[lxc-users] LXD project status

I'm sure stgraber will weigh in to provide the details of the
project's long-term plans, but here are a few things to think about
meanwhile:

1. It looks like they're preparing for LXD 3.0. This hasn't taken the
shape of any stable releases since December, true, but there are
frequent beta releases -- here's the commit for beta 7 just recently,
and it seems there's been a beta approximately weekly since about the
new year. https://github.com/lxc/lxd/commit/8cc13c42f1c34408ca66b875394ffa81ff70fa59

2. A lack of consistent releases doesn't necessarily mean a project is
dead. It can mean the project is in a really good state right now and
doesn't really need improvement, or the developers are spending a lot
of time working on big new features that require a lot of work before
anything can be demoed or merged into master, even in prerelease
shape.

3. If you're planning to use LXD for a commercial purpose, I would
strongly suggest investing in paid support from Canonical to get that
extra assurance of the continuity of support longer term. They still
offer this on their website, which tells me they must be retaining
some LXD developers who can help you and actually provide that
support, including patches if you find bugs that are breaking your
production workloads. Your investment in LXD support would also go a
long way to helping ensure the project remains maintained for the
foreseeable future, even if you don't need any patches yourself.

Canonical may have had some spectacular product failures in recent
years (Ubuntu Phone, Unity among others), but I don't think LXD is
among them. And in any case, when you are assessing the activity of a
project, check the Git commit logs (including in feature branches, not
just master) rather than the releases -- releases don't say a whole
lot about a product's activity; Git commits are a finer-grained
indicator.

Good luck,

Sean

This is probably a message that Stephane Graber can answer most effectively,
but I just want to know that the LXD project is continuing to move forward.
Our organization did extensive testing of LXD in 2016 and some follow-up
research in 2017 and plan to utilize this as our virtualization solution
starting in April of this year. In 2017, there were updates to LXD at least
once a month, but the news has been very quiet since December.
To properly test LXD as it would work in our environment, we did extensive
lab work with it back in 2016 and some follow-up testing in 2017. While we
realize that there are no guarantees in our industry, I'd just like to know
that, at least for now, LXD is still a viable project and that development
hasn't suddenly come to a screeching halt.
Thanks for your consideration.
Steve Spencer
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Stéphane Graber

2018-03-27 17:44:20 UTC

Post by Steven Spencer
This is probably a message that Stephane Graber can answer most
effectively, but I just want to know that the LXD project is continuing to
move forward. Our organization did extensive testing of LXD in 2016 and
some follow-up research in 2017 and plan to utilize this as our
virtualization solution starting in April of this year. In 2017, there were
updates to LXD at least once a month, but the news has been very quiet
since December.
To properly test LXD as it would work in our environment, we did extensive
lab work with it back in 2016 and some follow-up testing in 2017. While we
realize that there are no guarantees in our industry, I'd just like to know
that, at least for now, LXD is still a viable project and that development
hasn't suddenly come to a screeching halt.
Thanks for your consideration.
Steve Spencer

We normally release a new feature release every month and have been
doing so until the end of December where we've then turned our focus on
our next Long Term Support release, LXD 3.0 which is due out later this
week.

So It's actually been much more busy since December than it was before,
as we included a number of major features such as LXD clustering.

To track project activity, you may be interested in reading our weekly
status updates:

https://discuss.linuxcontainers.org/tags/weekly

--
Stéphane Graber
Ubuntu developer
http://www.ubuntu.com

Michel Jansens

2018-03-27 18:45:03 UTC

Hi StÃ©phane,

Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?

Cheers,
Michel

Post by StÃ©phane Graber
We normally release a new feature release every month and have been
doing so until the end of December where we've then turned our focus on
our next Long Term Support release, LXD 3.0 which is due out later this
week.

Stéphane Graber

2018-03-27 19:02:02 UTC

Yes

Hi Stéphane,
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?
Cheers,
Michel

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http://www.ubuntu.com

Michel Jansens

2018-03-27 19:05:22 UTC

Great!, I’m looking forward to that :-)

Michel

Post by StÃ©phane Graber
Yes

Hi Stéphane,
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?
Cheers,
Michel

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--
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http://www.ubuntu.com
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Steven Spencer

2018-03-27 20:39:55 UTC

Thanks for all of the comments back.

