--- /dev/null
+---
+title: The Container Interface
+category: Interfaces
+layout: default
+---
+
+# The Container Interface
+
+Also consult [Writing Virtual Machine or Container
+Managers](http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/systemd/writing-vm-managers).
+
+systemd has a number of interfaces for interacting with container managers,
+when systemd is used inside of an OS container. If you work on a container
+manager, please consider supporting the following interfaces.
+
+## Execution Environment
+
+1. If the container manager wants to control the hostname for a container
+ running systemd it should just set it before invoking systemd, and systemd
+ will leave it unmodified (that is unless there's an explicit hostname
+ configured in `/etc/hostname` which overrides whatever is pre-initialized by
+ the container manager).
+
+2. Make sure to pre-mount `/proc/`, `/sys/` and `/sys/fs/selinux/` before
+ invoking systemd, and mount `/proc/sys/`, `/sys/` and `/sys/fs/selinux/`
+ read-only in order to avoid that the container can alter the host kernel's
+ configuration settings. (As special exception, if your container has network
+ namespaces enabled, feel free to make `/proc/sys/net/` writable). systemd
+ and various other subsystems (such as the SELinux userspace) have been
+ modified to detect whether these file systems are read-only, and will behave
+ accordingly. (It's OK to mount `/sys/` as `tmpfs` btw, and only mount a
+ subset of its sub-trees from the real `sysfs` to hide `/sys/firmware/`,
+ `/sys/kernel/` and so on. If you do that, still make sure to mark `/sys/`
+ read-only, as that condition is what systemd looks for, and is what is
+ considered to be the API in this context.)
+
+3. Pre-mount `/dev/` as (container private) `tmpfs` for the container and bind
+ mount some suitable TTY to `/dev/console`. Also, make sure to create device
+ nodes for `/dev/null`, `/dev/zero`, `/dev/full`, `/dev/random`,
+ `/dev/urandom`, `/dev/tty`, `/dev/ptmx` in `/dev/`. It is not necessary to
+ create `/dev/fd` or `/dev/stdout`, as systemd will do that on its own. Make
+ sure to set up a `BPF_PROG_TYPE_CGROUP_DEVICE` BPF program — on cgroupv2 —
+ or the `devices` cgroup controller — on cgroupv1 — so that no other devices
+ but these may be created in the container. Note that many systemd services
+ these days use `PrivateDevices=`, which means that systemd will set up a
+ private `/dev/` for them for which it needs to be able to create these
+ device nodes. Dropping `CAP_MKNOD` for containers is hence generally not
+ advisable, but see below.
+
+4. `systemd-udevd` is not available in containers (and refuses to start), and hence device
+ dependencies are unavailable. The `systemd-udevd` unit files will check for `/sys/`
+ being read-only, as an indication whether device management can work. Hence
+ make sure to mount `/sys/` read-only in the container (see above). Various
+ clients to `systemd-udevd` also check the read-only state of `/sys/` in some cases,
+ including PID 1 itself and `systemd-networkd`.
+
+5. If systemd detects it is run in a container it will spawn a single shell on
+ `/dev/console`, and not care about VTs or multiple gettys on VTs. (But see
+ `$container_ttys` below.)
+
+6. Either pre-mount all cgroup hierarchies in full into the container, or leave
+ that to systemd which will do so if they are missing. Note that it is
+ explicitly *not* OK to just mount a sub-hierarchy into the container as that
+ is incompatible with `/proc/$PID/cgroup` (which lists full paths). Also the
+ root-level cgroup directories tend to be quite different from inner
+ directories, and that distinction matters. It is OK however, to mount the
+ "upper" parts read-only of the hierarchies, and only allow write-access to
+ the cgroup sub-tree the container runs in. It's also a good idea to mount
+ all controller hierarchies with exception of `name=systemd` fully read-only
+ (this only applies to cgroupv1, of course), to protect the controllers from
+ alteration from inside the containers. Or to turn this around: only the
+ cgroup sub-tree of the container itself (on cgroupv2 in the unified
+ hierarchy, and on cgroupv1 in the `name=systemd` hierarchy) must be writable
+ to the container.
