How to build a lightweight system container cluster

This article is more than 6 years old.


LXD, the system container manager, developed by Canonical and shipped by default with Ubuntu, makes it possible to create many containers of various Linux distributions and manage them in a way similar to virtual machines (VMs) but with lower overhead costs associated with them.

Unlike VMs, containers have the benefit of using a shared kernel such as; kernel security updates in Ubuntu, Livepatch support, minimal memory footprint, ease of sharing resources and an extremely low CPU usage/wakeups at idle.

This whitepaper explores the use of LXD containers as part of a team development environment, effectively setting up a shared lab on physical hardware or in the cloud.

You will learn how working in this environment:

  • Reduces the time spent by team members getting a functional work environment
  • Makes it easy to collaborate with colleagues, accessing their containers if needed
  • Makes it possible to access the work environment of team members who are on leave
  • Better use and control of resources by using shared systems
  • Easy to implement snapshots and backups, huge time savers when a mistake happens

To view the whitepaper, complete the below form:

Fast, dense, and secure container and VM management at any scale

LXD brings flexible resource limits, advanced snapshot and networking support, and better security — all making for easier, leaner and more robust containerised solutions and VMs.

Find out how LXD simplifies VM management ›

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