Feature Request - LXD Container Support

[mattchooness]

Just curious if LXD container support was on the road map for GNS3. If not, I'd like to request this feature. It would be nice to have the lightweight performance of a container with the persistence of a VM. Thanks and keep up the good work.

[grossmj]

@mattchooness LXD container support is currently not on the roadmap. What would this bring over Docker container support that we already have?

[mattchooness]

LXD containers offer a lot of the advantages of VM's but they are light weight like docker containers. LXD containers don't virtualize the hardware unlike traditional VM's. LXD containers rely on the host kernel like Docker does. I run GNS3 natively on Linux so it would mean I could use less host resources to get the same functionality of a traditional VM. LXD containers are also stateful unlike Docker containers. LXD would only be useful for Linux guests as it relies on the host kernel but it could be another alternative to look into for times when you need a lightweight general purpose Linux instance for use in your project.

[grossmj]

Thanks, we will consider it after we release version 3.0

[mattchooness]

Thanks guys! Keep up the great work.

[greenpdx]

One feature that LXD has over Docker, is that you can customize each container very easy. To configure docker you have to change the dockerfile and run a new docker, with LXD all you have to do is ssh into the container and use apt to install new software( ubuntu or debian).

[jack9603301]

LXC/LXD are system-level containers, maybe more suitable for GNS, I support

[q2dg]

Systemd-nspawn is another alternative, already builtin on Systemd systems like Ubuntu is