History of VServer installation Fedora Core 4

Note: If you didn't want a VServer installation guide to Fedora Core 4, maybe you were searching for a guide like this: [The Perfect Setup - Fedora Core 4]

This guide is aimed to assist you in a plain and basic installation "from scratch" to a running VServer enabled host system with also one installed basic guest system. It is assumed that you have basic knowledge of Linux administration and Fedora 4.

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== [[Anchor Page_Index]] Page Index / Contents ==

* [pre-requisites]

* [1. installing the host system]

* [2. Installing a vserver enabled kernel]

** [2.A Installing the kernel from source]

** [2.A Alternative: Installing the kernel from Experimental source]

** [2.B Installing the host kernel from rpm]

* [3. Installing the vserver utilities on the host system]

** [3.A Installing the vserver utilities from source]

** [3.A Alternative: Installing the vserver utilities from Experimental source]

** [3.B Installing the vserver utilities from rpm]

* [4. Final host configuration]

* [5. Build your first guest system]

* [6. Things you might want to consider / remember] IMPORTANT!

* [7. Configure your (first) guest system]

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=== [[Anchor pre-requisites]] What you need: ===

* The Fedora Core installation CDs (you can get a list of mirrors from the [fedora website])

* a bit of clue in server administration (to avoid another bot system in the net)

* working internet access (of course) to download remaining stuff

* enough time to work through this guide (and probably enough coffee and pizza ;-) )

=== What you don't need: ===

* Money (this guide is based on free available soures; [donations] to the developers are appreciated though)

* paid support tickets (they won't assist you - better look on the [Mailing List] or on the IRC channel)

[Page Index]

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== Okay, let's start: ==

=== [[Anchor g1]] 1. installing the host system ===

* boot from the FC4 CD and install a basic system (e.g. custom and "minimal" plus development tools; main services should always run on the guest system)

** Hint: It usually makes sense to create a '/vservers' partition to contain the guest systems - if you need more space, you can easily move that partition to a new, larger disc and prevent long downtimes

* IMPORTANT: SElinux must be deactivated (unless you know exactly what you're doing!)

**/etc/selinux/config

<code>

SELINUX=disabled

</code>

* log into the installed system and upgrade it to the latest updates

** Hint: You may want to exclude kernel updates in your update repo to prevent unnecessary download of kernels as shown in [Step 2] below.

<code>

yum -y upgrade

</code>

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=== [[Anchor g2]] 2. Installing a vserver enabled kernel ===

* IMPORTANT: There are two methods of installing a vserver kernel on Fedora Core 4: [from source] and [from precompiled RPM]. Use one or the other. Do not use both. Recommended variant is [from RPM], this is proven, stable and contains latest tested releases.

* You should make sure that Fedora Core kernels don't take precedence over the vserver kernels, do this by adding exclude=kernel to /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo. It might look something like this when you're done:

** /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo:

<code>

[updates-released]

name=Fedora Core $releasever - $basearch - Released Updates

#baseurl=http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/$releasever/$basearch/

mirrorlist=http://fedora.redhat.com/download/mirrors/updates-released-fc$releasever

enabled=1

gpgcheck=1

gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora

exclude=kernel kernel-smp

</code>

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==== [[Anchor g2A]] A. Installing the kernel from source ====

* download the relevant ['vanilla' kernel source] used by the recent [stable release]

** example (use your preferred mirror instead):

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget ftp://ftp.probe-networks.lkams.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.14.3.tar.bz2

tar xjf linux-2.6.14.3.tar.bz2

</code>

* download the kernel-patch from the latest [stable release] and apply it:

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget http://www.13thfloor.at/vserver/s_rel26/v2.01/patch-2.6.14.3-vs2.01.diff.bz2

bzip2 -d patch-2.6.14.3-vs2.01.diff.bz2

cd linux-2.6.14.3

patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.14.3-vs2.01.diff

</code>

* copy the latest config from your /boot directory to the kernel source tree and configure your VServer options:

** example:

<code>

cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.14.3

cp /boot/config-`uname -r`.config .config

make menuconfig

</code>

*** Enable the Legacy Kernel API option in the kernel config (Section "Linux VServer")

*** If you are using an x86_64 system do not forget to enable the IA32 emulation (Section "Executable file formats / Emulations") if you want to use 32bit guests on your system!

