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https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox

An open-source, next-generation "runc" that empowers rootless containers to run workloads such as Systemd, Docker, Kubernetes, just like VMs.
https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox

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An open-source, next-generation "runc" that empowers rootless containers to run workloads such as Systemd, Docker, Kubernetes, just like VMs.

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    sysbox






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## Introduction



**Sysbox** is an open-source and free container runtime (a specialized "runc"),

originally developed by Nestybox ([acquired by Docker][docker-acquisition] on

05/2022), that enhances containers in two key ways:



*   **Improves container isolation:**



    *   Linux user-namespace on all containers (i.e., root user in the container

        has zero privileges on the host).



    *   Virtualizes portions of procfs & sysfs inside the container.



    *   Hides host info inside the container.



    *   Locks the container's initial mounts, and more.



*   **Enables containers to run same workloads as VMs**:



    *   With Sysbox, containers can run system-level software such as systemd,

        Docker, Kubernetes, K3s, buildx, legacy apps, and more seamlessly &

        securely.



    *   This software can run inside Sysbox containers without modification and

        without using special versions of the software (e.g., rootless

        variants).



    *   No privileged containers, no complex images, no tricky entrypoints, no

        special volume mounts, etc.



Think of it as a **"container supercharger"**: it enables your existing container

managers / orchestrators (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes, etc.) to deploy containers

that have hardened isolation and can run almost any workload that runs in VMs.



Sysbox does this by making the container resemble a VM-like environment as much

as possible, using advanced OS virtualization techniques.



Unlike alternative runtimes such as Kata and KubeVirt, **it does not use VMs**.

This makes it easier to use (particularly in cloud environments by avoiding

nested virtualization), although it does not provide the level of isolation

that VM-based runtimes do. See [here](#comparison-to-related-technologies) for a

comparison.



There is no need to learn new tools or modify your existing container images or

workflows to take advantage of Sysbox. Simply install it and point your container

manager / orchestrator to it to deploy enhanced containers.



Sysbox can live side-by-side with other container runtimes on the same host

(e.g., the default OCI runc, Kata, etc.) You can easily choose which containers

or pods to run with each, depending on your needs.



## Demo Videos



*   ["VM-like" containers with Docker + Sysbox](https://asciinema.org/a/kkTmOxl8DhEZiM2fLZNFlYzbo?speed=2)



*   [Rootless Kubernetes pods with Sysbox](https://asciinema.org/a/401488?speed=1.5)



## Contents



*   [License](#license)

*   [Relationship to Nestybox & Docker](#relationship-to-nestybox--docker)

*   [Motivation](#motivation)

*   [How it Works](#how-it-works)

*   [Comparison to Related Technologies](#comparison-to-related-technologies)

*   [Audience](#audience)

*   [Sysbox Enterprise Edition](#sysbox-enterprise-edition)

*   [Sysbox Features](#sysbox-features)

*   [System Containers](#system-containers)

*   [Installation](#installation)

*   [Using Sysbox](#using-sysbox)

*   [Documentation](#documentation)

*   [Performance](#performance)

*   [Under the Covers](#under-the-covers)

*   [Contributing](#contributing)

*   [Security](#security)

*   [Troubleshooting & Support](#troubleshooting--support)

*   [Uninstallation](#uninstallation)

*   [Roadmap](#roadmap)

*   [Contact](#contact)

*   [Thank You](#thank-you)



## License



Sysbox is free and open-source, licensed under the Apache License,

Version 2.0. See the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.



## Relationship to Nestybox & Docker



Sysbox was originally developed by Nestybox. As [Nestybox is now part of

Docker][docker-acquisition], Docker is the main sponsor of the Sysbox project.



Having said this, Sysbox is a community open-source project and it's **not

officially supported by Docker** (i.e., Docker subscriptions do not include

Sysbox support).  Support is provided on a **best effort basis** via this Github

repo or via the [Sysbox Slack Workspace][slack].



We encourage participation from the community to help evolve and improve Sysbox,

with the goal of increasing the use cases and benefits it enables. External

maintainers and contributors are welcomed.



## Motivation



Sysbox solves problems such as:



*   Enhancing the isolation of containerized microservices

    (root in the container maps to an unprivileged user on the host).



