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Installing Containers with LXC

LXC, which stands for Linux Containers, is a containerization solution that takes advantage of existing kernel features (such as namespaces and cgroups) to create container environments that are as close as possible to normal Linux installations, without the overhead of simulating hardware or running multiple kernels. In this learning activity, you are tasked with installing and configuring LXC in order to create multiple Linux containers.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Intermediate
Duration
Clock icon 1h 0m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 12, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Install the LXC package.

    # sudo apt-get install lxc

  2. Challenge

    Set up the network device quota for the unprivileged user, `cloud_user`, to include 10 veth devices.

    1. Edit /etc/lxc/lxc-usernet:

    # sudo vim /etc/lxc/lxc-usernet

    • Add the following line:

    cloud_user veth lxcbr0 10

  3. Challenge

    Copy the LXC configuration file

    Copy the LXC configuration file to the cloud_users’s home directory and append the uid and gid map for the cloud_user to the file. Once completed, be sure to log out of the lab server and log back in to activate the new configuration.

    1. Create .config/lxc in the users home directory:

    # mkdir -p ~/.config/lxc

    • Copy the lxc default.conf file to the newly created directory:

    # cp /etc/lxc/default.conf ~/.config/lxc/default.conf

    • Ensure a uid/gid map exists in /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid for the cloud user.

    • Copy the uid/gid map and add it to the configuration file in the user's home directory:

    # vim ~/.config/lxc/default.conf

    • Append the following (uid/gid map numbers may vary):
    lxc.id_map = u 0 231072 65536
lxc.id_map = g 0 231072 65536
    • Once this step is completed, log out of the lab server and log back in to activate the new configuration file.

  4. Challenge

    Create a container

    Create a container named ubuntu running Ubuntu Xenial and a container named centos running CentOS 7; both should use the amd64 architecture.

    1. Create the ubuntu container using the download template:

    # DOWNLOAD_KEYSERVER="keyserver.ubuntu.com" lxc-create -n ubuntu -t download -- -d ubuntu -r xenial -a amd64

    • Create the centos container using the download template:

    # DOWNLOAD_KEYSERVER="keyserver.ubuntu.com" lxc-create -n centos -t download -- -d centos -r 7 -a amd64

    • Update the permissions on the .local folder:

    chmod +x /home/cloud_user/.local

  5. Challenge

    Start up the newly created servers as daemons running in the background.

    Start up the containers using the -d option:

    # lxc-start -n centos -d

    # lxc-start -n ubuntu -d

    To see that both of the containers are running run lxc-ls -f

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