This repository is no longer maintained. For a more up-to-date way to manage microVMs, please take a look at Flintlock.
footloose
creates containers that look like virtual machines. Those
containers run systemd
as PID 1 and a ssh daemon that can be used to login
into the container. Such "machines" behave very much like a VM, it's even
possible to run dockerd
in them :)
footloose
can be used for a variety of tasks, wherever you'd like virtual
machines but want fast boot times or need many of them. An easy way to think
about it is: Vagrant, but with containers.
footloose
in action:
footloose
binaries can be downloaded from the release page:
curl -Lo footloose https://github.com/weaveworks/footloose/releases/download/0.6.3/footloose-0.6.3-linux-x86_64
chmod +x footloose
sudo mv footloose /usr/local/bin/
On macOS we provide a direct download and a homebrew tap:
curl --silent --location https://github.com/weaveworks/footloose/releases/download/0.6.3/footloose-0.6.3-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv footloose /usr/local/bin
or
brew tap weaveworks/tap
brew install weaveworks/tap/footloose
Alternatively, build and install footloose
from source. It requires having
go >= 1.11
installed:
GO111MODULE=on go get github.com/weaveworks/footloose
footloose
reads a description of the Cluster of Machines to create from a
file, by default named footloose.yaml
. An alternate name can be specified on
the command line with the --config
option or through the FOOTLOOSE_CONFIG
environment variable.
The config
command helps with creating the initial config file:
# Create a footloose.yaml config file. Instruct we want to create 3 machines.
footloose config create --replicas 3
Start the cluster:
$ footloose create
INFO[0000] Pulling image: quay.io/footloose/centos7 ...
INFO[0007] Creating machine: cluster-node0 ...
INFO[0008] Creating machine: cluster-node1 ...
INFO[0008] Creating machine: cluster-node2 ...
It only takes a second to create those machines. The first time
create
runs, it will pull the docker image used by thefootloose
containers so it will take a tiny bit longer.
SSH into a machine with:
$ footloose ssh root@node1
[root@1665288855f6 ~]# ps fx
PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
1 ? Ss 0:00 /sbin/init
23 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald
58 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/sshd -D
59 ? Ss 0:00 \_ sshd: root@pts/1
63 pts/1 Ss 0:00 \_ -bash
82 pts/1 R+ 0:00 \_ ps fx
62 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind
footloose
will default to running a centos 7 container image. The --image
argument of config create
can be used to configure the OS image. Valid OS
images are:
quay.io/footloose/centos7
quay.io/footloose/fedora29
quay.io/footloose/ubuntu16.04
quay.io/footloose/ubuntu18.04
quay.io/footloose/ubuntu20.04
quay.io/footloose/amazonlinux2
quay.io/footloose/debian10
quay.io/footloose/clearlinux
For example:
footloose config create --replicas 3 --image quay.io/footloose/fedora29
Ubuntu images need the --privileged
flag:
footloose config create --replicas 1 --image quay.io/footloose/ubuntu16.04 --privileged
footloose config create
creates a footloose.yaml
configuration file that is then
used by subsequent commands such as create
, delete
or ssh
. If desired,
the configuration file can be named differently and supplied with the
-c, --config
option.
$ footloose config create --replicas 3
$ cat footloose.yaml
cluster:
name: cluster
privateKey: cluster-key
machines:
- count: 3
backend: docker
spec:
image: quay.io/footloose/centos7
name: node%d
portMappings:
- containerPort: 22
If you want to use Ignite as the backend in order
to run real VMs, change to backend: ignite
.
cluster:
name: cluster
privateKey: cluster-key
machines:
- count: 3
backend: ignite
spec:
image: weaveworks/ignite-centos:7
name: node%d
portMappings:
- containerPort: 22
# All Ignite options shown below here are optional and can be omitted.
# These are the defaults:
ignite:
cpus: 2
memory: 1GB
diskSize: 4GB
kernel: weaveworks/ignite-ubuntu:4.19.47
This configuration can naturally be edited by hand. The full list of available parameters are in the reference documentation.
Interesting things can be done with footloose
!
- Customize the OS image
- Run Apache
- Specify which ports on the hosts should be bound to services
- Use Ansible to provision machines
- Run Docker inside
footloose
machines! - Isolation and DNS resolution with custom docker networks
- OpenShift with footloose
Under the hood, Container Machines are just containers. They can be
inspected with docker
:
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND NAMES
04c27967f76e quay.io/footloose/centos7 "/sbin/init" cluster-node2
1665288855f6 quay.io/footloose/centos7 "/sbin/init" cluster-node1
5134f80b733e quay.io/footloose/centos7 "/sbin/init" cluster-node0
The container names are derived from cluster.name
and
cluster.machines[].name
.
They run systemd
as PID 1, it's even possible to inspect the boot messages:
$ docker logs cluster-node1
systemd 219 running in system mode.
Detected virtualization docker.
Detected architecture x86-64.
Welcome to CentOS Linux 7 (Core)!
Set hostname to <1665288855f6>.
Initializing machine ID from random generator.
Failed to install release agent, ignoring: File exists
[ OK ] Created slice Root Slice.
[ OK ] Created slice System Slice.
[ OK ] Reached target Slices.
[ OK ] Listening on Journal Socket.
[ OK ] Reached target Local File Systems.
Starting Create Volatile Files and Directories...
[ OK ] Listening on Delayed Shutdown Socket.
[ OK ] Reached target Swap.
[ OK ] Reached target Paths.
Starting Journal Service...
[ OK ] Started Create Volatile Files and Directories.
[ OK ] Started Journal Service.
[ OK ] Reached target System Initialization.
[ OK ] Started Daily Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
[ OK ] Reached target Timers.
[ OK ] Listening on D-Bus System Message Bus Socket.
[ OK ] Reached target Sockets.
[ OK ] Reached target Basic System.
Starting OpenSSH Server Key Generation...
Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories...
[ OK ] Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
[ OK ] Started OpenSSH Server Key Generation.
Starting OpenSSH server daemon...
[ OK ] Started OpenSSH server daemon.
[ OK ] Reached target Multi-User System.
In principle yes, but it will also work with Docker container images and on MacOS as well.
We are a very friendly community and love questions, help and feedback.
If you have any questions, feedback, or problems with footloose
:
- Check out the examples.
- Join the discussion
- Invite yourself to the Weave community Slack.
- Ask a question on the #footloose Slack channel.
- Join the Weave User Group and get invited to online talks, hands-on training and meetups in your area.
- File an issue.
Weaveworks follows the CNCF Code of Conduct. Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting a Weaveworks project maintainer, or Alexis Richardson (alexis@weave.works).
Your feedback is always welcome!