Last Updated on: 10th November 2023, 04:59 pm
Web site: midnightcode.org/projects/chaos/
Origin: unknown
Category: Specialist
Desktop environment: CLI
Architecture: x86
Based on: Independent
Wikipedia: CHAOS
Media: Live CD
The last version | Released: 1.6 | 2005
CHAOS – a small, specialist Linux distribution created to make computer clusters, using openMosix.
This project started as tool development work for the IT Security group at Macquarie University in 2003 – a team that included Rob Dartnell, Ian Latter and Ty Miller. The need there was to demonstrate the weakness in one particular application’s security, via its one hashed, network transmitted, password. The openMosix cluster software, at that time, was available via a number of Linux distributions, but these were neither secure nor dynamic enough to support the campus PC environment that the cluster software was to be deployed into.
The CHAOS distribution was created to fill this need, and was developed for almost two years under the GPL to allow the openMosix community members to benefit from the security enhancements employed around the openMosix software (the clustering technology that is added to the Linux kernel). Security improvements made by the team included IPSEC tunnels for all cluster communications, state aware packet filtering for each node, a tiny OS image which allowed for PXE booting to remote PC memory, zero-touch cluster creation, etc.