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2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
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9 SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1+
11 Copyright 2015 Lennart Poettering
14 <refentry id=
"systemd.nspawn">
17 <title>systemd.nspawn
</title>
18 <productname>systemd
</productname>
22 <contrib>Developer
</contrib>
23 <firstname>Lennart
</firstname>
24 <surname>Poettering
</surname>
25 <email>lennart@poettering.net
</email>
31 <refentrytitle>systemd.nspawn
</refentrytitle>
32 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
36 <refname>systemd.nspawn
</refname>
37 <refpurpose>Container settings
</refpurpose>
41 <para><filename>/etc/systemd/nspawn/
<replaceable>machine
</replaceable>.nspawn
</filename></para>
42 <para><filename>/run/systemd/nspawn/
<replaceable>machine
</replaceable>.nspawn
</filename></para>
43 <para><filename>/var/lib/machines/
<replaceable>machine
</replaceable>.nspawn
</filename></para>
47 <title>Description
</title>
49 <para>An nspawn container settings file (suffix
50 <filename>.nspawn
</filename>) encodes additional runtime
51 information about a local container, and is searched, read and
53 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
54 when starting a container. Files of this type are named after the
55 containers they define settings for. They are optional, and only
56 required for containers whose execution environment shall differ
57 from the defaults. Files of this type mostly contain settings that
58 may also be set on the
<command>systemd-nspawn
</command> command
59 line, and make it easier to persistently attach specific settings
60 to specific containers. The syntax of these files is inspired by
61 <filename>.desktop
</filename> files following the
<ulink
62 url=
"http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/">XDG
63 Desktop Entry Specification
</ulink>, which in turn are inspired by
64 Microsoft Windows
<filename>.ini
</filename> files.
</para>
66 <para>Boolean arguments used in these settings files can be
67 written in various formats. For positive settings, the strings
68 <option>1</option>,
<option>yes
</option>,
<option>true
</option>
69 and
<option>on
</option> are equivalent. For negative settings, the
70 strings
<option>0</option>,
<option>no
</option>,
71 <option>false
</option> and
<option>off
</option> are
74 <para>Empty lines and lines starting with # or ; are
75 ignored. This may be used for commenting. Lines ending
76 in a backslash are concatenated with the following
77 line while reading and the backslash is replaced by a
78 space character. This may be used to wrap long lines.
</para>
83 <title><filename>.nspawn
</filename> File Discovery
</title>
85 <para>Files are searched by appending the
86 <filename>.nspawn
</filename> suffix to the machine name of the
87 container, as specified with the
<option>--machine=
</option>
88 switch of
<command>systemd-nspawn
</command>, or derived from the
89 directory or image file name. This file is first searched in
90 <filename>/etc/systemd/nspawn/
</filename> and
91 <filename>/run/systemd/nspawn/
</filename>. If found in these
92 directories, its settings are read and all of them take full effect
93 (but are possibly overridden by corresponding command line
94 arguments). If not found, the file will then be searched next to
95 the image file or in the immediate parent of the root directory of
96 the container. If the file is found there, only a subset of the
97 settings will take effect however. All settings that possibly
98 elevate privileges or grant additional access to resources of the
99 host (such as files or directories) are ignored. To which options
100 this applies is documented below.
</para>
102 <para>Persistent settings files created and maintained by the
103 administrator (and thus trusted) should be placed in
104 <filename>/etc/systemd/nspawn/
</filename>, while automatically
105 downloaded (and thus potentially untrusted) settings files are
106 placed in
<filename>/var/lib/machines/
</filename> instead (next to
107 the container images), where their security impact is limited. In
108 order to add privileged settings to
<filename>.nspawn
</filename>
109 files acquired from the image vendor, it is recommended to copy the
110 settings files into
<filename>/etc/systemd/nspawn/
</filename> and
111 edit them there, so that the privileged options become
112 available. The precise algorithm for how the files are searched and
113 interpreted may be configured with
114 <command>systemd-nspawn
</command>'s
<option>--settings=
</option>
116 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
121 <title>[Exec] Section Options
</title>
123 <para>Settings files may include an
<literal>[Exec]
</literal>
124 section, which carries various execution parameters:
</para>
129 <term><varname>Boot=
</varname></term>
131 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument, which defaults to off. If enabled,
<command>systemd-nspawn
</command>
132 will automatically search for an
<filename>init
</filename> executable and invoke it. In this case, the
133 specified parameters using
<varname>Parameters=
</varname> are passed as additional arguments to the
134 <filename>init
</filename> process. This setting corresponds to the
<option>--boot
</option> switch on the
135 <command>systemd-nspawn
</command> command line. This option may not be combined with
136 <varname>ProcessTwo=yes
</varname>. This option is the default if the
137 <filename>systemd-nspawn@.service
</filename> template unit file is used.
