compact flash drive in V2 NTAs since that uses ext2.
  • The qacafe user has been added to the sudoers file. Actually we created a file (/cdrouter/etc/sudoers.d/qacafe) that gives qacafe those privileges without having to touch the actual /etc/sudoers file.
  • A few minor tweaks to the desktop icons (CDRouter, not BuddyWeb), and dynamically determining which port (80⁄8015) should be used in the URL those icons link to.
  • Added an entry to cron.daily to run fstrim on the /dev/sda (the SSD).
  • NTP configured to use only eth0.
  • Avahi configured to use only eth0.
  • New fancy LCD stuff.

4.2

  • File: nta1000-4.2.img
  • Date created: 2015-09-29
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.8 new install
  • kernel-lt-3.10.75-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Full yum update
  • Uses an even newer /root/reprogram_mac_addresses.pl file
  • Delete qacafe’s and root’s .bash_history files before cloning.

4.1

  • File: nta1000-4.1.img
  • Date created: 2015-06-24
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.6 new install
  • kernel-lt-3.10.75-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Added the /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf file
  • Uses a new /root/reprogram_mac_addresses.pl file
  • Zero out the /var/log/messages file before cloning
  • Delete qacafe’s and root’s .bash_history files before cloning.
  • Fixed the support link in the splash page
  • Fixed the link in firefox (Maine -> Main)
  • Renamed the link in firefox from “BuddyWeb on localhost” to simply “BuddyWeb”
  • Renamed the desktop icon from QA Cafe Support -> CDRouter Support
  • Created a new qacafe.repo file, which uses a hard link variable to the /usr/share/nta1000/version file. This lets each NTA1000 version have its own repo area.
  • This USB image has just two disk images (sda and sdb). For v1/v2 NTAs, an extra script is run post-restore, which tweaks /etc/fstab and /etc/smartd.conf.
  • A readme file was added that explains what this USB drive is for.

4.0

  • File: nta1000-4.0.img
  • Date created: 2015-05-08
  • 7,872,184,320 bytes
  • Requires 8GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.6 new install
  • kernel-lt-3.10.75-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Does not use backports

3.3

  • File: nta1000-3.3.img
  • Date created: 2014-10-14
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-3.2.img
  • CentOS 6.5
  • kernel-lt-3.10.47-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Did a “yum update”
  • Did a “yum clean all”
  • Updated the Firefox link to point to support.qacafe.com
  • Updated the desktop icon link to point to support.qacafe.com

3.2

  • File: nta1000-3.2.img
  • Date created: 2014-10-07
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-3.1-all.img
  • CentOS 6.5
  • kernel-lt-3.10.47-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Removed nofail flags from /etc/fstab
  • Did a “yum update bash”
  • Did a “yum clean all”

3.1

  • File: nta1000-3.1.img
  • Date created: 2014-09-18
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-3.0-all.img
  • CentOS 6.5
  • kernel-lt-3.10.47-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • wheel group added (uncommented) to sudoers
  • qacafe added to wheel group
  • DEVICESCAN commented out in /etc/smartd.conf
  • /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-rules.net file deleted

3.0

  • File: nta1000-3.0-all.img
  • Date created: 2014-08-07
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-3.0.img
  • kernel-lt-3.10.47-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • This packages a 3.0 image for old (v1, v2) hardware along with the regular 3.0 image for new (v3) hardware on a single USB stick
  • The only differences between the 3.0 for old hardware and the 3.0 for new hardware is:
    • 1 vs 2 disks
    • /etc/fstab has been updated to reflect just one disk
    • The backports iwlwifi drivers have been uninstalled since the old wifi cards don’t work with it.
    • The /etc/smartd.conf file has the entry for /dev/sdb removed.

2.6-3.0

  • File: nta1000-2.6-3.0-1.img
  • Date created: 2014-07-28
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • This simply packages the 2.6 image and the 3.0 image on a single USB stick

3.0

  • File: nta1000-3.0.img
  • Date created: 2014-07-21
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.5
  • kernel-lt-3.10.47-1.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Can only be used on NTA1000 v3 systems
  • User chooses which disk to rebuild (OS or data disk)
  • Dynamic disk size partitioning
  • Creates eth[1-6].cfg files and wlan0 file

2.6

  • File: nta1000-2.6.img
  • Date created: 2014-04-28
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-2.2.img
  • CentOS 6.3
  • kernel-3.3.6-2.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Can be used on NTA1000 v1 or v2
  • Dynamic disk size partitioning
  • Creates eth[1-6].cfg files
  • Identical to 2.5, but the /var/log/messages file has been zeroed out, a few tweaks to the text of the bash scripts and the syslinux.config file, a new remove_usb.sh file was added as ocs_postrun3, the syslinux.cfg file was updated to reflect this, and the /usr/share/nta1000/version file has been updated to contain “2.6”.

2.5

  • File: nta1000-2.5.img
  • Date created: 2014-01-28
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-2.2.img
  • CentOS 6.3
  • kernel-3.3.6-2.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Can be used on NTA1000 v1 or v2
  • Dynamic disk size partitioning
  • Creates eth[1-6].cfg files
  • Identical to 2.4, but prompts the user to resize disk and update ifcfg-* files.

2.4

  • File: nta1000-2.4.img
  • Date created: ???
  • 2,031,091,712 bytes
  • Requires 2GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-2.2.img
  • CentOS 6.3
  • kernel-3.3.6-2.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Can be used on NTA1000 v1 or v2
  • Dynamic disk size partitioning
  • Creates eth[1-6].cfg files

2.3

  • File: nta1000-2.3.img
  • Date created: ???
  • 4,004,511,744 bytes
  • Requires 4GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from nta1000-2.2.img
  • CentOS 6.3
  • kernel-3.3.6-2.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Used to convert NTA1000 (v1) to CentOS.
  • Requires 1 TB hard drive

2.2

  • File: nta1000-2.2.img
  • Date created: ???
  • 16,008,609,792 bytes
  • Requires 16GB (or larger) USB drive
  • Created from CentOS 6.3
  • kernel-3.3.6-2.el6.elrepo.x86_64
  • Requires 2 TB hard drive
  • Used for all NTA1000 v2 shipments to customers
  • Requires CompactFlash to be installed
  • May require PCIE wifi card to be installed