*   Enabling a highly capable root user inside the container without

    compromising host security.



*   Securing CI/CD pipelines by enabling Docker-in-Docker (DinD) or

    Kubernetes-in-Docker (KinD) without insecure privileged containers

    or host Docker socket mounts.



*   Enabling the use of containers as "VM-like" environments for development,

    local testing, learning, etc., with strong isolation and the ability

    to run systemd, Docker, IDEs, and more inside the container.



*   Running legacy apps inside containers (instead of less efficient VMs).



*   Replacing VMs with an easier, faster, more efficient, and more portable

    container-based alternative, one that can be deployed across cloud

    environments easily.



*   Partitioning bare-metal hosts into multiple isolated compute environments

    with 2X the density of VMs (i.e., deploy twice as many VM-like containers

    as VMs on the same hardware at the same performance).



*   Partitioning cloud instances (e.g., EC2, GCP, etc.) into multiple isolated

    compute environments without resorting to expensive nested virtualization.



## How it Works





    sysbox




Sysbox [installs easily](#installation) on Linux hosts (bare-metal, VM, on-prem, cloud, etc.). It

works on all mayor cloud-based IaaS and Kubernetes services (e.g., EC2, GCP, GKE,

EKS, AKS, Rancher, etc.)



Once installed, Sysbox works under the covers: you use Docker, Kubernetes, etc.

to deploy containers with it.



For example, this simple Docker command creates a container with Sysbox:



    $ docker run --runtime=sysbox-runc -it any_image



You get a well isolated container capable of seamlessly running microservices as

well as system-level software that normally that runs on VMs (e.g., systemd,

Docker, Kubernetes, etc).



More on how to use Sysbox [here](#using-sysbox).



## Comparison to Related Technologies





    sysbox




As shown, Sysbox enables unprivileged containers to run system-level workloads

such as systemd, Docker, Kubernetes, etc., seamlessly, while giving you a

balanced approach between container isolation, performance, efficiency, and

portability.



And it does this with minimal configuration changes to your existing infra: just

install Sysbox and configure your container manager/orchestrator to launch

containers with it, using the image of your choice.



Note that while Sysbox hardens the isolation of standard containers and voids

the need for insecure privileged containers in many scenarios, it does not (yet)

provide the same level of isolation as VM-based alternatives or user-space OSes

like gVisor. Therefore, for scenarios where the highest level of isolation is

required, alternatives such as KubeVirt may be preferable (at the expense of

lower performance and efficiency and higher complexity and cost).



See this [blog post](https://blog.nestybox.com/2020/10/06/related-tech-comparison.html) for

more.



## Audience



The Sysbox project is intended for anyone looking to experiment, invent, learn,

and build systems using [system containers](#system-containers). It's

cutting-edge OS virtualization, and contributions are welcomed.



## Sysbox Enterprise Edition [DEPRECATED]



Prior to the [acquisition by Docker][docker-acquisition] on 05/2022, Nestybox

offered [Sysbox Enterprise][sysbox-ee-repo] as an enhanced version of Sysbox

(e.g., more security, more workloads, and official support).



After the acquisition however, Sysbox Enterprise is no longer offered as a

standalone product but has instead been incorporated into [Docker Desktop](https://www.docker.com/products/docker-desktop/)

(see [Docker Hardened Desktop](https://docs.docker.com/desktop/hardened-desktop/)).



**NOTE:** As Sysbox Enterprise is no longer offered as a standalone product, Docker

plans to make some Sysbox Enterprise features available in Sysbox Community

Edition. The features are TBD and [your feedback](#contact) on this is welcome.



## Sysbox Features



The table below summarizes the key features of the Sysbox container runtime.



It also provides a comparison between the Sysbox Community Edition (i.e., this

repo) and the previously available Sysbox Enterprise Edition (now deprecated).





    sysbox




More on the Sysbox features [here](docs/user-guide/features.md).



If you have questions, you can reach us [here](#contact).



## System Containers



We call the containers deployed by Sysbox **system containers**, to highlight the

fact that they can run not just micro-services (as regular containers do), but

also system software such as Docker, Kubernetes, Systemd, inner containers, etc.



More on system containers [here](docs/user-guide/concepts.md#system-container).



