Jail templates

[Whattteva]

I tried searching around the forums and it seems like no one's asked this yet.
Is it possible to create your own custom jail template and using that to create new jails instead of the built-in ".warden-template-*" datasets?

Having this capability would save a lot of time for initial common configurations (like having vim installed on all of them, etc...).
Anyone have tried this?

 

[dlavigne]

I'll be writing that section in the PC-BSD Handbook later this week and will have a better idea after testing it. It seems reasonable that this would also work with the warden CLI in Shell on FreeNAS.

 

[Whattteva]

Sweet, I'll be waiting for your good news!

 

[Whattteva]

I'm surprised there isn't much activity on this thread .
I would think this is a feature that a lot of people would like. Am I alone here or there are others like me?

Let's see a show of hands!

 

[dlavigne]

It is probably because the feature is so new. It's only been in PC-BSD for a month or so. I finished doc'ing the GUI version yesterday in the PC-BSD docs but am still testing the CLI version.

If your FreeNAS system is handy, type "warden" inside of a jail and post the version of warden it displays.

 

[Whattteva]

Hm, I typed "warden" in a jail and it doesn't recognize the command.
I also tried that command in the FreeNAS system itself and had more luck.
It still did not display a version number though, just a bunch of possible commands and none of them looked like it would display the version.

Is there a command switch or something else that I could use to display the version?

 

[dlavigne]

My bad, it needs to be on the FreeNAS system, not the jail.

The very first line should show the version, as in this sample output:
http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/Warden®#Using_the_Command_Line_Version_of_Warden.C2.AE

 

[Whattteva]

I see it. It's version 1.3

 

[dlavigne]

Good, I should have a series of commands for you by Monday then. Though if you are impatient, you can experiment with warden help and the rest of the page in that URL.

 

[Whattteva]

Haha, Monday is fine with me. It's not quite a matter of national security just yet.

 

[dlavigne]

OK, this is how it works in PC-BSD. Let us know if it also works from the FreeNAS shell. Refer to http://wiki.pcbsd.org/index.php/Warden®#Using_Template_Manager for more information about the templating system.

warden template create -fbsd 8.2-RELEASE -arch amd64 -nick template1

warden create myjail --ipv4 192.168.1.1 --template template1

warden start myjail

warden chroot myjail

file /bin/sh

Note that running uname within the jail will show the version of the host operating system, not the jail. However, all binaries within the jail should be linked to the architecture and version of the template.

 

[Whattteva]

Those commands indeed work perfectly. Now here's my next question.
Suppose I've configured a jail to a certain way (has 5 applications installed, default shell changed, 3 users configured).
How do I go about creating a template out of that particular jail so that any future jail created out of that template shares the same characteristics?

 

[dlavigne]

Method 1: Make a tar.gz archive of the jail. Then, refer to the archive when creating a new jail:

Code:

warden create newjail --ipv4 10.0.0.1 --archive oldjail.tar.gz

Method 2: Export the jail then import it elsewhere:

Code:

warden export jailname --dir/path/to/savecontents
 
warden import /path/to/savecontents/jailname.wdn

Note, when importing, read "warden help import" if you wish to specify a different IP address and/or hostname for the new jail (needed if importing onto the same system).

Isn't warden neat?

 

[Whattteva]

Method 1: Make a tar.gz archive of the jail. Then, refer to the archive when creating a new jail:

Code:

warden create newjail --ipv4 10.0.0.1 --archive oldjail.tar.gz

By making an archive, do you mean to simply tar the entire jail data set, or is there a specific warden command for it?

Method 2: Export the jail then import it elsewhere:

Code:

warden export jailname --dir/path/to/savecontents
 
warden import /path/to/savecontents/jailname.wdn

Note, when importing, read "warden help import" if you wish to specify a different IP address and/or hostname for the new jail (needed if importing onto the same system).

Isn't warden neat?

That's pretty cool. I suppose, this is probably the route I will follow.
Just out of curiosity, does this mean that custom jails can only be created out of exports and not from templates?
Is it possible to convert a .wdn file into a template and then add that template into the dropdown list on the FreeNAS GUI during jail creation?

 

[dlavigne]

By making an archive, do you mean to simply tar the entire jail data set, or is there a specific warden command for it?

Yes, tar the entire dataset. This is useful when the jail is a Linux jail as there is no templating system for that. In that case, use --linuxarchive instead of --archive. Note that FreeNAS does not support Linux jails yet.

Just out of curiosity, does this mean that custom jails can only be created out of exports and not from templates?

Correct. Templates only grab the default version of the specified RELEASE.

Is it possible to convert a .wdn file into a template and then add that template into the dropdown list on the FreeNAS GUI during jail creation?

That is a good question for the PC-BSD testing mailing list.

 

[Whattteva]

Thanks for the speedy and helpful replies!!! I will post that question on the mailing list.

 

[fracai]

Yes, tar the entire dataset. This is useful when the jail is a Linux jail as there is no templating system for that. In that case, use --linuxarchive instead of --archive. Note that FreeNAS does not support Linux jails yet.

To what degree are Linux jails available in 9.1? I know they were removed from the GUI, but your comment implies that they can be created with warden. Is that all that is required? Does /conf/base/etc/rc.conf need to be edited to load the Linux module? ( see the CrashPlan thread )

Note that FreeNAS does not support Linux jails yet.

... I really need to work on my reading comprehension...

 

[mstrent]

Did anyone ever figure out how to create a Linux jail in FreeNAS?

 

[Whattteva]

Did anyone ever figure out how to create a Linux jail in FreeNAS?

Not sure if it's officially supported yet, but you can use this command:

Code:

warden create jailname --linuxjail scriptname

Obviously substitute jailname with whatever you like to name your jail.
I'm not too sure on which script to use though since I've never done it.

Pretty sure dlavigne can tell you a lot more about this if he's around.

EDIT: Silly me, he says a few posts above that FreeNAS does not yet support Linux jails.

 

[mstrent]

Thanks, Whattteva. I looked at going that route but noticed FreeNAS lacks, for instance, debootstrap. So the warden linux install script doesn't work.

I'm hoping to find a method that doesn't involve too much hacking/modifying FreeNAS from stock...