Per Sean McNamara's numbered remarks:

1.) That makes sense and it is what I figured
2.) I'm fully aware of project status coming into a stable state, I was
just trying for some clarity, which both you and StÃ©phane have provided
3.) This is always a good idea and I may personally contribute. I can't
necessarily depend on my company to do so, even thought that is the way
things /should/ work.

Per StÃ©phane Graber:

Thanks again, that all makes sense.

Great!, Iâm looking forward to that :-)
Michel

Yes

Post by Michel Jansens
Hi StÃ©phane,
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?
Cheers,
Michel

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--
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http://www.ubuntu.com
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gunnar.wagner

2018-03-29 01:32:55 UTC

Post by Michel Jansens
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?

I guess (as LXD is using snap packages by default, right) it's not a
matter of distribution any lomnger but more of distribution able to run
snap packages well (which not every distribution does as far as I know
[i.e. OpenSUSE])

Simos Xenitellis

2018-03-29 12:44:19 UTC

On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 4:32 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by Michel Jansens
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?

I guess (as LXD is using snap packages by default, right) it's not a matter
of distribution any lomnger but more of distribution able to run snap
packages well (which not every distribution does as far as I know [i.e.
OpenSUSE])

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be based on LXD 3.0.xx, supported until 2018+5y = 2023.
Those that have the LXD snap ('lxd', stable channel), are likely to
get upgraded to 3.1, 3.2 and so on,
as the new versions appear.
It was mentioned on the forum in December that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will
have by default the .deb version of LXD 3.0.

This happened with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which has LXD 2.0.xx (currently at 2.0.11)
and is supported until 2021. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was launched with the
new LXD 2.0 at that time.

When you do 'snap info lxd', you get

...
channels:
stable: 2.21 (5866) 49MB -
candidate: 2.21 (6005) 51MB -
beta: 3.0.0.beta7 (6240) 55MB -
edge: git-9a60cd9 (6251) 55MB -
2.0/stable: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/candidate: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/beta: ↑
2.0/edge: git-d71807e (6069) 20MB -

which means that there is the option to switch to the snap 'LTS'
version of LXD 2.0 ('2.0/stable').

Simos

gunnar.wagner

2018-03-30 03:08:15 UTC

so the 'snap-only' policy I thought would be applied for LXD is not that
strict then and traditional .deb packages still exist?

Post by Simos Xenitellis
On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 4:32 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by Michel Jansens
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?

I guess (as LXD is using snap packages by default, right) it's not a matter
of distribution any lomnger but more of distribution able to run snap
packages well (which not every distribution does as far as I know [i.e.
OpenSUSE])

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be based on LXD 3.0.xx, supported until 2018+5y = 2023.
Those that have the LXD snap ('lxd', stable channel), are likely to
get upgraded to 3.1, 3.2 and so on,
as the new versions appear.
It was mentioned on the forum in December that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will
have by default the .deb version of LXD 3.0.
This happened with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which has LXD 2.0.xx (currently at 2.0.11)
and is supported until 2021. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was launched with the
new LXD 2.0 at that time.
When you do 'snap info lxd', you get
...
stable: 2.21 (5866) 49MB -
candidate: 2.21 (6005) 51MB -
beta: 3.0.0.beta7 (6240) 55MB -
edge: git-9a60cd9 (6251) 55MB -
2.0/stable: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/candidate: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/beta: â
2.0/edge: git-d71807e (6069) 20MB -
which means that there is the option to switch to the snap 'LTS'
version of LXD 2.0 ('2.0/stable').
Simos
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District, 201112 Shanghai, P.R. CHINA
mob +86.159.0094.1702 | skype: professorgunrad | wechat: 15900941702

Simos Xenitellis

2018-03-30 14:40:30 UTC

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 6:08 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by gunnar.wagner
so the 'snap-only' policy I thought would be applied for LXD is not that
strict then and traditional .deb packages still exist?

The way I see it, is that it is just Ubuntu 18.04 LTS that gets the .deb package
and will keep having it until 2018+5=2023.

Ubuntu 16.04 will keep having LXD 2.0.x from the deb repositories
until 2016+5=2021.

Is it such an issue to have the snap version of LXD?