## Installation



### Host Requirements



The Sysbox host must meet the following requirements:



*   It must be running one of the [supported Linux distros](docs/distro-compat.md)

    and be a machine with a [supported architecture](docs/arch-compat.md) (e.g., amd64, arm64).



*   We recommend a minimum of 4 CPUs (e.g., 2 cores with 2 hyperthreads) and 4GB

    of RAM. Though this is not a hard requirement, smaller configurations may

    slow down Sysbox.



### Installing Sysbox



The method of installation depends on the environment where Sysbox will be

installed:



*   To install Sysbox on a Kubernetes cluster, use the [sysbox-deploy-k8s daemonset](docs/user-guide/install-k8s.md).



*   Otherwise, use the [Sysbox package](docs/user-guide/install-package.md) for

    your distro.



*   Alternatively, if a package for your distro is not yet available, or if you

    want to get the latest changes from upstream, you can [build and install Sysbox from source](docs/developers-guide/README.md).



## Using Sysbox



Once Sysbox is installed, you create a container using your container manager

or orchestrator (e.g., Docker or Kubernetes) and an image of your choice.



Docker command example:



```console

$ docker run --runtime=sysbox-runc --rm -it --hostname my_cont registry.nestybox.com/nestybox/ubuntu-bionic-systemd-docker

root@my_cont:/#

```



Kubernetes pod spec example:



```yaml

apiVersion: v1

kind: Pod

metadata:

  name: ubu-bio-systemd-docker

  annotations:

    io.kubernetes.cri-o.userns-mode: "auto:size=65536"

spec:

  runtimeClassName: sysbox-runc

  containers:

  - name: ubu-bio-systemd-docker

    image: registry.nestybox.com/nestybox/ubuntu-bionic-systemd-docker

    command: ["/sbin/init"]

  restartPolicy: Never

```



You can choose whatever container image you want, Sysbox places no requirements

on the image.



Nestybox makes several reference images available in its [Dockerhub](https://hub.docker.com/u/nestybox)

and [GitHub Container Registry](https://github.com/orgs/nestybox/packages) repos. These are

images that typically include systemd, Docker, Kubernetes, and more inside the containers.

The Dockerfiles are [here](https://github.com/nestybox/dockerfiles/tree/master). Feel free

to use and modify per your needs.



## Documentation



We strive to provide good documentation; it's a key component of the Sysbox project.



We have several documents to help you get started and get the best out of

Sysbox.



*   [Sysbox Distro Compatibility Doc](docs/distro-compat.md)



    *   Distro compatibility requirements. Check this out before installing Sysbox.



*   [Sysbox Quick Start Guide](docs/quickstart/README.md)



    *   Provides many examples for using Sysbox. New users should start here.



*   [Sysbox User Guide](docs/user-guide/README.md)



    *   Provides more detailed information on Sysbox installation,

        configuration, features and design.



*   [Nestybox blog site](https://blog.nestybox.com/)



    *   Articles on using Sysbox to solve real-life problems.



## Performance



Sysbox is fast and efficient, as described in this [Nestybox blog post](https://blog.nestybox.com/2020/09/23/perf-comparison.html).



The containers created by Sysbox have similar performance to those created by

the OCI runc (the default runtime for Docker and Kubernetes).



Even containers deployed inside the system containers have excellent

performance, thought there is a slight overhead for network IO (as expected

since packets emitted by inner containers go through an additional network

interface / bridge inside the system container).



Now, if you use Sysbox to deploy system containers that replace VMs, then the

performance and efficiency gains are significant: you can deploy 2X as many

system containers as VMs on the same server and get the same performance, and do

this with a fraction of the memory and storage consumption. The blog post

referenced above has more on this.



## Under the Covers



Sysbox was forked from the excellent [OCI runc][oci-runc] in early 2019 and it

stands on the shoulders of the work done by the OCI runc developers.



Having said this, Sysbox adds significant functionality on top. It's written in

Go, and it is currently composed of three components: sysbox-runc, sysbox-fs,

and sysbox-mgr.



Sysbox uses many OS-virtualization features of the Linux kernel and complements

these with OS-virtualization techniques implemented in user-space. These include

using all Linux namespaces (in particular the user-namespace), partial

virtualization of procfs and sysfs, selective syscall trapping, and more.