+
+7. Create the control group root of your container by either running your
+ container as a service (in case you have one container manager instance per
+ container instance) or creating one scope unit for each container instance
+ via systemd's transient unit API (in case you have one container manager
+ that manages all instances. Either way, make sure to set `Delegate=yes` in
+ it. This ensures that that the unit you created will be part of all cgroup
+ controllers (or at least the ones systemd understands). The latter may also
+ be done via `systemd-machined`'s `CreateMachine()` API. Make sure to use the
+ cgroup path systemd put your process in for all operations of the
+ container. Do not add new cgroup directories to the top of the tree. This
+ will not only confuse systemd and the admin, but also ensure your
+ implementation is not "stackable".
+
+## Environment Variables
+
+1. To allow systemd (and other code) to identify that it is executed within a
+ container, please set the `$container=` environment variable for PID 1 in
+ the container to a short lowercase string identifying your
+ implementation. With this in place the `ConditionVirtualization=` setting in
+ unit files will work properly. Example: `container=lxc-libvirt`
+
+2. systemd has special support for allowing container managers to initialize
+ the UUID for `/etc/machine-id` to some manager supplied value. This is only
+ enabled if `/etc/machine-id` is empty (i.e. not yet set) at boot time of the
+ container. The container manager should set `$container_uuid=` as
+ environment variable for the container's PID 1 to the container UUID it
+ wants to set. (This is similar to the effect of `qemu`'s `-uuid`
+ switch). Note that you should pass only a UUID here that is actually unique
+ (i.e. only one running container should have a specific UUID), and gets
+ changed when a container gets duplicated. Also note that systemd will try to
+ persistently store the UUID in `/etc/machine-id` (if writable) when this
+ option is used, hence you should always pass the same UUID here. Keeping the
+ externally used UUID for a container and the internal one in sync is
+ hopefully useful to minimize surprise for the administrator.
+
+3. systemd can automatically spawn login gettys on additional ptys. A container
+ manager can set the `$container_ttys=` environment variable for the
+ container's PID 1 to tell it on which ptys to spawn gettys. The variable
+ should take a space separated list of pty names, without the leading `/dev/`
+ prefix, but with the `pts/` prefix included. Note that despite the
+ variable's name you may only specify ptys, and not other types of ttys. Also
+ you need to specify the pty itself, a symlink will not suffice. This is
+ implemented in
+ [systemd-getty-generator(8)](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-getty-generator.html). Note
+ that this variable should not include the pty that `/dev/console` maps to if
+ it maps to one (see below). Example: if the container receives
+ `container_ttys=pts/7 pts/8 pts/14` it will spawn three additionally login
+ gettys on ptys 7, 8 and 14.
+
+## Advanced Integration
+
+1. Consider syncing `/etc/localtime` from the host file system into the
+ container. Make it a relative symlink to the containers's zoneinfo dir, as
+ usual. Tools rely on being able to determine the timezone setting from the
+ symlink value, and by making it relative it looks nice even if people list
+ the containers' `/etc/` from the host.
+
+2. Make the container journal available in the host, by automatically
+ symlinking the container journal directory into the host journal
+ directory. More precisely, link `/var/log/journal/<container-machine-id>` of
+ the container into the same dir of the host. Administrators can then
+ automatically browse all container journals (correctly interleaved) by
+ issuing `journalctl -m`. The container machine ID you can determine from
+ `/etc/machine-id` in the container.
+
+3. If the container manager wants to cleanly shutdown the container, it might
+ be a good idea to send `SIGRTMIN+3` to its init process. systemd will then do a
+ clean shutdown. Note however, that only systemd understands `SIGRTMIN+3` like
+ this, this might confuse other init systems.
