How to install and setup LXC Containers (OpenVZ alternative) on Centos 6 / 7

If you don't aleady have it, you'll need EPEL

Install LXC

yum -y install lxc lxc-templates Loaded plugins: fastestmirror Setting up Install Process Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile * base: mirror.it.ubc.ca * epel: mirrors.kernel.org * extras: mirror.it.ubc.ca * updates: mirror.it.ubc.ca Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package lxc.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: lua-lxc(x86-64) = 1.0.11-1.el6 for package: lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: lua-alt-getopt for package: lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: liblxc.so.1()(64bit) for package: lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package lua-alt-getopt.noarch 0:0.7.0-1.el6 will be installed ---> Package lua-lxc.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 will be installed --> Processing Dependency: lua-filesystem for package: lua-lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 ---> Package lxc-libs.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 will be installed --> Running transaction check ---> Package lua-filesystem.x86_64 0:1.4.2-1.el6 will be installed --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ======================================================================================================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size ======================================================================================================================================================================== Installing: lxc x86_64 1.0.11-1.el6 epel 124 k Installing for dependencies: lua-alt-getopt noarch 0.7.0-1.el6 epel 6.9 k lua-filesystem x86_64 1.4.2-1.el6 epel 24 k lua-lxc x86_64 1.0.11-1.el6 epel 16 k lxc-libs x86_64 1.0.11-1.el6 epel 257 k Transaction Summary ======================================================================================================================================================================== Install 5 Package(s) Total download size: 429 k Installed size: 953 k Downloading Packages: (1/5): lua-alt-getopt-0.7.0-1.el6.noarch.rpm | 6.9 kB 00:00 (2/5): lua-filesystem-1.4.2-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | 24 kB 00:00 (3/5): lua-lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | 16 kB 00:00 (4/5): lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | 124 kB 00:00 (5/5): lxc-libs-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | 257 kB 00:00 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Total 554 kB/s | 429 kB 00:00 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing : lxc-libs-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 1/5 Installing : lua-filesystem-1.4.2-1.el6.x86_64 2/5 Installing : lua-lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 3/5 Installing : lua-alt-getopt-0.7.0-1.el6.noarch 4/5 Installing : lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 5/5 Verifying : lua-alt-getopt-0.7.0-1.el6.noarch 1/5 Verifying : lxc-libs-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 2/5 Verifying : lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 3/5 Verifying : lua-filesystem-1.4.2-1.el6.x86_64 4/5 Verifying : lua-lxc-1.0.11-1.el6.x86_64 5/5 Installed: lxc.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 Dependency Installed: lua-alt-getopt.noarch 0:0.7.0-1.el6 lua-filesystem.x86_64 0:1.4.2-1.el6 lua-lxc.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 lxc-libs.x86_64 0:1.0.11-1.el6 Complete!

Create your first container!

Let's check the available templates first:

ls /usr/share/lxc/templates/ lxc-altlinux lxc-busybox lxc-cirros lxc-download lxc-gentoo lxc-opensuse lxc-plamo lxc-ubuntu lxc-alpine lxc-archlinux lxc-centos lxc-debian lxc-fedora lxc-openmandriva lxc-oracle lxc-sshd lxc-ubuntu-cloud

We use the lxc-create command, the relevant parts below are as follows:

-n = the name of the container

-t = template type (so if we see lxc-debian) we would type "debian"

-r = release (in Debian there is wheezy, sid, stretch etc..) that correspond to specific versions

-a = architecture (most commonly amd64 for 64bit or i386 for 386)

-p = the path this is optional but if you want it somewhere else like /mnt/sdb1 you would use this flag

lxc-create -n realtechtalk.com -t debian -- -r stretch -a amd64 /usr/share/lxc/templates/lxc-debian: line 574: type: debootstrap: not found 'debootstrap' command is missing lxc_container: lxccontainer.c: create_run_template: 1092 container creation template for mywheezy failed lxc_container: lxc_create.c: main: 274 Error creating container mywheezy -bash-4.1# lxc-create -n realtechtalk.com -t debian -- -r stretch -a amd64 /usr/share/lxc/templates/lxc-debian: line 574: type: debootstrap: not found 'debootstrap' command is missing lxc_container: lxccontainer.c: create_run_template: 1092 container creation template for realtechtalk.com failed lxc_container: lxc_create.c: main: 274 Error creating container realtechtalk.com

Oops, we have a debootstrap missing command error. For Debian machines we need debootstrap:

yum -y install debootstap

Try again:

lxc-create -n realtechtalk.com -t debian -- -r stretch -a amd64 -p /mnt/sdb1/ debootstrap is /usr/sbin/debootstrap Checking cache download in /var/cache/lxc/debian/rootfs-stretch-amd64 ... gpg: key 2B90D010: "Debian Archive Automatic Signing Key (8/jessie) <ftpmaster@debian.org>" not changed gpg: Total number processed: 1 gpg: unchanged: 1 Downloading debian minimal ... I: Retrieving InRelease I: Retrieving Release I: Retrieving Release.gpg I: Checking Release signature I: Valid Release signature (key id 126C0D24BD8A2942CC7DF8AC7638D0442B90D010) I: Retrieving Packages I: Validating Packages I: Resolving dependencies of required packages... I: Resolving dependencies of base packages... I: Checking component main on http://deb.debian.org/debian... ^[[6~ I: Retrieving libacl1 2.2.52-3+b1 I: Validating libacl1 2.2.52-3+b1 I: Retrieving adduser 3.115 I: Validating adduser 3.115 I: Retrieving libapparmor1 2.11.0-3+deb9u2...........