thin-lxc is a command line tool written in Go that extends LXC. Goals are:

• allow instant and lightweight creation of container using Overlayfs
• automatically configure packet forwarding between host and containers (using iptables)
• automatically configure bind mount of host file in containers
• assign static ip to containers

thin-lxc is not meant to replace LXC. It's an extension and is then used in parallel with LXC:

#create an empty container that will be used as a base for others
lxc-create -t ubuntu -n baseCN

#create a container from the base container instantely
thin-lxc -a create -b /var/lib/lxc/baseCN -id CONTAINER_ID -n myContainer -ip 10.0.3.67 -p 3000:3010 -m /app/myApp:/app,app/myApp/log:/log

#start the new container
lxc-start -n myContainer -f /containers/CONTAINER_ID/image/config -d

#use every lxc command you like (lxc-stop, lxc-shutdown, lxc-freeze ...)

lxc-shutdown -n myContainer

thin-lxc -a destroy -id CONTAINER_ID

 curl -sL https://raw.github.com/robinmonjo/thin-lxc/master/install.sh | bash

thin-lxs -a create -b /var/lib/lxc/cont -id <id> -name <name> -ip <10.0.3.xxx> [-p <host_port>:<cont_port>] [-bm <host_path>:<cont_path>,<host_path>:<cont_path>,...]

Options:

• -b: the container to use as basis (created using lxc-create)
• -id: a unique id
• -n: name of the container to use with LXC -n option and container hostname
• -ip: a static ip that must be in 10.0.3.0/24
• -p: port to forward e.g: 3000:3010 will forward packets coming on host:3000 to container:3010
• -m: bind mount points e.g: /home/ubuntu/app:/app,/home/ubuntu/app/log:/var/log will mount host's files/folders /home/ubuntu/app and /home/ubuntu/app/log respectively to /app and /var/log inside the container.

This will create a container in /containers. File system will be like :

/containers
	<container_id>/
		<container_name>/     #read only clone of the container used as basis
			config   
			fstab
			rootfs/  
		.wlayer/              #all write on container_name are forwarded here (Overlayfs magic)
		.metadata.json        #info about the containers (needed by thin-lxc)

What you are interested in is inside <container_id>/<container_name>. In this directory you will find what you find inside /var/lib/lxc/<container_name> after a basic lxc-create. You can edit the config and do whatever you will do in a "classic" container.

thin-lxc -a destroy -id <id>

Options:

• -id: id of the container to destroy.

This will basically just clean up the filesystem (/containers/container_id). It is user responsibility to stop the container before (lxc-shutdown / lxc-stop)

thin-lxc -a reload

After a reboot, Overlayfs mounts and iptables rules (for packet forwarding) will be deleted. Running reload will re-setup everything in place. A good idea is to create an upstart script to launch this command at boot time. Note that this command only need to be run once.

• host must be a ubuntu box and Overlayfs compatible
• use the default network bridge provided by LXC on ubuntu
• ip address given to containers must be in 10.0.3.0/24
• container must use upstart (not system.d)
• containers will be created in /containers

• better FS hierarchie: /var/lib/lxc/ #read only layer /var/lib/thin-lxc//metadata rwlayer

=> can use lxc-** -n without specifying -f transparent to users

• no more id - name but name + hostname (if different)

• test static IP assignment

• full network (host --> container hostname | container --> host hostname)

• memory and cpu share limitation + test

• disk limitation + test

• support multiple port forwarding

• see if it's possible to redirect localhost:port to container:port in some way

• allow use of DHCP for container ip assignment