+
+4. To support [Socket Activated
+ Containers](http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activated-containers.html)
+ the container manager should be capable of being run as a systemd
+ service. It will then receive the sockets starting with FD 3, the number of
+ passed FDs in `$LISTEN_FDS` and its PID as `$LISTEN_PID`. It should take
+ these and pass them on to the container's init process, also setting
+ $LISTEN_FDS and `$LISTEN_PID` (basically, it can just leave the FDs and
+ `$LISTEN_FDS` untouched, but it needs to set `$LISTEN_PID` to for the
+ container init process). That's all that's necessary to make socket
+ activation work. The protocol to hand sockets from systemd to services is
+ hence the same as from a container manager to a container systemd. For
+ further details see the explanations of
+ [sd_listen_fds(1)](http://0pointer.de/public/systemd-man/sd_listen_fds.html)
+ and the [blog story for service
+ developers](http://0pointer.de/blog/projects/socket-activation.html).
+
+5. Container managers should stay away from the `name=systemd` cgroup hierarchy
+ outside of the unit they created for their container. That's private
+ property of systemd, and no other code should interfere with it.
+
+## Networking
+
+1. Inside of a container, if a `veth` link is named `host0`, `systemd-networkd`
+ running inside of the container will by default do DHCPv4 client, DHCPv6
+ client and IPv4LL on it. It is thus recommended that container managers that
+ add a `veth` link to a container name it `host0`, to get automatically
+ configured networked, with no manual interference from outside.
+
+2. Outside of a container, if a `veth` link is prefixed "ve-" will by default do
+ DHCPv4 server and DHCPv6 serer on it, as well as IPv4LL. It is thus recommended
+ that container managers that add a `veth` link to a container name the external
+ side `ve-` followed by the container name.
+
+3. It is recommended to configure stable MAC addresses to container `veth`
+ devices, for example hashed out of the container names. That way it is more
+ likely that DHCP and IPv4LL will acquire stable addresses.
+
+## What You Shouldn't Do
+
+1. Do not drop `CAP_MKNOD` from the container. `PrivateDevices=` is a commonly
+ used service setting that provides a service with its own, private, minimal
+ version of `/dev/`. To set this up systemd in the container needs this
+ capability. If you take away the capability than all services that set this
+ flag will cease to work, and this are increasingly many, as we encourage
+ people to make use of this functionality. Use `BPF_PROG_TYPE_CGROUP_DEVICE`
+ BPF programs — on cgroupv2 — or the `devices` controller — on cgroupv1 — to
+ restrict what device nodes the container can create instead of taking away
+ the capability wholesale. (Also see section about fully unprivileged
+ containers below.)
+
+2. Do not drop `CAP_SYS_ADMIN` from the container. A number of file system
+ namespacing related settings, such as `PrivateDevices=`, `ProtectHome=`,
+ `ProtectSystem=`, `MountFlags=`, `PrivateTmp=`, `ReadWriteDirectories=`,
+ `ReadOnlyDirectories=`, `InaccessibleDirectories=`, `MountFlags=` need to be
+ able to open new mount namespaces and the mount certain file system into
+ it. You break all services that make use of these flags if you drop the
+ flag. Note that already quite a number of services make use of this as we
+ actively encourage users to make use of this security functionality. Also
+ note that logind mounts `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` as `tmpfs` for all logged in users
+ and won't work either if you take away the capability. (Also see section
+ about fully unprivileged containers below.)
+
+3. Do not cross-link `/dev/kmsg` with `/dev/console`. They are different things,
+ you cannot link them to each other.
+
+4. Do not pretend that the real VTs would be available in the containers. The
+ VT subsystem consists of all devices `/dev/tty*`, `/dev/vcs*`, `/dev/vcsa*`
+ plus their `sysfs` counterparts. They speak specific `ioctl()`s and
+ understand specific escape sequences, that other ptys don't
+ understand. Hence, it is explicitly not OK to mount a pty to `/dev/tty1`,
+ `/dev/tty2`, `/dev/tty3`. This is explicitly not supported.
