LXC appliance: Can't change network address using confconsole

[Dude4Linux]

After installing the iso version of LXC, try to change the appliance IP address using confconsole. All attempts result in the error: "refusing to write to /etc/network/interfaces header not found: # UNCONFIGURED INTERFACES" The appliance has picked up an address via DHCP, but I would like to change it to a static IP.

# cat interfaces 
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet manual

auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
    bridge_ports eth0
    bridge_fd 0
    bridge_maxwait 0

auto natbr0
iface natbr0 inet static
    bridge_fd 0
    bridge_maxwait 0
    address 192.168.121.1
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    pre-up brctl addbr natbr0
    post-up /etc/init.d/dnsmasq restart
    post-down brctl delbr natbr0

Comparing to other appliances, the two lines below appear to be missing.

# UNCONFIGURED INTERFACES
# remove the above line if you edit this file

Adding the two lines restores normal operation.

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[alonswartz]

That was actually intentional for the first release. The networking setup is complex and we decided that without sufficient testing it was better to remove "UNCONFIGURED INTERFACES" than introduce possible bugs.

If you could help in testing, making sure there are no issues, I'd be happy to update the code.

[Dude4Linux]

I figured that out after forking lxc and getting a closer look at the code. I can see the issue is that confconsole doesn't know how to handle the br0 interface, where the static IP needs to be assigned. I thought about working on on it, but confconsole is a core tool and I'm just starting to learn Python. Don't want to muck up things too badly. I have set a static IP in my DHCP server as a workaround for now. When you get a chance to work on a revised confconsole, I'd be more than happy to help test it.
Thanks for all you guys do and Happy New Year.

[Dude4Linux]

Note: I tried to post the following in a comment on the main website, but was blocked by the Spam filter.
LXC Roadmap?

I'm very excited about the LXC app. Last year I wasted three months trying to learn OpenStack to build the foundation for a small business development environment. After some frustration I came to the conclusion that OpenStack wasn't (then) quite ready, i.e. poor security etc. I then turned to ProxMox, and over a weekend, was able to get my server setup with virtualization. Lately, however, I've been concerned about changes to the ProxMox support license. I also have a client (my church) with an older server that won't support VT and ProxMox. I already have the TurnKey file app running there and have been adding custom packages for Ubiquiti's Unifi WiFi controller. Now I'm thinking that I should switch to the LXC app and run the file app and WiFi controller in containers. I'm already seeing the need to load additional apps but didn't want to have to buy another server just to run ProxMox.

I'm curious about your future plans for the LXC appliance. I admit that I've gotten spoiled by the ProxMox gui and frustrated by its java-console. I've already tried unsuccessfully to install LXC Web Panel (http://lxc-webpanel.github.io) on the TurnKey LXC app. When they say they don't support Debian, they mean it. Another possibility is the community edition of OpenQRM (http://www.openqrm-enterprise.com). Have you looked at these or other candidates for a web front end for LXC?

ProxMox's use of a java based virtual console has been exceedingly frustrating. They are switching to SPICE, but that requires a client on the user device, something else I'm not happy about. The one project I've found, so far, that looks like what I want is Guacamole - HTML5 Clientless Remote Desktop (http://guac-dev.org). If you have work underway, I'll wait to see what happens, otherwise I'm willing to try to add one or both projects to the LXC app.

Did I mention I was excited about the LXC app? Over the holidays, I pushed the beta1 version of a TurnKey Ansible app (https://github.com/Dude4Linux/ansible). I couldn't figure out how to initiate a pull-request for a new appliance, so consider this the announcement. If anyone wants to try this, but doesn't have a TKLdev setup, let me know and I'll post an iso.

I got interested in CI when I attended a session, DIY Continuous Integration, by Allan Chappell @general_redneck, generalredneck.com at last August's DrupalCorn Camp. Then Mike Minecki of Four Kitchens tipped me off to Ansible, a radically simple competitor to Puppet and Chef. I'm still feeling my way along learning CI and how the pieces fit together. Ansible (and Puppet and Chef) typically work with Vagrant and VirtualBox to create and provision virtual hosts for testing or deployment. Vagrant now has the ability to work with LXC containers in addition to VMware and VirtualBox. It may also be possible to bypass Vagrant by creating an Ansible module for the LXC app to allow automated creation and destruction of test containers (CTs). The GitLab and Jenkins apps also have a role in CI. I debated whether it was better to put all the CI applications together in a single appliance, or keep them separate. Now with the release of the LXC app, I'm convinced that separate is the way to go, keeping each application in a container and the overhead of doing so is minimal. I would like to see TurnKey apps become aware of one-another i.e. launch an Ansible container, and it would find the LXC, GitLab, and Jenkins containers and configure itself accordingly. Anyone else think this would be a good idea?

Tim has a good question about Webmin. Fortunately, there is a GPL version of Virtualmin which could be integrated into the LXC appliance and configured to act as a front-end for all the Webmin modules running in the containers. I guess it's up to Alon and Liraz to decide when/if they want to tackle this.

[JedMeister]

What about just disabling the networking component of confconsole for the LXC appliance for now? I know it's not ideal, but at least then it's not there, broken?!

[maphew]

I've hit the error in opening post when using LXC Container ISO on bare metal, both v14.2 and v15. For me the fix is to

a) switch to a different console and login (Alt-F1)

b) edit /etc/network/interfaces and change manual to dhcp

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet manual

...followed by running:

ifup -a

After this ping will reach other hosts in the network, but only by ip. DNS resolution fails. Still, it's enough to be able to connect to webmin and use ssh. One major downside is that ifup -a must be run after every reboot.

[maphew]

Correction: my recipe doesn't work in Turnkey LXC v15. I don't think it was sufficient on its in own v14.2 either. I tried a lot of different things in troubleshooting and I think I didn't write all the essentials down.

I misread the first post. Inserting the text # UNCONFIGURED INTERFACES as first line in /etc/network/interfaces fixed the "refusing to write to /etc/network/interfaces" error. confconsole now runs without complaint. Changing /etc/network/interfaces to dhcp and ifup aren't needed.