We currently migrate to MediaWiki from our old installation, but not all content has been migrated yet. Take a look at the Wiki Team page for instructions how to help or browse through our new wiki at wiki.linux-vserver.org to find the information already migrated.

Configuring Linux-VServer

TODO, for now visit [Resource Limits], [Scheduler Parameters]. And never ever visit [http://www.nongnu.org/util-vserver/doc/conf/configuration.html], won't you?

Contents of /etc/vservers

The content of the /etc/vservers directory

TODO:

/etc/vservers/.defaults/apps/vunify

exclude

Static list of excluded files.

pgkmgmt-force

When existing, information from packagemanagement will be used to create dynamic exclude-lists. This option requires that (a known) packagemanagement is configured for the vserver; else the requested operation will fail. Most tools assume 'on' as the default value.

pkgmgmt-ignore

When existing, information from packagemanagement will not be used to create dynamic exclude-lists.

/etc/vservers/.defaults/apps/vunify/hash

A directory which will be used as the storage place for the vhashify command.

id

Points to a directory within the filesystems which are used for the vservers. There must be not more than one of such a directory per filesystem.

method

The used hash method.

/etc/vservers/.defaults/init

mtab

Default mtab file

/etc/vservers/.distributions

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist

apt.conf

The default apt.conf which is going to be used. It overrides the apt.conf from CONFDIR/.defaults/apps/pkgmgmt.

dev

execdir

Directory with all executables and libraries which are required for this distribution.

initpost

Script which will be executed after packages are installed.

initpre

Script which will be executed before packages will be installed.

rpmlib

Directory which overrides /usr/lib/rpm.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/apt

Default content of the /etc/apt/ directory.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/pkgs

Contains files with packagenames.

list

File which contains the name of packages. On top of file the special keywords 'reinstall' and 'can-fail' are possible.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/pubkeys

Directory with GPG pubkeys which are used to sign the packages of this distribution.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/rpm

Default content of the /etc/rpm directory.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/yum

The default, yum-related content of the /etc directory.

yum.conf

The master yum configuration file. It supports the @YUMETCDIR@, @YUMCACHEDIR@ and @YUMLOGDIR@ placeholder which will be replaced at vserver ... build time.

/etc/vservers/.distributions/dist/yum.repos.d

A directory with yum repositories.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name

The configuration directory for the vserver vserver-name.

bcapabilities

[experimental; name is subject of possible change] Contains the system capabilities. See lib/bcaps-v13.c for possible values.

cache

Path of the storage area for cached information about this vserver.

capabilities

Contains per line a capability. This file is used for the 2.4 kernel only; for 2.6 use bcapabilities.

ccapabilities

[experimental; name is subject of possible change] Contains the context capabilities. See lib/ccaps-v13.c for possible values.

context

Contains the context which shall be used for the vserver.

flags

Contains per line a flag. See lib/cflags-v13.c for possible values.

fstab

The fstab file for the vserver. Entries in this file will be mounted within the network context of the host. Use the fstab.remote file when you want that the mounting happens in the network context of the vserver. In most cases the 'fstab' file should be used.

fstab.remote

The fstab file for the vserver. Entries in this file will be mounted within the network context of the host; this means that mount will be called as chbind <options> mount .... See fstab also.

name

Contains the name of the vserver. When not given, the basename of the directory will be assumed as this name.

namespace

Overrides the global nonamespace flag and enables namespace usage for the current vserver.

nice

The nice-level on which the vserver will be started.

nonamespace

Disables namespace usage for the current vserver. In this mode the /vservers directory must have the 'barrier' attribute. Else, common chroot(2) exploits are possible.

personality

Used to set the personality of the vserver. First line in the file is the personality-type followed by flags (one item per line). See /usr/include/linux/personality.h for possible values.

run

Points to a file which will contain the XID of the running vserver. When the vserver is stopped, this can be a dangling symlink.