*** exit and save configuration

* build your new kernel and install it

** example (IMPORTANT: you have to use your relating boot loader/boot manager installation!):

<code>

make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install && make install

</code>

** (you may want to take a cup of coffee and/or a pizza while this is running, depending on your hardware)

** important note: You may want to activate your VServer kernel in /boot/grub/grub.conf as your default kernel so that it's loaded on reboot by default. To do this, just change the default=N to point to your VServer entry (starting with first entry beeing default=0; just count down then)

* reboot your system and continue with [step 3].

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==== [[Anchor g2Aexp]] A. Alternative: Installing the kernel from Experimental source ====

* you may use a later kernel with [Experimental release candidates] (still considered to be stable) as well, as often recommended by Herbert Poetzl on the mailing list

** alternative steps for [above] (also use your preferred mirror instead):

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget ftp://ftp.probe-networks.lkams.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.16.20.tar.bz2

tar xjf linux-2.6.16.20.tar.bz2

wget http://vserver.13thfloor.at/Experimental/patch-2.6.16.20-vs2.0.2-rc22.diff

cd linux-2.6.16.20

patch -p1 < ../patch-2.6.16.20-vs2.0.2-rc22.diff

cp /boot/config-`uname -r`.config .config

make menuconfig

</code>

** configure and install your kernel as [above]

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==== [[Anchor g2B]] B. Installing the host kernel from rpm ====

* Daniel Hokka Zakrisson has provided rpms for both the vserver-kernel and util-vserver software. To activate his repository of software add the following file to your /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory:

** dhozac.repo:

<code>

[dhozac-vserver]

name=Daniel Hokka Zakrisson's packages for Fedora $releasever - $basearch - vserver

baseurl=http://rpm.hozac.com/dhozac/fedora/$releasever/vserver/$basearch

http://muh.at/dhozac/fedora/$releasever/vserver/$basearch

gpgkey=http://rpm.hozac.com/fedora/conf/keys/RPM-DHOZAC-GPG-KEY

enabled=1

</code>

*Once the repository is added issue the following command to install the vserver kernel.

**For Single processor systems

<code>

yum install kernel

</code>

**Or for SMP systems

<code>

yum install kernel-smp

</code>

*reboot your system and continue with [step 3].

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=== [[Anchor g3]] 3. Installing the vserver utilities on the host system ===

*IMPORTANT: Like the vserver kernel, util-vserver can be installed either [from source] or [from precompiled RPM]. The use of both *will* result in problems, so choose only one or the other!

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==== [[Anchor g3A]] A. Installing the vserver utilities from source ====

* download the latest util-vserver alpha release and (if applicable) also the latest patch from the latest [stable release] and apply the patch (if applicable)

** example:

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget http://www.13thfloor.at/vserver/s_rel26/v2.01/util-vserver-0.30.209.tar.bz2

tar xjf util-vserver-0.30.209.tar.bz2

</code>

** IMPORTANT: At this point, make sure you have installed dietlibc and beecrypt/-devel by using:

<code>

yum install -y dietlibc beecrypt-devel

</code>

* build and install the util-vserver tools

** example (installing tools in /lib and /sbin and also /etc/init.d):

<code>

cd /usr/src/util-vserver-0.30.209

./configure prefix= sysconfdir=/etc

make && make install && make install-distribution

</code>

Now continue with [step 4]

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==== [[Anchor g3Aexp]] A. Alternative: Installing the vserver utilities from Experimental source ====

* Same as with the kernel, from time to time there are [releases of new utilities] still considered beeing stable, but not yet linked to the "official" release.

