I’ve never got the point of ezjail for creating jailed environments (like Solaris Zones) on FreeBSD. It’s easier to do most things manually, and especially since the definitions were removed from rc.conf to their own file, jail.conf. (My biggest problem is remembering whether it’s called “jail” or “jails”!)
jail.conf allows macros, has various macros predefined, and you can set defaults outside of a particular jail definition. If you’re using it as a split-out from rc.conf, you’re missing out.
Here’s an example:
# Set sensible defaults for all jails
path /jail/$name;
exec.start = "/bin/sh /etc/rc";
exec.stop = "/bin/sh /etc/rc.shutdown";
exec.clean;
mount.devfs;
mount.procfs;
host.hostname $name.my.domain.uk;
# Define our jails
tom { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.2 ; }
dick { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.3 ; }
harry { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.4 ; }
mary { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.5 ; }
alice { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.6 ; }
nagios { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.7 ; allow.raw_sockets = 1 ; }
jane { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.8 ; }
test { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.9 ; }
foo { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.10 ; }
bar { ip4.addr = 192.168.0.11 ; }
So what I’ve done here is set sensible default values. Actually, these are probably mostly set what you want anyway, but as I’m only doing it once, re-defining them explicitly is good documentation.
Next I define the jails I want, over-riding any defaults that are unique to the jail. Now here’s one twist – the $name macro inside the {} is the name of the jail being defined. Thus, inside the definition of the jail I’ve called tom, it defines hostname=tom.my.domain.uk. I use this expansion to define the path to the jail too.
If you want to take it further, if you have your name in DNS (which I usually do) you can set ip.addr= using the generated hostname, leaving each individual jail definition as { ;} !
I’ve set the ipv4 address explicitly, as I use a local vlan for jails, mapping ports as required from external IP addresses if an when required.
Note the definition for the nagios jail; it has the extra allow.raw_sockets = 1 setting. Only nagios needs it.
ZFS and FreeBSD Jails.
The other good wheeze that’s become available since the rise of jails is ZFS. Datasets are the best way to do jails.
First off, create your dataset z/jail. (I use z from my default zpool – why use anything longer, as you’ll be typing it a lot?)
Next create your “master” jail dataset: zfs create z/jail/master
Now set it up as a vanilla jail, as per the handbook (make install into it). Then leave it alone (other than creating a snapshot called “fresh” or similar).
When you want a new jail for something, use the following:
zfs clone z/jail/master@fresh z/jail/alice
And you have a new jail, instantly, called alice – just add an entry as above in jail.conf, and edit rc.conf to configure its networ. And what’s even better, alice doesn’t take up any extra space! Not until you start making changes, anyway.
The biggest change you’re likely to make to alice is building ports. So create another dataset for that: z/jail/alice/usr/ports. Then download the ports tree, build and install your stuff, and when you’re done, zfs destroy
z/jail/alice/usr/ports. The only space your jail takes up are the changes from the base system used by your application. Obviously, if you use python in almost every jail, create a master version with python and clone that for maximum benefit.