Simos

Post by gunnar.wagner
On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 4:32 AM, gunnar.wagner
Does this means LXD 3.0 will be part of Ubuntu 18.04 next month?
I guess (as LXD is using snap packages by default, right) it's not a matter
of distribution any lomnger but more of distribution able to run snap
packages well (which not every distribution does as far as I know [i.e.
OpenSUSE])
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be based on LXD 3.0.xx, supported until 2018+5y = 2023.
Those that have the LXD snap ('lxd', stable channel), are likely to
get upgraded to 3.1, 3.2 and so on,
as the new versions appear.
It was mentioned on the forum in December that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will
have by default the .deb version of LXD 3.0.
This happened with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which has LXD 2.0.xx (currently at 2.0.11)
and is supported until 2021. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was launched with the
new LXD 2.0 at that time.
When you do 'snap info lxd', you get
...
stable: 2.21 (5866) 49MB -
candidate: 2.21 (6005) 51MB -
beta: 3.0.0.beta7 (6240) 55MB -
edge: git-9a60cd9 (6251) 55MB -
2.0/stable: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/candidate: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/beta: ↑
2.0/edge: git-d71807e (6069) 20MB -
which means that there is the option to switch to the snap 'LTS'
version of LXD 2.0 ('2.0/stable').
Simos
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Saint Michael

2018-03-31 00:42:49 UTC

I am using LCX, plain vanilla. Is there a reading the can help me move to
LXD 3.0? I am afraid I cannot see why would anybody use LXD vs regular LXC.
I can do anything I need, so far, with LXC. To copy a container to another
server I use rsync with some special parameters.
In general what is the great advantage of using LXD?

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 10:40 AM, Simos Xenitellis <

Post by Simos Xenitellis
On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 6:08 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by gunnar.wagner
so the 'snap-only' policy I thought would be applied for LXD is not that
strict then and traditional .deb packages still exist?

The way I see it, is that it is just Ubuntu 18.04 LTS that gets the .deb package
and will keep having it until 2018+5=2023.
Ubuntu 16.04 will keep having LXD 2.0.x from the deb repositories
until 2016+5=2021.
Is it such an issue to have the snap version of LXD?
Simos

matter

Post by gunnar.wagner
of distribution any lomnger but more of distribution able to run snap
packages well (which not every distribution does as far as I know [i.e.
OpenSUSE])
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be based on LXD 3.0.xx, supported until 2018+5y = 2023.
Those that have the LXD snap ('lxd', stable channel), are likely to
get upgraded to 3.1, 3.2 and so on,
as the new versions appear.
It was mentioned on the forum in December that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will
have by default the .deb version of LXD 3.0.
This happened with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which has LXD 2.0.xx (currently at 2.0.11)
and is supported until 2021. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was launched with the
new LXD 2.0 at that time.
When you do 'snap info lxd', you get
...
stable: 2.21 (5866) 49MB -
candidate: 2.21 (6005) 51MB -
beta: 3.0.0.beta7 (6240) 55MB -
edge: git-9a60cd9 (6251) 55MB -
2.0/stable: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/candidate: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/beta: â
2.0/edge: git-d71807e (6069) 20MB -
which means that there is the option to switch to the snap 'LTS'
version of LXD 2.0 ('2.0/stable').
Simos
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District, 201112 Shanghai, P.R. CHINA
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Sean McNamara

2018-03-31 00:53:14 UTC

Post by Saint Michael
I am using LCX, plain vanilla. Is there a reading the can help me move to
LXD 3.0? I am afraid I cannot see why would anybody use LXD vs regular LXC.
I can do anything I need, so far, with LXC. To copy a container to another
server I use rsync with some special parameters.
In general what is the great advantage of using LXD?

LXD is based on the same technologies as LXC, and has no special
kernel component, so it can only use the same kernel interfaces LXC
uses for containerization. So from that perspective, anything you can
do with LXC, you can do with LXD, and vice versa.

A major benefit of LXD is in the simplicity of setting up containers
that are isolated from the host and eachother, with the ability to
treat them like VMs with your security posture. To achieve that on LXC
is significantly more work.

Also, networking is IMO significantly easier with LXD for many common
setups. You won't notice much easier networking in LXD 2.0, but the
latest stable release (2.21) is certainly nice with the amount of work
it does for you.