** alternative steps for [above]:

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget http://www.13thfloor.at/~ensc/util-vserver/files/alpha/util-vserver-0.30.210.tar.bz2

tar xjf util-vserver-0.30.210.tar.bz2

</code>

** IMPORTANT: At this point, make sure you have installed dietlibc and beecrypt/-devel by using:

<code>

yum install -y dietlibc beecrypt-devel

</code>

* build and install the util-vserver tools

** example (installing tools in /lib and /sbin and also /etc/init.d):

<code>

cd /usr/src/util-vserver-0.30.210

./configure prefix= sysconfdir=/etc

make && make install && make install-distribution

</code>

Now continue with [step 4]

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==== [[Anchor g3B]] B. Installing the vserver utilities system from rpm ====

* Issue the following command to install the vserver utils (assuming you have enabled Daniel Hokka Zakrisson's repo as mentioned [above]).

<code>

yum install util-vserver*

</code>

Now continue with [step 4]

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=== [[Anchor g4]] 4. Final host configuration ===

* Note: This section is not necessary if you used the RPMs above. In that case continue with [step 5]

* You now have the VServer kernel and utils installed, you are almost ready to create your first VServer, but first we must prepare the host.

* test the installed kernel to see if it is operational

** Note: we used the [testme.sh] script from Herbert to test the system

** example:

<code>

cd /usr/src

wget http://vserver.13thfloor.at/Stuff/SCRIPT/testme.sh

chmod 700 testme.sh;./testme.sh

</code>

** Hint: If the above test fails, first check that /sbin/ is in your path - it probably won't be if you did change to root using su rather than su - !

* replace the FC4 yum with a patched version

** FC4's yum does not work with chroot system correctly, so we must replace it. I [1] have applied the patch to the actual 2.4.1-1 rpm package and linked this for public use in the FC4 patched rpm's section.

** Installation example:

<code>

rpm -U http://muh.at/rpm/yum-2.4.1-1.chroot.fc4.noarch.rpm

</code>

* Start /etc/init.d/vprocunhide and add it to boot scripts:

** Read Proc-Security for more information about this issue

<code>

/etc/init.d/vprocunhide start

chkconfig --add vprocunhide

chkconfig vprocunhide on

</code>

* Note: if you installed the util-vserver support programs from sources without using "prefix=" (no path), you will need to copy the vprocunhide script from <prefix>/etc/init.d to /etc/init.d so that it can be started by the Fedora boot process (if <prefix> is not set, it defaults to /usr/local).

* Set the "barrier" attribute to the "/vservers" directory:

**Further information can be found on the alpha util-vserver page at "2.4 to 2.6 transition"

<code>

setattr --barrier /vservers

</code>

Copy the PGP keys to the distribution directory of the utils (otherwise they will not be found on guest build time)

* Hint: If you used another prefix for utils, add accordingly to the path

<code>

mkdir /lib/util-vserver/distributions/fc4/pubkeys/

cp /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/* /lib/util-vserver/distributions/fc4/pubkeys/

</code>

Now your FC4-vs2.0 host is ready to go.

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=== [[Anchor g5]] 5. Build your first guest system ===

* IMPORTANT: It is wise to prepare your vserver build command "on paper" before rushing ahead as a rebuild will take several minutes. For a list and description of all vserver build options read the output of vserver XXX build --help

* Set up your vserver using your prepared command. It should look similar to the following.

** example:

<code>

vserver gast build -m yum hostname=gast.example interface gast0=eth0:192.168.0.1/24 -- -d fc4

</code>

* To install further packages to the guest from the host use vyum <vservername> -- install <package> if you chose not to internalize package management. If you are using internal package management you must use yum install <package> from within the guest system (see [step 6]).

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=== [[Anchor g6]] 6. Things you might want to consider / remember ===

* IMPORTANT: Before you can use the yum (or the apt) command from within a guest you must activate internal package management as shown below. If you only want a managed guest, do not install yum on the guest and do not activate internal package management!

