Docker on Cumulus Linux
You can use Cumulus Linux to run the Docker container platform.
The Docker package installs as part of the Cumulus Linux installation or ONIE upgrade process. The Docker package includes Docker Engine, and dependencies and configuration files required to run the Docker service. If you upgrade the switch with apt-upgrade
, you must install the Docker package manually.
To run Docker containers on the Cumulus Linux switch:
- Check if the Docker package already exists on the switch with the
dpkg-query -l cumulus-docker-setup
command.
The following command output shows that the Docker package exists. Go to the next step to enable the Docker service.
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ dpkg-query -l cumulus-docker-setup
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-====================-=================================-============-=========================================
ii cumulus-docker-setup 1.0-cl4.4.0+u1~1607633230.afa6ce7 all Cumulus Linux docker configuration files.
The following command output shows that the Docker package does not exist on the switch:
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ dpkg-query -l cumulus-docker-setup
dpkg-query: no packages found matching cumulus-docker-setup
To install the Docker package, run the following commands:
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ sudo -E apt-get update
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ sudo -E apt-get install cumulus-docker-setup
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following additional packages will be installed:
containerd.io docker-ce docker-ce-cli
Suggested packages:
aufs-tools cgroupfs-mount | cgroup-lite
Recommended packages:
apparmor docker-ce-rootless-extras libltdl7 pigz
The following NEW packages will be installed:
containerd.io cumulus-docker-setup docker-ce docker-ce-cli
0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
Need to get 91.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 420 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
In the management VRF, enable the Docker service. Docker pulls container images from the internet, which requires internet access through the management VRF.
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ sudo systemctl enable --now docker@mgmt.service Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/docker@mgmt.service → /etc/systemd/system/docker@.service. Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of docker@mgmt.service changed on disk. Run 'systemctl daemon-reload' to reload units.
The warning is a known issue, which has no functional impact.
Check the status of the Docker service with the
systemctl status docker@mgmt.service
command:cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ sudo systemctl status docker@mgmt.service Warning: The unit file, source configuration file or drop-ins of docker@mgmt.service changed on di ● docker@mgmt.service - Docker Application Container Engine Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/docker.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/docker@.service.d └─vrf.conf Active: active (running) since Tue 2020-12-15 01:02:36 UTC; 7s ago Docs: https://docs.docker.com Main PID: 9558 (dockerd) Memory: 40.5M CGroup: /system.slice/system-docker.slice/docker@mgmt.service └─vrf └─mgmt └─9558 /usr/bin/dockerd --containerd=/run/containerd/containerd.sock Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.235571032Z" level=info msg="ccReso Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.235612700Z" level=info msg="Client Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.351654900Z" level=warning msg="Una Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.352171765Z" level=info msg="Loadin Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.432399835Z" level=info msg="Defaul Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.473407023Z" level=info msg="Loadin Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.527590296Z" level=info msg="Docker Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.527846668Z" level=info msg="Daemon Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 systemd[1]: Started Docker Application Container Engine. Dec 15 01:02:36 act-5812-10 ip[9558]: time="2020-12-15T01:02:36.635997529Z" level=info msg="API li
Test your installation by running the
hello-world
container:cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ docker run hello-world Unable to find image 'hello-world:latest' locally latest: Pulling from library/hello-world 0e03bdcc26d7: Pull complete Digest: sha256:1a523af650137b8accdaed439c17d684df61ee4d74feac151b5b337bd29e7eec Status: Downloaded newer image for hello-world:latest Hello from Docker! This message shows that your installation appears to be working correctly. To generate this message, Docker took the following steps: 1. The Docker client contacted the Docker daemon. 2. The Docker daemon pulled the "hello-world" image from the Docker Hub. (amd64) 3. The Docker daemon created a new container from that image which runs the executable that produces the output you are currently reading. 4. The Docker daemon streamed that output to the Docker client, which sent it to your terminal. To try something more ambitious, you can run an Ubuntu container with: $ docker run -it ubuntu bash Share images, automate workflows, and more with a free Docker ID: https://hub.docker.com/ For more examples and ideas, visit: https://docs.docker.com/get-started/
The Docker daemon runs in the management VRF; however, Docker containers run outside a VRF by default. To run a container process inside the management VRF on the host, run the docker run —privileged —ulimit memlock=131072 —rm —network host ip vrf exec mgmt
command. For example:
cumulus@switch:mgmt:~$ sudo docker run —privileged —ulimit memlock=131072 —rm —network host debian ip vrf exec mgmt ping -c3 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=110 time=1.21 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=110 time=1.24 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=110 time=1.26 ms
8.8.8.8 ping statistics -
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 5ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.212/1.237/1.262/0.045 ms
If you see the error Failed to load BPF prog: ‘Operation not permitted’
, increase the memlock
limit by doubling the value.
Be mindful of the types of applications you want to run in containers on a Cumulus Linux switch. Depending on the configuration of the container, DHCP servers, custom scripts, and other lightweight services run well. However, VPN, NAT and encryption-type services are CPU-intensive and lead to undesirable effects on critical applications.