systemd-nspawn for TrueNAS, what are the plans? Parity with jails?

[winnielinnie]

I understand the next release of SCALE will include systemd-nspawn. I also understand one can freely create their own chroot "jails" using the command-line. That's not the reason for this thread.



Is iXsystems planning to give SCALE users something with equal parity to iocage / jails in Core?

These are the following that would make it "just as good" as iocage in Core:

• A legitimate GUI where one can create a new "jail", and even later modify such options by clicking "Edit". (Networking, properties, etc)
• A GUI to manage "mountpoints", similar in concept to how iocage under Core let's you point them (via nullfs) to the host's "real" datasets / folders
• A dedicated pool / dataset that will house all your "jails", such as how Core uses <pool>/iocage
  • This allows for an added bonus to recursively set ZSTD as the compression for the "nspawn" dataset, since ZSTD is excellent for iocage

Not to sound demanding, but if the above won't be implemented in SCALE, then I don't see it as a viable alternative to how iocage/jails are handled in Core, GUI and all. Simply saying "Hey, you can use systemd-nspawn in the command-line" isn't on the same level as what we currently have with Core.


* I use the terms "jail" and "chroot" interchangeably in my post.

 

[morganL]

I understand the next release of SCALE will include systemd-nspawn. I also understand one can freely create their own chroot "jails" using the command-line. That's not the reason for this thread.



Is iXsystems planning to give SCALE users something with equal parity to iocage / jails in Core?

These are the following that would make it "just as good" as iocage in Core:

• A legitimate GUI where one can create a new "jail", and even later modify such options by clicking "Edit". (Networking, properties, etc)
• A GUI to manage "mountpoints", similar in concept to how iocage under Core let's you point them (via nullfs) to the host's "real" datasets / folders
• A dedicated pool / dataset that will house all your "jails", such as how Core uses <pool>/iocage
  • This allows for an added bonus to recursively set ZSTD as the compression for the "nspawn" dataset, since ZSTD is excellent for iocage

Not to sound demanding, but if the above won't be implemented in SCALE, then I don't see it as a viable alternative to how iocage/jails are handled in Core, GUI and all. Simply saying "Hey, you can use systemd-nspawn in the command-line" isn't on the same level as what we currently have with Core.


* I use the terms "jail" and "chroot" interchangeably in my post.

Crawl, Walk, Run...

Jails are clearly more mature and robust at this point in time. But, if you are a developer, this is an opportunity to contribute.

Can I use you to write all my PRDs?

 

[Jip-Hop]

"Hey, you can use systemd-nspawn in the command-line"

Also have a look at jailmaker if you haven't already. That way you don't have to use systemd-nspawn in the command-line directly. It's not the level of integration you're requesting, with GUI and all. But it is what's currently available.