schedule

[experimental; name is subject of possible change] Contains the scheduler parameters, one per line. The Hard CPU limit uses a mechanism called a Token Bucket. the concept is simple: you have a bucket of a certain size which is filled with a specified amount R of tokens each interval T until the maximum is reached (excess tokens are spilled). At each timer tick, a running process consumes one token from the bucket, unless the bucket is empty. If the bucket is empty the process is put in the hold queue. When the bucket has been refilled to at least M tokens, all on hold processes are rescheduled. See the Linux VServer Wiki for more information about this file.

shell

Contains the pathname of the shell which will be used by the "vserver ... enter" command.

vdir

Path of the vserver root directory

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps/init

cmd.prepare

The command which is used to setup the init-system (e.g. to set the runlevel in the utmp-file). Each option must be on a separate line.

cmd.start

The command which is used to start the vserver. Each option must be on a separate line.

cmd.start-sync

The command which is used to wait on the vserver after it has been started. Each option must be on a separate line. This file will be ignored when the sync flag does not exist and the '--sync' option was not used.

cmd.stop

The command which is used to stop the vserver. Each option must be on a separate line.

cmd.stop-sync

The command which is used to wait on the vserver after it has been stopped. Each option must be on a separate line. This file will be ignored when the sync flag does not exist and the '--sync' option was not used.

depends

This file is used to configure vservers which must be running before the current vserver can be started. At shutdown, the current vserver will be stopped before its dependencies. Content of this file are vserver ids (one name per line).

killseq

Contains the 'signal [wait signal]*' sequence which is used to stop the vserver.

mark

This file is used to mark group of vservers which shall be started/stopped together by the initscript. Content is a simple string like 'default'.

mtab

The initial-mtab which will be used for the vserver.

runlevel

The start runlevel.

runlevel.start

The start runlevel.

runlevel.stop

The stop runlevel.

style

Contains the init-style.

sync

If this file is not present, all 'cmd.*-sync files will be ignored.

tty

A symlink to the TTY device where input/output will be redirected from/to at startup via initscript.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps/vshelper

action

The action which is going to be executed when a vshelper event occurs. The default value is 'restart', but there can be defined own methods by placing scripts into the vshelper-methods directories. These scripts are fed with the same arguments as the vshelper script.

debug

When existing, the vshelper execution will be traced for this vserver.

disabled

When existing, the vshelper functionality will be disabled for this vserver.

event

When existing, these scripts will be executed *instead* of the default handler defined in 'action'. Their name must match the event which caused the execution of vshelper; e.g. 'restart' or 'poweroff'. See the vs_reboot() function in the kernel for more details.

sync-timeout

The timeout in seconds which is used when synchronising vserver startup/shutdown with the vshelper. When no set, 30 seconds will be assumed.

warning-disabled

When existing, sanity checks for the vshelper functionality will be skipped.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps/vshelper-methods

handler

See vshelper/action.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps/vunify

This directory contains configuration data required for vserver unification.

exclude

Static list of files which are excluded for unification. This list supports an rsync-like syntax: when a file is prefixed by '+', it is a candidate for unification; when there is no prefix or a '-' or a '~' it will be excluded. Shell-wildcards are allowed for the filenames.

When used with vcopy, the '~' prefix prevents copying of the file entirely (e.g. for keyfiles). With this tool, the file will be copied instead of hardlinked when the '-' prefix is used.

pgkmgmt-force

When existing, information from packagemanagement will be used to create dynamic exclude-lists. This option requires that (a known) packagemanagement is configured for the vserver; else the requested operation will fail. Most tools assume 'on' as the default value.

pkgmgmt-ignore

When existing, information from packagemanagement will not be used to create dynamic exclude-lists.

refserver.X

These are symlinks to the configuration directory (e.g. CONFDIR/vservers/<id>) of a refserver. There may be multiple such symlinks but they must be prefixed by 'refserver.' and will be processed in alphanumerical order.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/apps/vunify/hash

A directory which will be used as the storage place for the vhashify command.

id

Points to a directory within the filesystems which are used for the vservers. There must be not more than one of such a directory per filesystem.

method

The used hash method.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/dlimits

