How can I build a kernel module (r1soft-cki) with no internet access?

Question

I have a Linux system on the internal network that has no access to the internet. The R1Soft CDP Agent installer that I downloaded does not contain a module that matches my kernel. How can I build a module for this system without granting access to the Internet to access the R1Soft build servers?

Solution

Later versions of the r1soft-cki binary include an "offline" build feature. You can use the "--tarball-only" flag to generate a header package that can be copied to a computer that does have internet access, and uploaded to our build server at http://krnlbld.r1soft.com

In this example, we use the 'uname' command to help us with the package name:

 
[root@localhost ~]# r1soft-cki --tarball-only cki-pkg-$(uname -r).tar.gz
Gathering kernel information
Gathering kernel information complete.
Creating kernel headers package
Checking '/lib/modules/2.6.9-89.0.19.ELsmp/source/' for kernel headers
Found headers in '/lib/modules/2.6.9-89.0.19.ELsmp/source/'
Compressing...
Header package created 'cki-pkg-2.6.9-89.0.19.ELsmp.tar.gz'
visit https://krnlbld.r1soft.com/ to do an offline module build
After it is complete, you will need to copy the module to /lib/modules/r1soft
 

The URL for the offline build page is noted in the output of the program, as well as advice on where to place the resulting kernel module. In most standard installations the module directory is:

 
/lib/modules/buagent
 

If you're unsure about where to save your new kernel module, this short script will use the agent's configuration file to find the proper path for you:

 
awk '/^ModulesDir/ {print $2}' /etc/buagent/agent_config
 

Once the module is in place, you should be able to simply start the agent!

 
buagentctl start
 

Please contact our technical support team at http://support.r1soft.com if you have any questions!