Considering switching from LXC to LXD on Fedora-32

[NYCeyes (Noelle Milton Vega)]

Hello Friends:

This question is somewhat related to a separate question I revived today.

I’ve been using LXC (without LXD) on Fedora Linux for years. I keep things simple. All of my containers use simple ext4 filesystem directories, like this:

/var/lib/lxc/vps00/rootfs/...
/var/lib/lxc/vps01/rootfs/...
/var/lib/lxc/vps02/rootfs/...
...

vps = virtual private server

And whenever I need to, I’ll clone a vpsXX instance using the humble cp -rp command (with the container off, of course); then update the destination’s MAC and IP-Address.

Although I prefer remaining with my straight LXC strategy (i.e. using the /usr/bin/lxc-xxx CLI approach), I’m looking into LXD today because I upgraded my Bare-Metal O/S from Fedora-30 to Fedora-32, and now my vpsXX LXC’s won’t start. This happens every once in a while.

Sigh!

It’s likely a conflict with the LXC config file and something that changed with Fedora-32, though I can’t seem to figure out the issue.

Now I don’t need fancy image cloning or snapshotting (it’s all on the same SSD H/W RAID-0 Stripe anyway). Given that I like keeping things simple, transparent and not over-engineered (which I get with LXC), are there things that LXD would offer me that I should consider? For example, performance when several containers are running simultaneously? (Just an example).

PS: I may have no choice if I can’t figure out how to get my LXC containers running again on Fedora-32 (which were running perfectly fine right before the upgrade from Fedora-30). Any help with ideas on that problem would be welcome, too.

Thank you in advance for you inputs! Sorry for the long question.

[toby63]

@NYCeyes

I may have no choice if I can’t figure out how to get my LXC containers running again on Fedora-32 (which were running perfectly fine right before the upgrade from Fedora-30 ). Any help with ideas on that problem would be welcome, too.

Well, I would recommend opening a seperate post with details about it, otherwise it is hard for others to help you.

@NYCeyes

are there things that LXD would offer me that I should consider? For example, performance when several containers are running simultaneously? (Just an example).

There are lots of functions that certainly are easier to use with LXD than LXC.
Take a look at the documentation and advanced guide etc. or just search the forum for ideas.

Performancewise you can look at multiple things:

• Limits (which let you apply and limit cpu cores for example): Linux Containers - LXD - Has been moved to Canonical
• shiftfs (will lead to faster startups etc.)
• different storage backends (look at your other question): Linux Containers - LXD - Has been moved to Canonical
  Loop-based will be the slowest, dedicated is faster etc.

And probably some more things I forgot .

[NYCeyes (Noelle Milton Vega)]

@toby63 @stgraber Thank you gentlemen for providing me with answers in the forum, as I grappled with considering moving to LXD. I must admit that I like it’s interface (it reminds me of docker and podman in a small way).

I will revisit moving to LXD once I move my project into the cloud. For now, though, I had to restore back to Fedora-30 because time does not permit me to learn the LXD API, CLI and best practices, or deal with gotchas or bugs that I may run into.

So let’s make an appointment to meet back here again soon, shall we (say in about 2+ months, roughly early in the new year). In the meantime, I’ll still post some LXC questions (and possibly a few tinker-inspired LXD questions, when I have time for that. ).

Thanks a whole bunch! Talk with you again soon.