Deployment fails because the ami image does not contain the OS type in /etc/issue

[#1]

Our security standards do not allow the OS type and version to be displayed when a user logons to the system.  That means our AMI images do not have the OS/Version listed in the /etc/issue file (since that file is displayed on logon).  

Cloudera Director fails with the following error because the OS type is not listed in the/etc/issue file:

java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException: Operating system type not supported: UNKNOWN

The standard  RHEL 6.5 ami image's /etc/issue file contains the following (cat /etc/issue):

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 6.5 (Santiago)

So I'm trying to determine a work around so that Cloudera Director can get the OS type another way since it is not listed in our image's /etc/issue file.

So my questions are:

When does Cloudera Director's script read the /etc/issue file?  

Does it read the result of that file as it is displayed when connecting with SSH?  

Or does it read the /etc/issue file after it connects?  

Is there another option to skip the OS check or set something in our bootstrap script (that depends on when the file is read)?

Thanks!

[#2 · Accepted solution]

When does Cloudera Director's script read the /etc/issue file?  Cloudera Director reads the /etc/issue prior to bootstrap script execution and as soon as SSH access to the instance is available. 

Does it read the result of that file as it is displayed when connecting with SSH? No  

Or does it read the /etc/issue file after it connects?  Yes

Is there another option to skip the OS check or set something in our bootstrap script (that depends on when the file is read)?  We are considering smarter OS detection capabilities for future Cloudera Director releases. Unfortunately at the moment Cloudera Director relies on the /etc/issue file. 

Here is a proposal for example Red Hat 6:

Cloudera Director needs at a bare minimum /etc/issue file contain “Red Hat release 6.”. Although this isn’t ideal, it does provide some obfuscation of the exact detailed OS type.

Thanks,

Cagdas