Lab 3.2 privilege container cannot start

gustavo.lucenagomez

Trying to start the container as per the Lab privilege part fails with:

lxc-start: priv-cont: lxccontainer.c: wait_on_daemonized_start: 877 Received container state "ABORTING" instead of "RUNNING"
 
lxc-start: priv-cont: tools/lxc_start.c: main: 306 The container failed to start
 
lxc-start: priv-cont: tools/lxc_start.c: main: 309 To get more details, run the container in foreground mode
 
lxc-start: priv-cont: tools/lxc_start.c: main: 311 Additional information can be obtained by setting the --logfile and --logpriority options

Here is the log:

sudo cat privcont | grep ERROR
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    cgfsng - cgroups/cgfsng.c:cg_legacy_set_data:2710 - No such file or directory - Failed to setup limits for the "devices" controller. The controller seems to be unused by "cgfsng" cgroup driver or not enabled on the cgroup hierarchy
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    cgfsng - cgroups/cgfsng.c:cgfsng_setup_limits_legacy:2777 - No such file or directory - Failed to set "devices.deny" to "a"
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    start - start.c:lxc_spawn:1896 - Failed to setup legacy device cgroup controller limits
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    lxccontainer - lxccontainer.c:wait_on_daemonized_start:877 - Received container state "ABORTING" instead of "RUNNING"
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:306 - The container failed to start
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:309 - To get more details, run the container in foreground mode
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.257 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:311 - Additional information can be obtained by setting the --logfile and --logpriority options
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133445.258 ERROR    start - start.c:__lxc_start:2074 - Failed to spawn container "priv-cont"
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    cgfsng - cgroups/cgfsng.c:cg_legacy_set_data:2710 - No such file or directory - Failed to setup limits for the "devices" controller. The controller seems to be unused by "cgfsng" cgroup driver or not enabled on the cgroup hierarchy
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    cgfsng - cgroups/cgfsng.c:cgfsng_setup_limits_legacy:2777 - No such file or directory - Failed to set "devices.deny" to "a"
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    start - start.c:lxc_spawn:1896 - Failed to setup legacy device cgroup controller limits
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    lxccontainer - lxccontainer.c:wait_on_daemonized_start:877 - Received container state "ABORTING" instead of "RUNNING"
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:306 - The container failed to start
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:309 - To get more details, run the container in foreground mode
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    lxc_start - tools/lxc_start.c:main:311 - Additional information can be obtained by setting the --logfile and --logpriority options
 
lxc-start priv-cont 20220524133658.619 ERROR    start - start.c:__lxc_start:2074 - Failed to spawn container "priv-cont"
 

The host is a VM running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. All the previous steps of the Lab 3.2 went well. Searching online did not help.

Any thoughts?

chrispokorni

Hi @gustavo.lucenagomez,

Did you happen to try the lab on the recommended guest OS Ubuntu 20.04 LTS? The current format of the lab guide has been tested on 20.04 LTS, and not yet on 22.04 LTS. I would expect things to change when the lab content will migrate to the latest LTS release.

Regards,
-Chris

gustavo.lucenagomez

Hey there @chrispokorni. Thank you for trying to help. Unfortunately no, I haven't tried it on 20.045 nor do I have the possiblity of doing so. In any case, if the distribution is the only source of the problem, it should be doable to find a solution I think ... :-)

gustavo.lucenagomez

(or do you think it is such a bad idea to try and proceed with this course on 22.04 ?)

chrispokorni

Hi @gustavo.lucenagomez,

I am currently investigating on Ubuntu 22 but I am not seeing consistent results. For me, the privileged container starts, but the unprivileged container does not. On Ubuntu 20 it is the exact opposite. So as of yet I do not have a workaround that would produce consistent results across environments.

Regards,
-Chris

gustavo.lucenagomez

I see, thanks.

Should I expect more trouble down the road ? Would you advise I restart the course on a 20.04 Ubuntu? I mean I don't care about this particular exercise, it is the rest of the course that worries me

chrispokorni

Hi @gustavo.lucenagomez,

As of now, I only know of potential issues when installing Podman and Buildah in later chapters. All LXC, Podman, and Buildah related issues happened almost at once, at the same time as other Open Source projects have suffered minor complications. It all seems unrelated, but unexpected and frustrating nonetheless.

While a temp workaround is posted here for Podman (on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS), I have yet to review the entire content of the lab guide to assess the overall impact and update steps where possibly needed.

Regards,
-Chris

gustavo.lucenagomez

Thanks.