The goal of LXD is to become as secure and simple as something like
kvm/qemu/vmware/virtualbox, but without any of the overhead of a
hypervisor, kernel on top of kernel, filesystem on top of filesystem,
etc.

See also: https://discuss.linuxcontainers.org/t/comparing-lxd-vs-lxc/24

Sean

Post by Saint Michael
On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 10:40 AM, Simos Xenitellis

Post by Simos Xenitellis
On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 6:08 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by gunnar.wagner
so the 'snap-only' policy I thought would be applied for LXD is not that
strict then and traditional .deb packages still exist?

The way I see it, is that it is just Ubuntu 18.04 LTS that gets the .deb package
and will keep having it until 2018+5=2023.
Ubuntu 16.04 will keep having LXD 2.0.x from the deb repositories
until 2016+5=2021.
Is it such an issue to have the snap version of LXD?
Simos

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lxc-users mailing list
http://lists.linuxcontainers.org/listinfo/lxc-users

Saint Michael

2018-03-31 01:09:53 UTC

How do I get LXD 3.0 into regular ubuntu server 16.04.4 LTS (GNU/Linux
4.12.14-041214-generic x86_64)?

Post by Saint Michael
I am using LCX, plain vanilla. Is there a reading the can help me move to
LXD 3.0? I am afraid I cannot see why would anybody use LXD vs regular

LXC.

Post by Saint Michael
I can do anything I need, so far, with LXC. To copy a container to

another

Post by Saint Michael
server I use rsync with some special parameters.
In general what is the great advantage of using LXD?

LXD is based on the same technologies as LXC, and has no special
kernel component, so it can only use the same kernel interfaces LXC
uses for containerization. So from that perspective, anything you can
do with LXC, you can do with LXD, and vice versa.
A major benefit of LXD is in the simplicity of setting up containers
that are isolated from the host and eachother, with the ability to
treat them like VMs with your security posture. To achieve that on LXC
is significantly more work.
Also, networking is IMO significantly easier with LXD for many common
setups. You won't notice much easier networking in LXD 2.0, but the
latest stable release (2.21) is certainly nice with the amount of work
it does for you.
The goal of LXD is to become as secure and simple as something like
kvm/qemu/vmware/virtualbox, but without any of the overhead of a
hypervisor, kernel on top of kernel, filesystem on top of filesystem,
etc.
See also: https://discuss.linuxcontainers.org/t/comparing-lxd-vs-lxc/24
Sean

Post by Saint Michael
On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 10:40 AM, Simos Xenitellis

Post by Simos Xenitellis
On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 6:08 AM, gunnar.wagner

Post by gunnar.wagner
so the 'snap-only' policy I thought would be applied for LXD is not

that

Post by gunnar.wagner
strict then and traditional .deb packages still exist?

The way I see it, is that it is just Ubuntu 18.04 LTS that gets the .deb package
and will keep having it until 2018+5=2023.
Ubuntu 16.04 will keep having LXD 2.0.x from the deb repositories
until 2016+5=2021.
Is it such an issue to have the snap version of LXD?
Simos

[i.e.

Post by gunnar.wagner
OpenSUSE])
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will be based on LXD 3.0.xx, supported until 2018+5y

Post by gunnar.wagner
2023.
Those that have the LXD snap ('lxd', stable channel), are likely to
get upgraded to 3.1, 3.2 and so on,
as the new versions appear.
It was mentioned on the forum in December that Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will
have by default the .deb version of LXD 3.0.
This happened with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, which has LXD 2.0.xx (currently

Post by gunnar.wagner
2.0.11)
and is supported until 2021. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was launched with the
new LXD 2.0 at that time.
When you do 'snap info lxd', you get
...
stable: 2.21 (5866) 49MB -
candidate: 2.21 (6005) 51MB -
beta: 3.0.0.beta7 (6240) 55MB -
edge: git-9a60cd9 (6251) 55MB -
2.0/stable: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/candidate: 2.0.11 (5384) 21MB -
2.0/beta: â
2.0/edge: git-d71807e (6069) 20MB -
which means that there is the option to switch to the snap 'LTS'
version of LXD 2.0 ('2.0/stable').
Simos
_______________________________________________
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District, 201112 Shanghai, P.R. CHINA
mob +86.159.0094.1702 | skype: professorgunrad | wechat: 15900941702
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Andrey Repin

2018-03-31 22:10:25 UTC