Arista Warrior

Chapter 28. Extending EOS

EOS is the Extensible Operating System, so let’s have some fun and extend it! OK, so my idea of fun is installing extensions into a networking switch. What can I say? I’m living the dream.

Extensions are nothing more than RPMs. For those not familiar with Linux, RPM stands for RPM Package Manager. If that makes you twitch because your fifth grade teacher wouldn’t let you use the word being defined within the definition, you’re not alone. RPM originally stood for Red Hat Package Manager, which is far less likely to offend fifth-grade teacher sensibilities. The reason for the change is that RPMs are used in many more operating systems these days, even if the recursive name gives me hives.

Note

There are more ways to extend EOS than using RPMs. I’ll give a couple of examples at the end of this chapter.

RPMs are packages that usually contain compiled code. Using an RPM is just like downloading a program from the Internet that needs to be unpacked and installed. On a Windows machine, you might download an Installer, while on a Mac you might download a DMG image that contains a PKG package file. The idea is the same. RPMs are just the way Linux handles packages. Since EOS is running on Linux, it’s only natural to use RPMs to add extensions.

So what sort of extensions can be added? If you were a skilled programmer, I’d say that you could add anything you wanted! If you’re like me, looking for existing packages, then it will depend what’s out there. A quick place to ...