systemd-nspawn is a tool for creating lightweight container sandboxes. It is part of the systemd suite of tools and is available on most Linux distributions. In this tutorial, we will go through the steps to install systemd-nspawn on Linux Mint and set up a basic container.
Before we install systemd-nspawn, it is important to ensure our package manager is up-to-date. Open a terminal and run this command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
This command will update the package lists and upgrade any outdated packages.
To install systemd-nspawn, we will use the package manager. Open a terminal and run the following command:
sudo apt install systemd-container
This command will install systemd-container, which includes systemd-nspawn, and any dependencies.
To verify the installation, run the following command:
systemd-nspawn --version
This command should output the version of systemd-nspawn.
Now that we have systemd-nspawn installed, we can create a container. In this example, we will create a container based on the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS image.
Open a terminal and create a directory for the container:
sudo mkdir /var/lib/container
Next, download the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS image:
sudo systemd-nspawn --directory /var/lib/container --boot --download --image ubuntu:20.04
This command will create a container in /var/lib/container and download the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS image. It will take some time to download the image, depending on your internet speed.
Once the command finishes, we can start the new container:
sudo systemd-nspawn --directory /var/lib/container --boot
This command will start the container, and you should see a new command prompt.
To test the container, run the following command:
cat /etc/os-release
This command should output information about the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS operating system, indicating that we are running inside the container.
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal
That's it! You have successfully installed systemd-nspawn on Linux Mint and created a basic container. You can now use systemd-nspawn to create more complex containers and experiment with different operating systems.
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