<code>

# to enable unmanaged guest

vyum gast -- install yum

vserver gast pkgmgmt internalize

</code>

* Probably helpful and/or necessary rpm packages to install into each guest:

** yum (if you want internal package management / unmanaged guests)

** openssh-server (if you want to have remote shell access)

** rootfiles (always good if you want to use "root" usage)

** vim-minimal (or any other editor you might like to edit any text file, e.g. joe, nano)

** passwd (otherwise you will not be able to change your passwords)

** system-config-date (if you want to easily set a timezone for the guest)

** which (always helpful)

** vixie-cron, crontabs (to have a working crond/crontabs)

** sendmail or postfix (to have a mailsystem as well, you may use any preferred mailer)

** xinetd (if you want rpc services)

** pure-ftpd (if you want to run a ftp-server which may take user's from a database; look into FC4 patched rpm's page for a working guest version)

* Caution: On FC4 Guests, due to the "audit" package, pam authentication (also used with openssh) enables "pam_loginuid.so" in the /etc/pam.d/* files. Comment those out as they are not necessary and will not load within a guest anyway. This probably is also necessary on updates later on, if the configs get changed. You therefore may add the following command line to a cronjob file or your software update script:

<code>

/bin/sed --in-place -e "s/^session.*required.*pam_loginuid.so/# session\trequired\tpam_loginuid.so/g" /etc/pam.d/*

</code>

* After you've installed and configured your services within the guest OS it's always a good idea (i.e it is necessary!) to ensure that each server instance binds only to its relating ip(s) to avoid annoying IP conflict.

* If you want your new guest to start on host bootup, add a one-line tag to /etc/vservers/<vserver-name>/apps/init/mark. All marked vservers will be activated with a corresponding a /etc/init.d/vservers-<tag> script (usually just a copied and renamed /etc/init.d/vservers-default)

** example:

<code>

echo default >/etc/vservers/gast/apps/init/mark

chkconfig add vservers-default

chkconfig vservers-default on

</code>

* If you want to save a huge amount of space on not needed packages within a guest (e.g. kernel) it is recommended to replace them with the following fake packages:

** Note: If you used the RPM version of util-vserver, this is already the default. Continue with [step 7]

** Those three packages save around 50 MB of space on a fresh built FC4 guest - and even more on a fully configured one, as relating sub-dependancies are not required any more as well!

** Credits for those packages go to [The CRU APT Repository]

** Important: Download to and install the following three packages from the host system only! Therefore use external package management for this step!

<code>

wget http://naturidentisch.de/packages/fc4-vps/vps-dev/vps-dev-3.999-3.cru.noarch.rpm

wget http://naturidentisch.de/packages/fc4-vps/vps-fakekernel/vps-fakekernel-2.6.999-2.cru.noarch.rpm

wget http://naturidentisch.de/packages/fc4-vps/vps-fakepackages/vps-fakepackages-1.0-5.cru.noarch.rpm

vrpm gast -- -Uhv vps-{dev,fakekernel,fakepackages}-*

</code>

*** [The CRU APT Repository] also supplies a repo for those three, as well as an vps-sysv and a vps-pam package. Those have not yet been tested - if you did, replace this line with your experiences and drop a note to the mailing list!

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=== [[Anchor g7]] 7. Configure your (first) guest system ===

* You can now "boot" into the system.

** example:

<code>

vserver gast start

vserver gast enter

</code>

*You are now booted into your brand new VServer. A few things need to be set up before you can get going however

*Create a shadow file within the guest and check it for errors:

<code>

pwconv

pwck

</code>

*Set a root password.

<code>

passwd root

</code>

* Add a valid nameserver into /etc/resolv.conf so that the guest can use one

** example: /etc/resolv.conf:

<code>

nameserver 192.168.0.1

</code>

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If you want some special procedure described on this page (which should be of public interest), either add yourself (you're welcome) or [mail to the autor]. Please do NOT mail the author for any support purposes, use the mailing list or IRC channel instead!

For further issues like more fine-grained configuration etc. please read through the further documentation on this site.