</para></listitem>
141 <term><varname>ProcessTwo=
</varname></term>
143 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument, which defaults to off. If enabled, the specified program is run as
144 PID
2. A stub init process is run as PID
1. This setting corresponds to the
<option>--as-pid2
</option> switch
145 on the
<command>systemd-nspawn
</command> command line. This option may not be combined with
146 <varname>Boot=yes
</varname>.
</para></listitem>
150 <term><varname>Parameters=
</varname></term>
152 <listitem><para>Takes a space-separated list of
153 arguments. This is either a command line, beginning with the
154 binary name to execute, or – if
<varname>Boot=
</varname> is
155 enabled – the list of arguments to pass to the init
156 process. This setting corresponds to the command line
157 parameters passed on the
<command>systemd-nspawn
</command>
158 command line.
</para></listitem>
162 <term><varname>Environment=
</varname></term>
164 <listitem><para>Takes an environment variable assignment
165 consisting of key and value, separated by
166 <literal>=
</literal>. Sets an environment variable for the
167 main process invoked in the container. This setting may be
168 used multiple times to set multiple environment variables. It
169 corresponds to the
<option>--setenv=
</option> command line
170 switch.
</para></listitem>
174 <term><varname>User=
</varname></term>
176 <listitem><para>Takes a UNIX user name. Specifies the user
177 name to invoke the main process of the container as. This user
178 must be known in the container's user database. This
179 corresponds to the
<option>--user=
</option> command line
180 switch.
</para></listitem>
184 <term><varname>WorkingDirectory=
</varname></term>
186 <listitem><para>Selects the working directory for the process invoked in the container. Expects an absolute
187 path in the container's file system namespace. This corresponds to the
<option>--chdir=
</option> command line
188 switch.
</para></listitem>
192 <term><varname>PivotRoot=
</varname></term>
194 <listitem><para>Selects a directory to pivot to
<filename>/
</filename> inside the container when starting up.
195 Takes a single path, or a pair of two paths separated by a colon. Both paths must be absolute, and are resolved
196 in the container's file system namespace. This corresponds to the
<option>--pivot-root=
</option> command line
197 switch.
</para></listitem>
201 <term><varname>Capability=
</varname></term>
202 <term><varname>DropCapability=
</varname></term>
204 <listitem><para>Takes a space-separated list of Linux process
206 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>capabilities
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>
207 for details). The
<varname>Capability=
</varname> setting
208 specifies additional capabilities to pass on top of the
209 default set of capabilities. The
210 <varname>DropCapability=
</varname> setting specifies
211 capabilities to drop from the default set. These settings
212 correspond to the
<option>--capability=
</option> and
213 <option>--drop-capability=
</option> command line
214 switches. Note that
<varname>Capability=
</varname> is a
215 privileged setting, and only takes effect in
216 <filename>.nspawn
</filename> files in
217 <filename>/etc/systemd/nspawn/
</filename> and
218 <filename>/run/system/nspawn/
</filename> (see above). On the
219 other hand,
<varname>DropCapability=
</varname> takes effect in
220 all cases.
</para></listitem>
224 <term><varname>NoNewPrivileges=
</varname></term>
226 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument that controls the
<constant>PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS
</constant> flag for
227 the container payload. This is equivalent to the
228 <option>--no-new-privileges=
</option> command line switch. See
229 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
235 <term><varname>KillSignal=
</varname></term>
237 <listitem><para>Specify the process signal to send to the
238 container's PID
1 when nspawn itself receives SIGTERM, in
239 order to trigger an orderly shutdown of the container.
240 Defaults to SIGRTMIN+
3 if
<option>Boot=
</option> is used
241 (on systemd-compatible init systems SIGRTMIN+
3 triggers an
242 orderly shutdown). For a list of valid signals, see
243 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>signal
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para></listitem>
247 <term><varname>Personality=
</varname></term>
249 <listitem><para>Configures the kernel personality for the
250 container. This is equivalent to the
251 <option>--personality=
</option> switch.
</para></listitem>
255 <term><varname>MachineID=
</varname></term>
257 <listitem><para>Configures the
128-bit machine ID (UUID) to pass to
258 the container. This is equivalent to the
259 <option>--uuid=
</option> command line switch. This option is
260 privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
264 <term><varname>PrivateUsers=
</varname></term>
266 <listitem><para>Configures support for usernamespacing. This is equivalent to the
267 <option>--private-users=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same options. This option is privileged
268 (see above). This option is the default if the
<filename>systemd-nspawn@.service
</filename> template unit file
269 is used.
