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Old 01-31-2013, 06:48 PM   #1
gdizzle
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Wink Bash Script to generate entropy on a command


Hi all, I am trying to have a script that automates entropy to a given command.

Example command:

corosync-keygen : this command is awaiting input to generate entropy before it can complete.


Command that can generate entropy would be :

ls -R /

Now I am trying to figure out how to put them together in a script or run them SIDE-BY-SIDE, so that when the corosync-keygen command runs then the ls -R command can run in conjunction and generate the entropy needed so the command then completes.

Can anyone please help?

Thanks
 
Old 01-31-2013, 07:18 PM   #2
chrism01
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Use '&' to background the ls cmd?
http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

For lots of random, try
Code:
cat /dev/urandom

Last edited by chrism01; 01-31-2013 at 07:19 PM.
 
Old 01-31-2013, 10:40 PM   #3
gdizzle
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Just an FYI I am running this from a PUTTY SSH session.

Both: cat /dev/urandom & and "ls -R"/ & still print to STD OUT.

ls -R / & : this alone still prints to the screen and does not background.

cat /dev/urandom | corosync-keygen = no luck

cat /dev/urandom & corosync-keygen : this does not run it in the background, even when you add it as to a shell script.

Put this in a shell script tried it no luck


Most luck I have had is with this:

rngd -f -r /dev/urandom > /dev/console & corosync-keygen

watch -n 0.1 cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail : shows the most entropy.

I have a stab and let you know this goes, was hoping there was a way to generate entropy quicker. Might have to resort to dd.
 
Old 02-01-2013, 12:48 AM   #4
chrism01
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Yeah, sorry... even with &, stdout is still at cmd terminal; must have had a brain crash
Code:
cat /dev/urandom >/dev/null &
then run corosync-keygen in the foreground. Remember to kill the cat cmd when done (it'll give you the pid when it starts)
 
Old 02-01-2013, 07:17 AM   #5
jpollard
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None of what you are doing generates good entropy - that can only be generated external to the system. Entropy is built up gradually over time - under the assumption that the time intervals of various system events is truly random.

Trying to rush the entropy accumulation is non-random, and results in poor entropy.
 
Old 02-02-2013, 04:32 PM   #6
gdizzle
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Thanks chrism01 for your help.

Best solution I found for the fastest scripted / generated entropy was:

Code:
while /bin/true; do dd if=/dev/urandom of=/tmp/100 bs=1024 count=100000; for i in {1..10}; do cp /tmp/100 /tmp/tmp_$i_$RANDOM; done; rm -f /tmp/tmp_* /tmp/100; done & /usr/sbin/corosync-keygen
Understood jpollard about good entropy, this was just needed as a scripted example. Thanks for your input.

Last edited by gdizzle; 02-02-2013 at 04:34 PM.
 
  


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