More on Sysbox's design can be found in the [Sysbox user guide](docs/user-guide/design.md).



### Sysbox does not use hardware virtualization



Though the containers generated by Sysbox resemble virtual machines in some ways

(e.g., you can run as root, run multiple services, and deploy Docker and K8s

inside), Sysbox does **not** use hardware virtualization.



Sysbox is a pure OS-virtualization technology meant to create containers that

can run applications as well as system-level software, easily and securely.



This makes the containers created by Sysbox fast, efficient, and portable (i.e.,

they aren't tied to a hypervisor).



Isolation wise, it's fair to say that Sysbox containers provide stronger

isolation than regular Docker containers (by virtue of using the Linux

user-namespace and light-weight OS shim), but weaker isolation than VMs (by

sharing the Linux kernel among containers).



## Contributing



We welcome contributions to Sysbox, whether they are small documentation changes,

bug fixes, or feature additions. Please see the [contribution guidelines](CONTRIBUTING.md)

and [developer's guide](docs/developers-guide/README.md) for more info.



## Security



See the User Guide's [Security Chapter](docs/user-guide/security.md) for

info on how Sysbox secures containers.



If you find bugs or issues that may expose a Sysbox vulnerability, please report

these by sending an email to [email protected]. Please do not open security

issues in this repo. Thanks!



In addition, a few vulnerabilities have recently been found in the Linux kernel

that in some cases reduce or negate the enhanced isolation provided by Sysbox

containers. Fortunately they are all fixed in recent Linux kernels. See the

Sysbox User Guide's [Vulnerabilities & CVEs chapter](docs/user-guide/security-cve.md)

for more info, and reach out on the [Sysbox Slack channel][slack] for further questions.



## Troubleshooting & Support



Support is currently offered on a best-effort basis.



If you have a question or comment, we love to hear it. You can reach us at our

[slack channel][slack] or file an issue on this GitHub repo.



If you spot a problem with Sysbox, please search the existing

[issues](https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox/issues) as they may describe the

problem and provide a work-around.



Check also the [Troubleshooting document](docs/user-guide/troubleshoot.md).



## Uninstallation



Prior to uninstalling Sysbox, make sure all containers deployed with it are

stopped and removed.



The method of uninstallation depends on the method used to install Sysbox:



*   To uninstall Sysbox on a Kubernetes cluster, follow [these instructions](docs/user-guide/install-k8s.md#uninstallation).



*   Otherwise, to uninstall the Sysbox package, follow [these instructions](docs/user-guide/install-package.md#uninstallation).



*   If Sysbox was built and installed from source, follow [these instructions](docs/developers-guide/build.md#cleanup--uninstall).



## Roadmap



The following is a list of features in the Sysbox roadmap.



We list these here so that our users can get a better idea of where we

are going and can give us feedback on which of these they like best

(or least).



Here is a short list; the Sysbox issue tracker has many more.



*   Support for more Linux distros.



*   More improvements to procfs and sysfs virtualization.



*   Continued improvements to container isolation.



*   Exposing host devices inside system containers with proper permissions.



## Contact



Slack: [Sysbox Slack Workspace][slack]



Email: [email protected]



We are available from Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Pacific Time.



## Thank You



We thank you **very much** for using and/or contributing to Sysbox. We hope you

find it interesting and that it helps you use containers in new and more powerful

ways.



[slack]: https://nestybox-support.slack.com/join/shared_invite/enQtOTA0NDQwMTkzMjg2LTAxNGJjYTU2ZmJkYTZjNDMwNmM4Y2YxNzZiZGJlZDM4OTc1NGUzZDFiNTM4NzM1ZTA2NDE3NzQ1ODg1YzhmNDQ#/



[perf-blog]: https://blog.nestybox.com/2020/09/23/perf-comparison.html



[oci-runc]: https://github.com/opencontainers/runc



[sysbox-ee-repo]: https://github.com/nestybox/sysbox-ee



[docker-acquisition]: https://www.docker.com/blog/docker-advances-container-isolation-and-workloads-with-acquisition-of-nestybox/



[docker-desktop]: https://www.docker.com/products/