Cloud simulation or validation system allows for the simulation of a future node that may be deployed on a piece of hardware. The system may attempt to simulate the operating system for node-A on top of the hardware for node-A, including basic network connectivity. When a host is booted up with the simulated configuration, validation scripts may be run to verify that the site is correctly prepped for cloud deployment. With its pre-staged RAM-based OS temporarily loaded into the host's RAM memory, any set of OS-based scripts, tools or binaries, may be executed for simulation and validation based upon the intended role of the host onto which the cloud simulation or validation system configuration is loaded.