scottslowe-learning-tools/docker/macvlan

Using macvlan Interfaces with Docker Containers

These files were created to allow users to use Vagrant (http://www.vagrantup.com) to build an environment for working with Docker containers using macvlan interfaces. This configuration was tested using Vagrant 1.8.1, VMware Fusion 8.1.0, and version 4.0.5 of the Vagrant VMware plugin.

NOTE: As of 2016-02-15, commits to the GitHub repository listed below for the Docker macvlan plugin have rendered the plugin unusable. To continue to use a working version of the plugin as described below, download and unzip this ZIP archive: https://github.com/nerdalert/macvlan-docker-plugin/archive/ec37a6515cdffd9c341c7685c5c08df6dc68f20d.zip. You'll then need to adjust paths listed below accordingly, but all other commands remain unchanged.

Contents

• machines.yml: This is a YAML file containing the configuration data used by Vagrant when creating and provisioning VMs. This particular Vagrant environment requires six (6) values in this file for each VM: name (name to be assigned to the box as well as used for hostname), box (the name of the Vagrant box), ram (desired RAM), vcpu (number of virtual CPUs), ip_addr (the private IP address to be assigned to the second network interface; also controls whether a second interface is provisioned), and docker (set to "true" or "false"; controls whether Vagrant provisions Docker onto the VM).

• README.md: The file you're currently reading.

• Vagrantfile: This file is used by Vagrant to spin up the virtual machines for this environment. No changes need to be made to this document, as all the configuration data is found in other files (like machines.yml). However, if you are using a virtualization solution other than VMware Fusion, you might need to make changes to this file.

Instructions

These instructions assume you've already installed VMware Fusion, Vagrant, and the Vagrant VMware plugin. Please refer to the documentation for those products for more information on installation or configuration. Note that Internet access is required when using vagrant up to create this environment.

1. Use vagrant box add to install an Ubuntu 14.04 x86_64 Vagrant box. The "bento/ubuntu-14.04" box is a good option here.

2. Place the files from the docker-macvlan directory of this GitHub repository into a directory on your local system. You can clone the entire "learning-tools" repository (using git clone) or just download the specific files from the the docker-macvlan folder.

3. If necessary, edit machines.yml to specify the name of the Vagrant box downloaded in step 1. You may also make changes to the private IP addresses or the RAM/CPU settings, although no changes are typically required.

4. Run vagrant up to instantiate the learning environment. This will spin up two (2) VMs based on the Ubuntu 14.04 base box you downloaded in step 1 and specified in machines.yml in step 3. Vagrant will also appropriately configure each VM and start the necessary services. Depending on the speed of your system and your Internet connection, this may take a few minutes.

5. Use vagrant ssh docker-01 to connect to the first Docker host and run the following commands to download and install the macvlan plugin for Docker:

    git clone https://github.com/gopher-net/macvlan-docker-plugin.git
    cd macvlan-docker-plugin/binaries
    sudo ./macvlan-docker-plugin-0.2-Linux-x86_64 \
    --macvlan-subnet "192.168.100.0/24" \
    --gateway "192.168.100.1" --host-interface "eth1" -d &
   

   If you changed the private IP addresses in servers.yml, be sure to supply the appropriate IP address ranges from that file in the command above.

6. Set the "eth1" interface to promiscuous mode with sudo ip link set eth1 promisc on. (This is needed for the macvlan interfaces to function.)

7. Run this command to create a network using the macvlan plugin:

    docker network create -d macvlan --subnet=192.168.100.0/24 \
    --gateway=192.168.100.1 -o host_iface=eth1 testnet
   

8. Launch a Docker container attached to this new network with this command line:

    docker run -it --rm --net=testnet ubuntu
   

   This will drop you at a root prompt for an Ubuntu container. Use ip addr list to determine the IP address assigned to this container.

9. In a separate terminal window, switch to the directory where the files for this environment are stored and connect to the remote VM using vagrant ssh remote-01.

10. In the remote VM, ping the IP address of the container (obtained in step 7 when you launched the container).

11. From the container prompt, ping the IP address assigned to the remote VM (by default, 192.168.100.101).

Enjoy!