+
+5. Don't pretend that passing arbitrary devices to containers could really work
+ well. For example, do not pass device nodes for block devices, … to the
+ container. Device access (with the exception of network devices) is not
+ virtualized on Linux. Enumeration and probing of meta information from
+ `/sys/` and elsewhere is not possible to do correctly in a container. Simply
+ adding a specific device node to a container's `/dev/` is *not* *enough* to
+ do the job, as `systemd-udevd` and suchlike are not available at all, and no
+ devices will appear available or enumerable, inside the container.
+
+6. Don't mount only a sub-tree of the `cgroupfs` into the container. This will not
+ work as `/proc/$PID/cgroup` lists full paths and cannot be matched up with
+ the actual `cgroupfs` tree visible, then. (You may "prune" some branches
+ though, see above.)
+
+7. Do not make `/sys/` writable in the container. If you do,
+ `systemd-udevd.service` is started to manage your devices — inside the
+ container —, but that will cause conflicts and errors given that the Linux
+ device model is not virtualized for containers on Linux and thus the
+ containers and the host would try to manage the same devices, fighting for
+ ownership. Multiple other subsystems of systemd similarly test for `/sys/`
+ being writable to decide whether to use `systemd-udevd` or assume that
+ device management is properly available on the instance. Among them
+ `systemd-networkd` and `systemd-logind`. The conditionalization on the
+ read-only state of `/sys/` enables a nice automatism: as soon as `/sys/` and
+ the Linux device model are changed to be virtualized properly the container
+ payload can make use of that, simply by marking `/sys/` writable. (Note that
+ as special exception, the devices in `/sys/class/net/` are virtualized
+ already, if network namespacing is used. Thus it is OK to mount the relevant
+ sub-directories of `/sys/` writable, but make sure to leave the root of
+ `/sys/` read-only.)
+
+## Fully Unprivileged Container Payload
+
+First things first, to make this clear: Linux containers are not a security
+technology right now. There are more holes in the model than in a swiss cheese.
+
+For example: If you do not use user namespacing, and share root and other users
+between container and host, the `struct user` structures will be shared between
+host and container, and hence `RLIMIT_NPROC` and so of the container users affect
+the host and other containers, and vice versa. This is a major security hole,
+and actually is a real-life problem: since Avahi sets `RLIMIT_NPROC` of its user
+to 2 (to effectively disallow `fork()`ing) you cannot run more than one Avahi
+instance on the entire system...
+
+People have been asking to be able to run systemd without `CAP_SYS_ADMIN` and
+`CAP_SYS_MKNOD` in the container. This is now supported to some level in
+systemd, but we recommend against it (see above). If `CAP_SYS_ADMIN` and
+`CAP_SYS_MKNOD` are missing from the container systemd will now gracefully turn
+off `PrivateTmp=`, `PrivateNetwork=`, `ProtectHome=`, `ProtectSystem=` and
+others, because those capabilities are required to implement these options. The
+services using these settings (which include many of systemd's own) will hence
+run in a different, less secure environment when the capabilities are missing
+than with them around.
+
+With user namespacing in place things get much better. With user namespaces the
+`struct user` issue described above goes away, and containers can keep
+`CAP_SYS_ADMIN` safely for the user namespace, as capabilities are virtualized
+and having capabilities inside a container doesn't mean one also has them
+outside.
+
+## Final Words
+
+If you write software that wants to detect whether it is run in a container,
+please check `/proc/1/environ` and look for the `container=` environment
+variable. Do not assume the environment variable is inherited down the process
+tree. It generally is not. Hence check the environment block of PID 1, not your
+own. Note though that that file is only accessible to root. systemd hence early
+on also copies the value into `/run/systemd/container`, which is readable for
+everybody. However, that's a systemd-specific interface and other init systems
+are unlikely to do the same.
+
+Note that it is our intention to make systemd systems work flawlessly and
+out-of-the-box in containers. In fact we are interested to ensure that the same
+OS image can be booted on a bare system, in a VM and in a container, and behave
+correctly each time. If you notice that some component in systemd does not work
+in a container as it should, even though the container manager implements
+everything documented above, please contact us.
projects / thirdparty / systemd.git / commitdiff
