[Q] What is your favorite Network Tools Live CD / USB, which you could have running in remote offices?

Thu Aug 22 18:58:33 UTC 2013

On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 1:06 PM, Stefan <netfortius at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've been toying with Live distros (CD, then USB) for many years, in
> support of security toolsets, to which I kept adding my own stuff, or
> customizing existing components.
>
> I am now trying to "build" a network toolset LiveCD/USB, but this time with
> a completely different purpose: I would like to put it in the hands of all
> remote offices we have on our network, and use it to have local systems
> boot out of it, and help us then run troubleshooting tools, from the
> central office, by SSH/X-ing into the remote live system (e.g. iperf,
> hping3, httping, tcping, mtr, tcpdump, voip tools, some "thin"
> clients/apps, synthetic transactions scripted to run at diff time
> intervals, and report back to us the "health" seen form the remotes, etc.).
> Has anybody used a "base" network tools Live CD/USB that they would
> recommend, having used as "basis" for such a "network probe" functionality?
>
> NOTE: I assume *nix based (Linux or BSD flavors), not Windows ...
>
> TIA,
> ***Stefan
>

I use Voyage Linux: http://linux.voyage.hk/

In several modes:

 - Bootable USB flash drive

 - On PC Engines ALIX boards from Compact Flash

 - And in a few instances on servers with spinning disks, and desktop with
minimal window system

The bootable USB stick has been used extensively for iperf + tcpdump +
analysis from PCs are remote locations. We either have people copy an image
to the USB stick, or mail them a stick. Then they can turn (almost) any PC
into a network analysis tool. We have the system report it's IP address at
boot time, and then we ssh in.

Jon