Simple tool to create Debian LXC containers.
It performs the following operations :
- Creates LVM logical volume and filesystem for the container
- Adds entry to
/etc/fstaband mounts container's filesystem - Installs Debian using debootstrap (with cache to speed up the process)
- Configures networking inside container
- Disables a set of harmful/unused features for a container
- Allows host SSH key to connect to the container's root account
- Creates LXC configuration file
- Starts the container
This tool is compatible with Debian 6.0 and 7.0, as a LXC host or container.
LVM volume group with enough capacity to store the containers.
A linux bridge interface whose IP address serves as network gateway for the containers.
Example entry in /etc/network/interfaces :
auto br0
iface br0 inet static
bridge_ports none
address 10.42.0.254
netmask 255.255.255.0
These Debian packages must be installed :
lxcdebootstrap
Get the lxc-debootstrap script.
Create configuration directory :
mkdir /etc/lxc-debootstrap /etc/lxc-debootstrap/containers
Overwrite global variables in /etc/lxc-debootstrap/config if necessary.
See Configuration section below for a full list.
Example (/etc/lxc-debootstrap/config) :
DEBIAN_SUITE="wheezy" LXC_PATH="/var/lib/lxc" BRIDGE_INTERFACE="br0" NETMASK="255.255.255.0" GATEWAY="10.42.0.254" DOMAIN="example.com"
Create container-specific configuration file for an example container example1.
Example (/etc/lxc-debootstrap/containers/example1) :
IPADDR=10.42.0.29 HWADDR=42:00:00:00:00:29 DISKSIZE=5G
As root, execute lxc-debootstrap :
# ./lxc-debootstrap example1 Container parameters -------------------- lxc_name example1 debian_suite wheezy debian_arch amd64 lvm_disksize 5G lvm_volpath /dev/mapper/lxc-example1 net_ipaddr 10.42.0.29 net_gateway 10.42.0.254 net_hwaddr 42:00:00:00:00:29 lxc_rootfs /var/lib/lxc/example1/rootfs lxc_config /var/lib/lxc/example1/config Create ? y debootstrap cache dir already exists creating logical volume /dev/mapper/lxc-example1 creating filesystem on /dev/mapper/lxc-example1 creating root directory /var/lib/lxc/example1 adding entry in /etc/fstab mount /dev/mapper/lxc-example1 on /var/lib/lxc/example1 using fstab populating /var/lib/lxc/example1/rootfs networking : setting hostname networking : setting DNS resolver networking : setting IP configuration networking : creating hosts file disabling useless tty remove pointless services in a container disabling root password adding SSH keys setting APT configuration updating packages creating configuration file /var/lib/lxc/example1/config starting container with lxc-start Done.
Now, connect to the container using SSH :
# ssh 10.42.0.29 The authenticity of host '10.42.0.29 (10.42.0.29)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is 35:1a:b5:4e:32:c5:0d:4b:34:b1:fe:05:45:b8:30:3a. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added '10.42.0.29' (RSA) to the list of known hosts. Linux example1 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Sun Sep 23 10:07:46 UTC 2012 x86_64 The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software; the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright. Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law. -bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.utf8) root@example1:~#
Main configuration file is /etc/lxc-deboostrap/config. Per-container
configuration files are /etc/lxc-deboostrap/containers/CONTAINER_NAME.
Configuration can be also in current directory where you execute the lxc-debootstrap command.
Global one overrides local one, to avoid conflicts on same name.
They overwrite default values (see table below).
Configuration file format is shell script (directly sourced during script initialization). Variables are defined with KEY=VALUE pairs. Lines can be commented using # at the beggining of lines.
Each container MUST have these variables defined :
DISKSIZEIPADDRUSE_LVM
Here is a description of all configuration variables :
And their default values :
| Variable | Default value |
|---|---|
| IPADDR | Mandatory, no default value |
| USE_LVM | Mandatory, values are 0 or 1 |
| DISKSIZE | Mandatory if USE_LVM is set, no default value |
| HWADDR | Computed starting from IP address |
| LXC_VG_NAME | lxc |
| LXC_PATH | /var/lib/lxc |
| DEBIAN_MIRROR | http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ |
| DEBIAN_SUITE | Same as host (e.g. squeeze or wheezy) |
| DEBIAN_ARCH | Same as host (e.g. amd64 or i386) |
| DOMAIN | None |
| NETMASK | 255.255.255.0 |
| GATEWAY | 10.42.0.254 |
| BRIDGE_IF | lxcbr0 |
| DNS_RESOLVER | 10.42.0.254 |
| SSH_PUBFILE | /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub |
| CACHE_ROOT | /var/cache/lxc-debootstrap |
| FSTYPE | ext4 |
Q : Can I install additional packages using deboostrap --include option ?
A : No, it could break the debootstrap cache
- Check executed as root
- Check lxc_name is short
- Check directories do not exist
- Check DISKSIZE, IPADDR, HWADDR are defined, and only container-defined
- Option to force yes
- Option to build all containers
- Option to rebuild/update the debootstrap cache
- Option to remove container
- Source post-hook scripts in /etc/lxc-debootstrap/post.d/
- Auto-detect values of NETMASK, GATEWAY, DNS using bridge configuration
Copyright 2013 Thomas Martin [email protected]
Copyright 2013 Luca Lorenzetto [email protected]
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.