I tried systemctl on the host
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ # systemctl status -M clone-messagerie
Failed to read server status: Transport endpoint is not connected
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ #
Best,
--
Yassine -- Sysadmin and SMTP Whisperer, delivering mail and bad puns since 2014.
57 70
023 50 01 11
Le 2/18/25 à 11:53, Yassine Chaouche a écrit :
Hello all,
I have been advised to use systemd-nspawn and machinectl in place of chroot to run services from a cloned, working remote host.
The cloning was done using rsync of the root filesystem (/) into a location in the new host,
then linking that location from /var/lib/machines/
When I start the machine with nspawn -bD
I get the login prompt from both the nspawn command itself
and from subsequent machinectl login commands (additional shells),
but the UID shifting doesn't happen,
and this is adds a layer of troubleshooting I'd like to avoid when diagnosing why a particular service isn't running in the container
(mysql for example)
If I then stop the container,
and start with machinectl start instead,
I have no errors when starting it,
but when I try to login with machinectl login I get the following error about dbus,
which I didn't have with nspawn:
# machinectl login clone-messagerie
Failed to get login PTY: There is no system bus in container clone-messagerie.
#
but the machine seems to be running just fine,
and UID shift is applied:
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ # machinectl status clone-messagerie
clone-messagerie(823952398253425ab703ecef4bdd936e)
Since: Tue 2025-02-18 11:31:43 CET; 9min ago
Leader: 251356 (systemd)
Service: systemd-nspawn; class container
Root: /mnt/anciennevar/clone-messagerie
Iface: ve-clone-me-Nbp
OS: Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie)
UID Shift: 38928384
Unit: systemd-nspawn@clone-messagerie.service
├─payload
│ ├─251356 /lib/systemd/systemd
│ ├─251426 /lib/systemd/systemd-journald
│ ├─251669 /usr/bin/freshclam -d --foreground=true
│ ├─251670 /usr/sbin/atd -f
│ ├─251673 /usr/sbin/cron -f
│ ├─251704 /usr/sbin/opendkim -x /etc/opendkim.conf -u postfix -P /var/run/opendkim/opendkim.pid
│ ├─251763 /usr/sbin/irqbalance --pid=/var/run/irqbalance.pid
│ ├─251768 /usr/sbin/ntpd -p /var/run/ntpd.pid -g -u 112:119
│ ├─251947 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─251993 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─251994 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─251997 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─251999 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─252000 /usr/sbin/apache2 -k start
│ ├─252166 /usr/bin/python /usr/bin/fail2ban-server -b -s /var/run/fail2ban/fail2ban.sock -p /var/run/fail2ban/fail2ban.pid
│ ├─252572 /usr/sbin/rsyslogd -n
│ ├─252574 /usr/sbin/acpid
│ └─252579 /usr/sbin/sshd -D
└─supervisor
└─251354 systemd-nspawn --quiet --keep-unit --boot --link-journal=try-guest --network-veth -U --settings=override --machine=clone-messagerie
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: starts FusionInventory Agent.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: Apache2 web server.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: Starts and daemonize Glances server.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: disk temperature monitoring daemon.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: Start NTP daemon.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: Starts amavisd-new mailfilter.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started LSB: Start/stop fail2ban.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started Permit User Sessions.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started Initialize hardware monitoring sensors.
Feb 18 11:32:59 messagerie-recup systemd-nspawn[251354]: [ OK ] Started System Logging Service.
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ #
After a few minutes,
a second attempt at login in resulted in a different error message:
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ # machinectl login clone-messagerie
Failed to get login PTY: Connection timed out
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ #
same with machinectl shell:
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ # machinectl shell clone-messagerie
Failed to get login PTY: Connection timed out
root@messagerie-recup[10.10.10.20] ~ #
I would really appreciate a little help to get me started using nspawn and machinectl.
By the way, I have added the pts lines (pts/{0..9}) in the container's /etc/securetty file.
The host OS is :
systemd 252
debian 12
Container OS is :
systemd 215
debian 8
Best,
--
yassine -- sysadm
http://about.me/ychaouche
Looking for side gigs.
