vpsAdminOS

Lightweight host for Linux system containers.

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vpsAdminOS is an operating system that serves as a host for container virtualization. It is based on NixOS and not-os.

vpsAdminOS was designed for purposes of vpsFree.cz, a non-profit association that provides virtual servers to its members. We were using OpenVZ Legacy since 2009, but needed to upgrade to a newer kernel, as modern Linux distributions stopped supporting the OpenVZ Legacy kernel.

vpsAdminOS uses:

• LTS kernel with a mix of out-of-tree patches to improve container experience,
• runit as an init system,
• ZFS for storage,
• our own tools for system container management called osctl,
• LXC is used to run the containers,
• BIRD for network routing.

vpsAdminOS provides means to create and manage system containers, which look and feel as much as a virtual machine as possible. It focuses on user namespace and cgroup management to isolate the containers. All containers are running as unprivileged. One can set resource limits on a single container or groups of containers, allowing for fine-grained control and resource sharing.

osctl is an abstraction on top of LXC, managing system users, LXC homes, cgroups and system containers. vpsAdminOS uses ZFS to store containers and configuration.

Links

• IRC: #vpsadminos @ irc.libera.chat
• Git: https://github.com/vpsfreecz/vpsadminos
• Man pages: https://man.vpsadminos.org/
• OS and program references: https://ref.vpsadminos.org/
• ISO images: https://iso.vpsadminos.org/