Linux Containers are “the new hotness”. If there’s a feature Ubuntu has over other distros, its containers built-in. LXD is the modern tool used for containers. It can be installed elsewhere, but that’s not how we roll here.
https://linuxcontainers.org/
LXD containers are not VM’s, but are designed to work exactly like them. The key difference is they are fully native, and they access to hardware directly (well networking aside). You can even grant access to a GPU. Containers are a very flexible tool for your everyday Linux use.
Ubuntu 16.04 ships with LXD 2.0, but for some of the advanced features, you’re going to want the latest.
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-lxc/+archive/ubuntu/lxd-stable
Working with containers is A LOT like working with vagrant boxes.
Reference: https://www.ubuntu.com/containers/lxd
It’s also worth noting that while LXD only runs on Linux, the client (lxc) can be run on other OS’s including Windows and Mac. What this lets you do is set up remote connections to LXD containers. I’m not going to cover remotes here, but infrastructurally speaking it can be used from other platforms (even just other Linux machines).
Disabling IPv6 DON’T DO THIS.
You can optionally disable IPv6 support in LXD.
Where lxdbr0 is the ldx-br0 bridge created during setup.
Frankly though, this doesn’t change much. I thought it did more, but the containers themselves are still assuming an IPv6 IPs, just you can’t see them via lxc list anymore.
Reference: https://github.com/lxc/lxd/issues/3333
Modern Kernels on LTS Ubuntu Starting with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, you are able to make your Ubuntu install subscribe to the latest changes to the Linux kernel. There are 3 channels you can subscribe to:
GA-16.04 (General Availability) HWE-16.04 (Hardware Enablement) HWE-16.04-Edge (Cutting Edge Hardware Enablement) By default Ubuntu puts you on the GA track, meaning in Ubuntu 16.04’s case, you’re getting Kernel 4.4.x. Switching to HWE, you get a current Kernel. At the time of this writing, that’s 4.10.x.
HWE channels are good up until the next major LTS release of Ubuntu. Then you effectively get put on the GA track of the now current LTS release (i.e. 18.04 starting April 2018). It is then expected you’ll upgrade to the new LTS release, where you can begin again, switching to the next HWE series.
More details: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/RollingLTSEnablementStack
How to install HWE:
Then reboot to apply the change.
I’m not 100% sure how necessary this is, but I was under the impression that I read something that called for newer that 4.4.x kernel. Who knows. I’ll make a note here if I find it again.
Canonical also offers a live Kernel patching service.
https://www.ubuntu.com/server/livepatch
Notable because rebooting is not required, but beyond 3 machines you need to start paying for a support plan. Also (and this is key), the livepatching services is limited to GA releases. Yes, no HWE kernels via livepatch.
Linux Network Interfaces This is a key file on Ubuntu. It’s not even specific to LXD, but Linux in general. To create advanced Linux Networking configurations, from bridges to VLANs, you do it here.
A default Ubuntu Server install will give you a relatively simple configuration. The ever important loopback interface (lo), and a list of ethernet adapters.
WiFi and some specialty services (VMs) are handled by other applications. Interestingly, my Ubuntu Desktop machine’s interfaces file is far more bare.
It looks like in Desktop Ubuntu, another service is being run to support plug-and-play networking.
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