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| Re: vzpkgcache centos-4-i386-default no longer work [message #31285 is a reply to message #31250] |
Tue, 24 June 2008 05:09   |
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dowdle
Messages: 261
Registered: December 2005
Location: Bozeman, Montana
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Senior Member |
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You don't seem to have an understanding of how vzpkgcache works. You have to have a vztmpl package for each distribution you want to build an OS Template for... and in your example you are trying to build a CentOS 5 OS Template cache when you don't have a vztmpl file for CentOS 5 installed.
The vztmpl package basically sets up the yum repositories and adds a few dummy packages for the distro it is for... and then vzyum downloads all of the packages, installs them to a temporary directory, and then tar-gzs' that directory into a new OS Template, and then deletes the temporary directory.
vztmpl packages haven't really been keeping up with newer distributions. In fact, there are only a small handful of them and not an official package for CentOS 5, although if you search the OpenVZ forums hard enough you'll find one made by a guy name Steve (that I helped test).
Using vzpkgcache and vzyum and the lack of newer vztmpl packages has caused this method of creating OS Templates to fall out of favor with some of us.
The centos-4-i386-default.tar.gz file you download is an OS Template that has already been created and can be used with vzctl create. Basically it is the end target from a vzpkgcache command... so downloading it won't help with that... but you can use it as an --ostemplate for vzctl create.
If you want a CentOS 5 OS Template, the easiest thing to do woudl be to download a pre-created one. There don't appear to be any "official" ones but there are some in "contrib".
--
TYL, Scott Dowdle
Belgrade, Montana, USA
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| Re: vzpkgcache centos-4-i386-default no longer work (vztmpl dead?) [message #31414 is a reply to message #31285] |
Fri, 27 June 2008 17:16 |
steve
Messages: 25
Registered: June 2007
Location: Orange County, California
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Junior Member |
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| dowdle wrote on Mon, 23 June 2008 22:09 |
vztmpl packages haven't really been keeping up with newer distributions. In fact, there are only a small handful of them and not an official package for CentOS 5, although if you search the OpenVZ forums hard enough you'll find one made by a guy name Steve (that I helped test).
Using vzpkgcache and vzyum and the lack of newer vztmpl packages has caused this method of creating OS Templates to fall out of favor with some of us.
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OK, I'm the guy, Steve, who put the vztmpl package together for CentOS 5 that works properly by keeping the unnecessary udev package from entering the fray. I believe that the problem might have been corrected in the kernel by adding the "CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS" option in the config (http://bugzilla.openvz.org/show_bug.cgi?id=578). However, it is obvious that at some point this method will no longer be possible. The vzrpm and vzyum utilities are already known not to work with Python 2.5 (most likely will be in RHEL 6) or x64 host node OS installs.
What I'm wondering is why this method of creating OS Templates is apparently falling out of favor with the development team. As I see it, centralized patch management, which this encourages, makes OpenVZ more of an enterprise-level system. It also encourages the easiest method to create templates for various new rpm-based distros. Turning away from this approach makes the project appear less relevant in the fast-moving world of OS Virtualization.
Seeing how intimately involved the developers of this project are with Linux kernel development, I'm wondering if they know something that we don't. Is the integration of this kind of container virtualization into the Linux kernel so close that it makes this sort of exercise no longer needed?
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| Re: vzpkgcache centos-4-i386-default no longer work (vztmpl dead?) [message #31417 is a reply to message #31414] |
Fri, 27 June 2008 17:52 |
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dowdle
Messages: 261
Registered: December 2005
Location: Bozeman, Montana
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Senior Member |
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Steve,
I agree... it would be great to have the following:
1) Current vztmpl packages for all rpm-based distros
2) Updated vzyum / vzpkgcache commands that will work on newer RHEL/CentOS releases including x86_64
I'm not sure why development / maintenance of them has fallen behind... but I know I can't fix them.
With containers moving into the mainline kernel the future of OpenVZ does look uncertain... and as a result I think (although I don't have an evidence one way or another) that the efforts put into OpenVZ development have been reduced some. The RHEL4 and RHEL5 based kernels are lagging a few versions behind... as Red Hat cranks out new versions quite frequently... and there hasn't been a stable branch newer than 2.6.18 released.
I can see that there are a number of background activities going on but without some sort of periodic "what's going on now" from Kir, it is hard to know what is going on. I know he has been working on the wiki, switching from the old site... and I believe he is working on an automated built system for OS Templates (maybe for Virtuozzo and/or OpenVZ, I'm not sure).
There is an OpenVZ community... but not much of an OpenVZ development community... outside of the folks at SWsoft/Parallels. That has kind of been the nature of OpenVZ since the beginning.
I believe Parallels' goals are to help get containers into the mainline kernel so they are well positioned as a provider of management systems... and they are very busy with their own products.
If some additional folks want to get involved in development (I don't have the programming skills myself) we might be able to get some of these issues taken care of.
Having said that... not having the desired things I mentioned at the start of this post... aren't that big of a deal because we can work around them... and the message about how to work around seems to be getting out ok.
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TYL, Scott Dowdle
Belgrade, Montana, USA
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