CentOS 8.x install lxc

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Package installation and creation of test container

To install lxc on CentOS 8.x use:

1. Install required packages:

   sudo dnf install lxc lxc-templates lxc-doc libcgroup-pam libcgroup-tools libcgroup

2. Test by running

   lxc-checkconfig

3. Enable lxc service

   systemctl start lxc
   systemctl enable lxc
   systemctl status lxc

4. Then create network bridge if not created already by referring CentOS 8.x Creating bridge interfaces (br0) for virtual hosts to use shared interface or CentOS 7.x Managing virtual networks using libvirt virsh command
5. Edit '/etc/lxc/default.conf' and update value of 'lxc.network.link' in this file appropriately.
6. Store container files in a different partition then / or /var using CentOS 7.x installing lxc#Get_more_space_for_lxc_containers

   lxc-ls --active
   mkdir /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files
   mkdir /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files/{var_cache_lxc,var_lib_lxc}
   
   mv /var/cache/lxc/* /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files/var_cache_lxc/  #Ignore no-such files error, if printed
   rmdir /var/cache/lxc
   ln -s /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files/var_cache_lxc/ /var/cache/lxc
   
   mv /var/lib/lxc/* /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files/var_lib_lxc/    #Ignore no such fies error, if printed
   rmdir /var/lib/lxc
   ln -s /mnt/data1/large_files/lxc-files/var_lib_lxc/ /var/lib/lxc
   lxc-ls

7. Download lxc-template for centos 8

   lxc-create -t download -n lxc1
   centos  ##Enter as input for Distribution
   8       ##Enter as input for Release
   amd64   ##Enter as input for architecture

   You can see help of download template using 'lxc-create -t download -h'. Based on the help output download template supports options -d for Distribution, -r for Revision and -a for Architecture. Thus, we can also create centos-8-amd64 container using:

   lxc-create -n test1 -t download -- -d centos -r 8 -a amd64

   This can actually be faster as image index does not needs to be downloaded and printed

8. Run the container and see that it is working as expected

   ##Validate container is not running
   lxc-ls -f
   
   ##Set container root password
   chroot /var/lib/lxc/lxc1/rootfs/
   passwd
   exit
   
   #Start container and install openssh to connect remotely
   lxc-start -n lxc1 -d
   lxc-ls -f
   lxc-console -n lxc1 -t 0
   ## Login with root user and password set in previous steps
   yum -y install openssh-server
   systemctl start sshd
   systemctl enable sshd
   systemctl status sshd
   #Exit lxc-console with "Ctrl-a q" shortcut

9. Get container IP address using 'lxc-ls -f'
10. ssh to container as root and test

Refer:

• https://www.redhat.com/sysadmin/exploring-containers-lxc
• https://askubuntu.com/questions/640208/lxc-create-bad-template-download

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