Does anybody know, why it’s not compiled in since 2.6.18 anymore?

At first install nessesary packages:

# aptitude -t sarge-backports install lvm2\
util-vserver coreutils linux-image-2.6-vserver-686

Create Volume and Group:

Replace ‘/dev/hda3′ to your own needs!

# pvcreate /dev/hda3
Physical volume “/dev/hda3″ successfully created
# vgcreate vg0 /dev/hda3
Volume group “vg0″ successfully created

Create a Logical Volume

# lvcreate -L2048 -n vserver1 vg0
Logical volume “vserver1″ created

Create and mount Filesystem, installing base system into vserver and stopping it:

# mkfs -t ext3 -j /dev/vg0/vserver1
# mkdir /var/lib/vservers/vserver1
# mount -t ext3 /dev/vg0/vserver1 /var/lib/vservers/vserver1
# vserver vserver1 build -n vserver1 \
–hostname vserver1.vs.domain.net \
–interface eth0:10.0.0.1/32 -m debootstrap — -d sarge \
-m ftp://ftp.debian.org/debian
# vserver vserver1 stop
# umount /var/lib/vservers/vserver1

Vroot operations and attaching vroot to LVM partition (and detaching again)

‘/dev/vroot3′ is used, cause we use ‘/dev/hda3′ in our example. Please adjust it!

# e2fsck -p /dev/vg0/vserver1
# mount /dev/vg0/vserver1 /var/lib/vservers/vserver1
# rm -f /var/lib/vservers/vserver1/dev/hdv1
# vrsetup /dev/vroot3 /dev/vg0/vserver1 # vroot3 cause /dev/hda3
# cp -fa /dev/vroot3 /var/lib/vservers/vserver1/dev/hdv1
# mount -o remount,ro /dev/vg0/vserver1
# umount /dev/vg0/vserver1
# vrsetup -d /dev/vroot3

Enable Quota Capabilities:

# echo “quota_ctl” >> /etc/vservers/vserver1/ccapabilites

Starting Vserver:

# e2fsck -p /dev/vg0/vserver1
# mount /dev/vg0/vserver1 /var/lib/vservers/vserver1
# rm -f /var/lib/vservers/vserver1/dev/hdv1
# vrsetup /dev/vroot3 /dev/vg0/vserver1
# cp -fa /dev/vroot3 /var/lib/vservers/vserver1/dev/hdv1
# vserver vserver1 start

Make it start and stopping automaticaly:

# vserver vserver1 stop
# sed -i s/MARK=default/MARK=production/ /etc/default/util-vserver
# echo “production” > /etc/vservers/vserver1/apps/init/mark
# sed -i s/AUTO=false/AUTO=true/ /etc/default/util-vserver
# wget -O /usr/local/sbin/vserver-mount-fs \
ftp://ftp.cyconet.org/pub/debian/scripts/vserver-mount-fs
# wget -O /usr/local/sbin/mount-lvm-vservers \
ftp://ftp.cyconet.org/pub/debian/scripts/mount-lvm-vservers
# chmod 700 /usr/local/sbin/mount-lvm-vservers
# chmod 700 /usr/local/sbin/vserver-mount-fs
# echo “/dev/vg0″ > /etc/vservers/vserver1/apps/init/lv_exists
# update-rc.d mount-lvm-vservers defaults 20 21

That should be all to make it work! :-)

There are some pitfalls:

* /boot – If you use an initrd ramdisc, you shouldn’t setup /boot on the LV, cause you need the ramdisc to access the logical volume, which is on the LV in this case. :)

* swap on the LV – you dont want this! The performance will be bad cause normally the data is written near together. But with LV your data will be written across multiple zones and your swap will slow down.

* Rescue System – needs LVM support. Take care on choosing your rescue cd. For example Gentoo 2006.0 LiveCD should work well.

* Wrong filesystem – You did choose to use LV to be flexible, but is your filesystem flexible enought too? With Ext3 you can online and offline expand and reduce, the latter with kernel patch. Reiser-FS is able to online expand but only to reduce offline. XFS and JFS can be expanded online but not reduced neither online nor offline.

* Check if your (backup-) restore scenario supports LV and the filesystem you choosed

# echo “X11UseLocalhost no” > /etc/ssh/ssh_config
# /etc/init.d/ssh restart

# aptitude install -t sarge-backports util-vserver \
linux-image-2.6-vserver-<arch>

This may be a good moment to reboot your host system. :)

Following the setup process of the virtual server will guide you to a running guest system.

The next step is to configure your base system with:

# vserver <vserver name> start
# vserver <vserver name> exec base-config

But I would recommand you to escape the dialog after configurating apt and installing packages.
Next step would be to install ssh with:

# vserver <vserver name> exec aptitude install ssh

There are some corners you have to solve:

For running bind9 you have to disable ‘OPTIONS=”-u bind”‘ in /etc/default/bind9, cause there are some problems with its capabilities. You also need to force rndc to use your vserver ip in /etc/rndc.conf:

options {
default-server <vserver ip>;
};

For running postfix you need to bind it to your vserver ip in /etc/postfix/main.cf:

inet_interfaces = <vserver ip>

Mysql needs also bind to vserver ip in /etc/mysql/my.cnf, but keep in mind that with the shiped config you are only allowed to connect from localhost, so you need to get managed permissions:

bind-address = <vserver ip>

So if you have trouble starting any daemon, try to bind it to your local ip. Openssh didnt make any trouble for me.
You may also find usefull:

# vserver <vserver name> enter

Updates to other daemons or issues may follow.

Possibly this article about LVM and quota with vserver will be interesting.