</para></listitem>
273 <term><varname>NotifyReady=
</varname></term>
275 <listitem><para>Configures support for notifications from the container's init process. This is equivalent to
276 the
<option>--notify-ready=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same parameters. See
277 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details
278 about the specific options supported.
</para></listitem>
282 <term><varname>SystemCallFilter=
</varname></term>
284 <listitem><para>Configures the system call filter applied to containers. This is equivalent to the
285 <option>--system-call-filter=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same list parameter. See
286 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
287 details.
</para></listitem>
291 <term><varname>LimitCPU=
</varname></term>
292 <term><varname>LimitFSIZE=
</varname></term>
293 <term><varname>LimitDATA=
</varname></term>
294 <term><varname>LimitSTACK=
</varname></term>
295 <term><varname>LimitCORE=
</varname></term>
296 <term><varname>LimitRSS=
</varname></term>
297 <term><varname>LimitNOFILE=
</varname></term>
298 <term><varname>LimitAS=
</varname></term>
299 <term><varname>LimitNPROC=
</varname></term>
300 <term><varname>LimitMEMLOCK=
</varname></term>
301 <term><varname>LimitLOCKS=
</varname></term>
302 <term><varname>LimitSIGPENDING=
</varname></term>
303 <term><varname>LimitMSGQUEUE=
</varname></term>
304 <term><varname>LimitNICE=
</varname></term>
305 <term><varname>LimitRTPRIO=
</varname></term>
306 <term><varname>LimitRTTIME=
</varname></term>
308 <listitem><para>Configures various types of resource limits applied to containers. This is equivalent to the
309 <option>--rlimit=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same arguments. See
310 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
311 details.
</para></listitem>
315 <term><varname>OOMScoreAdjust=
</varname></term>
317 <listitem><para>Configures the OOM score adjustment value. This is equivalent to the
318 <option>--oom-score-adjust=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same argument. See
319 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
320 details.
</para></listitem>
324 <term><varname>CPUAffinity=
</varname></term>
326 <listitem><para>Configures the CPU affinity. This is equivalent to the
<option>--cpu-affinity=
</option> command
327 line switch, and takes the same argument. See
328 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
329 details.
</para></listitem>
333 <term><varname>Hostname=
</varname></term>
335 <listitem><para>Configures the kernel hostname set for the container. This is equivalent to the
336 <option>--hostname=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same argument. See
337 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
338 details.
</para></listitem>
342 <term><varname>ResolvConf=
</varname></term>
344 <listitem><para>Configures how
<filename>/etc/resolv.conf
</filename> in the container shall be handled. This is
345 equivalent to the
<option>--resolv-conf=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same argument. See
346 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
347 details.
</para></listitem>
351 <term><varname>Timezone=
</varname></term>
353 <listitem><para>Configures how
<filename>/etc/localtime
</filename> in the container shall be handled. This is
354 equivalent to the
<option>--localtime=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same argument. See
355 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
356 details.
</para></listitem>
360 <term><varname>LinkJournal=
</varname></term>
362 <listitem><para>Configures how to link host and container journal setups. This is equivalent to the
363 <option>--link-journal=
</option> command line switch, and takes the same parameter. See
364 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
365 details.
</para></listitem>
372 <title>[Files] Section Options
</title>
374 <para>Settings files may include a
<literal>[Files]
</literal>
375 section, which carries various parameters configuring the file
376 system of the container:
</para>
381 <term><varname>ReadOnly=
</varname></term>
383 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument, which defaults to off. If
384 specified, the container will be run with a read-only file
385 system. This setting corresponds to the
386 <option>--read-only
</option> command line
387 switch.
</para></listitem>
391 <term><varname>Volatile=
</varname></term>
393 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument, or the special value
394 <literal>state
</literal>. This configures whether to run the
395 container with volatile state and/or configuration. This
396 option is equivalent to
<option>--volatile=
</option>, see
397 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
398 for details about the specific options
399 supported.
