Vnx-rootfslxcdebian

How to create a LXC Debian root filesystem for VNX

DRAFT, DRAFT, DRAFT...not finished yet

Basic installation

Follow this procedure to create a LXC Debian based root filesystem for VNX. The procedure has been tested creating a Debian 7 over an Ubuntu 13.10 host.

• Create the rootfs with:

lxc-create -t ubuntu -n vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10

Note1: Change "ubuntu" by "debian" in case you want to create a Debian rootfs. The default username/password is ubuntu/ubuntu.
Note2: use linux32 command to create a 32 bits image from a 64 bits machine, that is:

linux32 lxc-create -t debian -n vnx_rootfs_lxc_debian

• Move the rootfs to VNX filesystems directory:

mv /var/lib/lxc/vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10/ /usr/share/vnx/filesystems/

• Edit the rootfs configuration file (/usr/share/vnx/filesystems/vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10-v025/config) to reflect the directory change:

lxc.rootfs = /usr/share/vnx/filesystems/vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10/rootfs
lxc.mount  = /usr/share/vnx/filesystems/vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10/fstab

• Start the new rootfs to configure it and install new software:

lxc-start -n vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10-v025 -f /usr/share/vnx/filesystems/vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10/config

• Once the VM has started, make login (ubuntu/ubuntu) and:
• Add VNX user and change the passwords:

sudo adduser vnx
sudo adduser vnx sudo
sudo passwd root

• Update the system:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

• And install additional software, for example (list taken from here):

apt-get --no-install-recommends install -y adduser apt-utils iproute netbase sudo iputils-ping iptables rsyslog
apt-get install --no-install-recommends openssh-blacklist openssh-blacklist-extra openssh-server 
apt-get install net-tools ifupdown sockstat
apt-get install wget less lsof screen apt-utils nano telnet inetutils-ping psmisc
apt-get install aptsh traceroute nmap apache2 wget tcpdump

• Change VM name in hosts and hostname files:

sudo vi /etc/hosts         # change name to vnx
sudo vi /etc/hostname      #     "

• Important: edit /etc/network/interfaces and coment "inet dhcp" lines to avoid delays at startup. Besides, edit /etc/init/failsafe.conf and change all "sleep XX" commands to "sleep 1".
• Stop the VM with:

halt

• Optionally, create a short link to the rootfs:

cd /usr/share/vnx/filesystems
ln -s vnx_rootfs_lxc_ubuntu-13.10 rootfs_lxc