START VSERVER INSTALL

This helper copies directly from this webpage: http://wiki.linux-vserver.org/Installation_on_Fedora

Make sure selinux is disabled (or permissive mode?).
(Unless you really know what you are doing.)

Install vserver utilities. See installed files at the bottom of the page

yum install util-vserver{-core,-lib,,-sysv,-build}

Note: the ",," above is not a typo.

Make a new repo for vserver and yum. The dhorac repo contains a yum which is patched to work with vserver.

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/dhorac-vserver.repo

[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

Modify fedora-update.repo so yum will not update the kernel and yum.

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo

Add this line in the "[updates]" section:

exclude=kernel kernel-smp yum

Find your existing kernel.

uname -a

Remove your existing kernel.

KERNEL=kernel-`uname -r`
yum remove $KERNEL

Install the vserver kernel, which will use the new dhozac repo.

yum install kernel[-smp]

Reboot

/sbin/init 6

When your machine reboots check to make sure the kernel loaded.

uname -a

You should see something like: 2.6.18-1.2255.fc5.vs2.0.2.2.0.rc9.
The important bit is "fc5.vs2"

Install chroot Yum

yum update yum

Check your yum log that the download packages are there

tail /var/log/yum.log

Build a vserver

For more on all the build options.

vserver build build --help

Here is a bash script you can use to create a vserver. By default vserver installs guests into /vservers.

#!/bin/bash

HOSTNAME="leap"
VSERVER=$HOSTNAME
IP="eth0:192.168.3.210/24"
INTERFACE="leap0"
CONTEXT="43"
DIST="fc5"
PM="yum" 


#Context possibly has something to do with unique UIDs in the kernel.
#This will use defaults: 
#/vservers for rootdir 
#/vservers/.pkg for pkbase 
#use --rootdir directory --pkgbase directory to change them
#/vservers directory is made when vserver is installed

#To test, echo the output first
/usr/sbin/vserver $VSERVER build -m $PM --context $CONTEXT \
 --hostname=$HOSTNAME --interface $INTERFACE=$IP -- -d $DIST

#EOF

Yum will download packages for the guest vserver.

When yum finishes it may outputs a warning, possibly the script is broken, but the install seems successful

/usr/lib/util-vserver/distributions/fc6/initpost: line 105:  3587 Killed
$_VSERVER "$vserver" exec bash -c ': >/tmp/startwait' >&/dev/null

Guest Vserver should be working

vserver leap start
vserver leap status
vserver leap enter

Once inside the leap vserver guest "Ctrl + D" will exit the guest.

vserver leap status
vserver leap stop

Managed or Unmanaged Guest

Use vyum (a chroot yum) for "Managed Guest" package management. The base server will update the guest (vserver). Unless enabled the guest will not be able to use yum for package management. If the only access a client has to the guest is by way of ssh then the client will not be able to install software.

The web page this helper references says "the vserver should be stopped for these vyum steps". I would guess because there may be activity happening on the guest. I was able to install using vyum without turning the vserver guest off. Prudence says turn the vserver guest off (better safe than sorry).

vyum leap -- install openssh-server

vyum leap -- install passwd

vyum leap -- install vim-minimal

Now setup your shadow passwd file, check its integrity and set root passwd.

pwconv

pwck

passwd root

Set the nameserver by modifying resolv.conf

echo "nameserver 192.168.3.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf
ping www.leap-cf.org

Set the timezone file.

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST /etc/localtime

Set sshd to listen to its ip.

 vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
ListenAddress the.vserver.guest.ip

Start sshd on the vserver guest

/etc/init.d/sshd start

More Host Setup

Turn on Vserver daemon. Make sure you are in the host and not the guest.

chkconfig --level 2345  vservers-default on

Have the vserver guest start at host boot up

echo "default" > /etc/vservers/leap/apps/init/mark

Set sshd on host to listen only to its ip address. If not sshd on the host will intercept all sshd communication.

 vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
ListenAddress the.vserver.host.ip
/etc/init.d/sshd restart

See if you can ssh into the guest vserver. If you have problems check your filewall.

/sbin/iptables -L

Set up the guest for "Unmanaged Guest" package management. Here the guest will be able to use yum for package management.

vyum leap -- install yum
vserver leap running && vserver leap stop
vserver leap pkgmgmt internalize

When doing "vyum leap -- install yum" I got this error "/bin/chown: cannot access `/var/lib/rpm/[A-Z]*': No such file or directory" but did not seem to affect the installation.

See if yum works for the guest

vserver leap start
vserver leap enter
yum list

It is also possible to clone a vserver. Either from a local guest or a remote one. This is one of the very powerful features of virtualization. I have done it local to local with a wrapper script which that now does not exist on the Internet from where I got it from. I have been told the way to do it is with the vserver command.

vserver ... build --help

Another important feature, which I have not implimented (figured out) yet, is unification where files are hard linked between vservers. Thus only requiring one copy of the file. Separation between guests is still maintained. If a file changes on the source of the hard link then a new copy is made on the source and the hard link is severed. If I understand it right. This off course can save greatly on disk space.

One reason I find Linux-Vserver very interesting is it accomlishes much of what it does through regular and clever use of the standard Linux tool kit: chroot, rsync, cp, ln, yum, rpm, apt-get, scp, networking tools and more I am sure. Possibly Xen and other virtual emulators are simpler to use because much of this magic is hidden away by the more sophisticated emulating technology. I think with Linux-Vserver you get more of what Linux is so good at, or bad, depending on your view. There are many ways to do something.

Vserver has a mailing list and irc channel. Both of which you can find on its main site by clicking on the "support" link at the left. Both are active. Just this week the lastest vserver kernel would not compile on a new computer for me and on the irc channel Herbert Pötzl, the Vserver maintainer, found the problem and built a new vserver kernel that fixed the problem, within hours.

For many years our high load webserver has run on Vserver with our hosting company. They are very happy with it. Vserver has been around for a few years. It is up to a stable 2.2 version. Like many community projets, I think Vserver suffers for lack of documentation. To use its more advanced features I think you need to be very experienced in Linux and scripting. Though it has not stopped me from wanting to use it.

Home page for Linux-Vserver http://linux-vserver.org/Welcome_to_Linux-VServer.org

Vserver FAQ http://linux-vserver.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions

Documentation wiki: Installation on various distros, guides, configuration. Half way finished. http://linux-vserver.org/Documentation

Explains /etc/vservers configuration http://linux-vserver.org/util-vserver:Documentation

VServer Control Daemon (ACD) defines an API accessible by any caller capable of both the HTTP and the XMLRPC protocol. I do not know if there is a wrapper for the VCD which does not seem mature.http://linux-vserver.org/vcd:Introduction

Vserver is maintained by Herbert Pötzl at (you can download it from here) http://www.13thfloor.at/vserver/project/

Here is a 2004 white paper on Linux-Vserver http://www.13thfloor.at/vserver/papers/PAPER.txt

Install Linux-Vserver on Ubuntu http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=06/12/19/0456207. I got the feeling that Ubuntu and Debian seem to have good support for Vserver if not better than Fedora.

Vserver tips page here.