</para></listitem>
403 <term><varname>Bind=
</varname></term>
404 <term><varname>BindReadOnly=
</varname></term>
406 <listitem><para>Adds a bind mount from the host into the
407 container. Takes a single path, a pair of two paths separated
408 by a colon, or a triplet of two paths plus an option string
409 separated by colons. This option may be used multiple times to
410 configure multiple bind mounts. This option is equivalent to
411 the command line switches
<option>--bind=
</option> and
412 <option>--bind-ro=
</option>, see
413 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
414 for details about the specific options supported. This setting
415 is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
419 <term><varname>TemporaryFileSystem=
</varname></term>
421 <listitem><para>Adds a
<literal>tmpfs
</literal> mount to the
422 container. Takes a path or a pair of path and option string,
423 separated by a colon. This option may be used multiple times to
424 configure multiple
<literal>tmpfs
</literal> mounts. This
425 option is equivalent to the command line switch
426 <option>--tmpfs=
</option>, see
427 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
428 for details about the specific options supported. This setting
429 is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
433 <term><varname>Overlay=
</varname></term>
434 <term><varname>OverlayReadOnly=
</varname></term>
436 <listitem><para>Adds an overlay mount point. Takes a colon-separated list of paths. This option may be used
437 multiple times to configure multiple overlay mounts. This option is equivalent to the command line switches
438 <option>--overlay=
</option> and
<option>--overlay-ro=
</option>, see
439 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> for details
440 about the specific options supported. This setting is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
444 <term><varname>PrivateUsersChown=
</varname></term>
446 <listitem><para>Configures whether the ownership of the files and directories in the container tree shall be
447 adjusted to the UID/GID range used, if necessary and user namespacing is enabled. This is equivalent to the
448 <option>--private-users-chown
</option> command line switch. This option is privileged (see
449 above).
</para></listitem>
456 <title>[Network] Section Options
</title>
458 <para>Settings files may include a
<literal>[Network]
</literal>
459 section, which carries various parameters configuring the network
460 connectivity of the container:
</para>
465 <term><varname>Private=
</varname></term>
467 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument, which defaults to off. If
468 enabled, the container will run in its own network namespace
469 and not share network interfaces and configuration with the
470 host. This setting corresponds to the
471 <option>--private-network
</option> command line
472 switch.
</para></listitem>
476 <term><varname>VirtualEthernet=
</varname></term>
478 <listitem><para>Takes a boolean argument. Configures whether to create a virtual Ethernet connection
479 (
<literal>veth
</literal>) between host and the container. This setting implies
480 <varname>Private=yes
</varname>. This setting corresponds to the
<option>--network-veth
</option> command line
481 switch. This option is privileged (see above). This option is the default if the
482 <filename>systemd-nspawn@.service
</filename> template unit file is used.
</para></listitem>
486 <term><varname>VirtualEthernetExtra=
</varname></term>
488 <listitem><para>Takes a colon-separated pair of interface
489 names. Configures an additional virtual Ethernet connection
490 (
<literal>veth
</literal>) between host and the container. The
491 first specified name is the interface name on the host, the
492 second the interface name in the container. The latter may be
493 omitted in which case it is set to the same name as the host
494 side interface. This setting implies
495 <varname>Private=yes
</varname>. This setting corresponds to
496 the
<option>--network-veth-extra=
</option> command line
497 switch, and maybe be used multiple times. It is independent of
498 <varname>VirtualEthernet=
</varname>. This option is privileged
499 (see above).
</para></listitem>
503 <term><varname>Interface=
</varname></term>
505 <listitem><para>Takes a space-separated list of interfaces to
506 add to the container. This option corresponds to the
507 <option>--network-interface=
</option> command line switch and
508 implies
<varname>Private=yes
</varname>. This option is
509 privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
513 <term><varname>MACVLAN=
</varname></term>
514 <term><varname>IPVLAN=
</varname></term>
516 <listitem><para>Takes a space-separated list of interfaces to
517 add MACLVAN or IPVLAN interfaces to, which are then added to
518 the container. These options correspond to the
519 <option>--network-macvlan=
</option> and
520 <option>--network-ipvlan=
</option> command line switches and
521 imply
<varname>Private=yes
</varname>. These options are
522 privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
526 <term><varname>Bridge=
</varname></term>
528 <listitem><para>Takes an interface name. This setting implies
529 <varname>VirtualEthernet=yes
</varname> and
530 <varname>Private=yes
</varname> and has the effect that the
531 host side of the created virtual Ethernet link is connected to
532 the specified bridge interface. This option corresponds to the
533 <option>--network-bridge=
</option> command line switch. This
534 option is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
538 <term><varname>Zone=
</varname></term>
540 <listitem><para>Takes a network zone name. This setting implies
<varname>VirtualEthernet=yes
</varname> and
541 <varname>Private=yes
</varname> and has the effect that the host side of the created virtual Ethernet link is
542 connected to an automatically managed bridge interface named after the passed argument, prefixed with
543 <literal>vz-
</literal>. This option corresponds to the
<option>--network-zone=
</option> command line
544 switch. This option is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
548 <term><varname>Port=
</varname></term>
550 <listitem><para>Exposes a TCP or UDP port of the container on
551 the host. This option corresponds to the
552 <option>--port=
</option> command line switch, see
553 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
554 for the precise syntax of the argument this option takes. This
555 option is privileged (see above).
</para></listitem>
561 <title>See Also
</title>
563 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
564 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
565 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.directives
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>