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/dlimits/dlimit

directory

The directory to which the limit should be applied

inodes_total

The amount of inodes this vserver should be limited to

reserved

How much space (percentage-wise) should be reserved for the root user

space_total

The amount of space this vserver should be limited to (measured in blocks of 1024 bytes)

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/interfaces

bcast

The default broadcast address.

dev

The default network device.

mask

The default network mask.

prefix

The default network prefix-length.

scope

The default scope of the network interfaces.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/interfaces/iface

'iface' is an arbitrary name for the interface; the value itself is not important but may be interesting regarding interface-creation and usage with chbind. Both happens in alphabetical order and numbers like '00' are good names for these directories.

bcast

The broadcast address.

dev

The network device.

disabled

When this file exists, this interface will be ignored.

ip

The ip which will be assigned to this interface.

mask

The network mask.

name

When this file exists, the interface will be named with the text in this file. Without such an entry, the IP will not be shown by ifconfig but by ip addr ls only. Such a labeled interface is known as an "alias" also (e.g. 'eth0:foo').

nodev

When this file exists, the interface will be assumed to exist already. This can be used to assign primary interfaces which are created by the host or another vserver.

novlandev

When this file exists, the steps which setup and destroy a VLAN interface will be skipped. This flag should be set when a VLAN interface is used by multiple vservers or by the host.

prefix

The network prefix-length.

scope

The scope of the network interface.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/rlimits

A directory with resource limits. Possible resources are cpu, fsize, data, stack, core, rss, nproc, nofile, memlock, as and locks. This configuration will be honored for kernel 2.6 only.

resource

A file which contains the hard- and soft-limit of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

resource.hard

A file which contains the hard- of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

resource.min

A file which contains the guaranted minimum of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

resource.soft

A file which contains the soft- of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts

A directory for scripts. By default, when one of these scripts will be executed, the execution of defaultscripts (within .../.defaults/scripts) will be skipped. To execute them nevertheless, the $DONT_SKIP_DEFAULTS environment variable must be set by one of the in-shellcontext scripts (the non-executable ones).

post-start

The scriptlet which will be executed after the vserver has been started. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

post-stop

The scriptlet which will be executed after the vserver has been stopped, but before the directories will be umounted and the the interfaces disabled. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

postpost-stop

The scriptlet which will be executed after the vserver has been stopped completely. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

pre-start

The scriptlet which will be executed after network-interfaces were enabled and the directories mounted, but before the vserver itself has been started. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

pre-stop

The scriptlet which will be executed before the vserver will be stopped. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

prepre-start

The scriptlet which will be executed before the network-interfaces are enabled and the directories are mounted. Before executing the script, the configuration directory will be made the working directory.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/post-start.d

Repository of post-start like scripts. Before executing these scripts, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

script

See post-start.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/post-stop.d

Repository of post-stop like scripts. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

script

See post-stop.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/postpost-stop.d

Repository of postpost-stop like scripts. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

script

See postpost-stop.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/pre-start.d

Repository of pre-start like scripts. Before executing these scripts, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

script

See pre-start.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/pre-stop.d

Repository of pre-stop like scripts. Before executing the script, the vserver root directory will be made the working directory.

script

See pre-stop.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/scripts/prepre-start.d

Repository of prepre-start like scripts. Before executing the script, the configuration directory will be made the working directory.

script

See prepre-start.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/ulimits

A directory with ulimits. Possible resources are cpu, data, fsize, locks, memlock, nofile, nproc, rss and/or stack. This configuration will be honored for kernel 2.4 only.

resource

A file which contains the hard- and soft-limit of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

resource.hard

A file which contains the hard- of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

resource.soft

A file which contains the soft- of the given resource in the first line. The special keyword 'inf' is recognized.

/etc/vservers/vserver-name/uts

context

The context-name of the vserver. This file is listed for completeness only; the 'context' name is used and set internally by the util-vserver tools and can *not* be modified.

domainname

The NIS domainname of the vserver

machine

The machine-type of the vserver

nodename

The node-/hostname of the vserver

release

The OS-release of the vserver

sysname

The sysname of the vserver

version

The OS-version of the vserver

---

This page is part of the VServerManual.