> On Linux Xen performance is really good.

I am used to setup and configure jails from the host system while I can
seamlessly write to the ZFS because it is under
/zpool/jails/<myjail>/<timestamp>

So an upgrade is simply a stop of the jail with the old <timestamp>
directory and start the new one.

A /var/db/mysql gets "transferred" by changing the mountpoint.

The filesystem is shared, no voodoo to increase a disk image needed. (I can
use quota if there is a need)

The same goes for the memory, no pre-allocation and slicing needed
(resource management via rctl possible if needed).

I safe diskspace because the jail filesystems are simply cloned from a
template
 (only deltas of the filesystems per jail are written)

An exact copy of the jail can be mirrored quickly on another box via zfs
snapshot, zfs send | ssh zfs receive. To bring it up is a oneliner (more
automagic with CARP or VRRP and heartbeats if you want)

The kernel cannot be patched dynamically, that's true. But with 2 or 3
kernel security issues per year it is a bit less of a worry for many
environments. 30 minutes downtime per year isn't too bad, and it's
realistic without high-availability added yet. It's more than 99.99%
availability.

I am using VMware ESXi and CentOS7 now. It's a huge step backwards.

Regards
Peter

On Fri, Aug 14, 2015 at 8:16 PM, Russell Coker <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Fri, 14 Aug 2015 04:18:28 PM Peter Ross wrote:
> > There are 2 things:
> >
> > 1. To add more functionality in the same tool increases complexity.
> >
> > Complexity never increases security.
>
> That depends on what you do and how you do it.  If you add some complexity
> to
> one central place and remove it from many other places that's often an
> overall
> benefit.
>
> > Do everything once, do not make it more complex as needed, and do it
> right.
>
> Which is the benefit of replacing /etc/init.d/ script functionality with
> code
> in systemd.
>
> > 2. Linux has cgroups and namespaces but some Linux design decisions are
> in
> > the way of using them as _secure_ containers.
>
> Greater use of cgroups and namespaces by systemd should be an incentive for
> development of better kernel support.
>
> > FreeBSD jail(8) is in use for many years and can be considered as safe.
> The
> > pitfalls are known, disabled in the default setup, well documented, and
> > there are no 'hopefully safe"s in it.
>
> I agree that having functionality like jail in the Linux kernel would be a
> good thing.  This is not related to systemd though.
>
> > "Which is still a minor issue compared to web browsers, MUAs..'
> >
> > They do not run on my servers, and they should not be an excuse to run
> > other software which is overly complex because Russell considers it as a
> > "lesser evil";-)
>
> Systemd is optional and as Rick has demonstrated any sysadmin who doesn't
> want
> it on Debian can remove it with ease.  It's less optional on GNOME and most
> desktop sysadmins won't even try removing it if they run KDE.  So I think
> that
> these supposed security risks should be considered in the context of
> desktop
> users.
>
> > To go to your own stuff, e.g. SELinux:
> >
> > A jail script can be subject to SELinux policies so jails can be
> restricted
> > that way. This would apply to all jails, and nothing else.
>
> That's usually not what you want.  You probably want to have multiple jails
> with different security contexts.
>
> > If this is part of a larger binary which does all of init: SELinux cannot
> > be applied in a similar way.
>
> Sure it can.  The init system could request different contexts for each of
> the
> jails (this can be added to systemd unit files if it isn't already there)
> or
> the executables to run in the jails could have different contexts.
>
> I wrote policy for multiple chroot environments many years ago but it got
> deleted in the change to the modular "reference" policy.  But it would be
> possible to do that again if there was demand.
>
> On Linux Xen performance is really good.  The only situation where
> something
> like Docker would be a good idea is if you have ZFS storing all the data
> and
> don't want to be hobbled by poor NFS performance to the virtual machine.
>
> --
> My Main Blog         http://etbe.coker.com.au/
> My Documents Blog    http://doc.coker.com.au/
>
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