I want to fire up an linux EC2 instance that has VNC installed by default. Something like Ubuntu, where I can fire up, and VNC right in to configure.
I've observed all of the AMI's that are available, and the closest thing I can come to, is:
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 sp3 (HVM) - ami-xxxxxxx
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 Service Pack 3 (HVM), EBS-backed. Nvidia driver installs automatically during startup for GPU instances.
I assume that this has graphic capabilities, but you know what they say about assumptions.
Does anybody know of an image that has this? I just want to fire up an instance that I can get right into, not through SSH.
The images you are looking at are designed for the largest (HVM) instances. The second one is intended for GPU instances. Probably not what you are looking for if you just want VNC.
Often most AMI's don't have any desktop systems installed as they are generally intended to be run as headless servers. But you should be able to take a base Ubuntu instance, install a desktop system and vnc and then repackage it as an AMI for your own use.
Related
I have Windows 10 Enterprise Version and I have installed Docker Desktop, enabled WSL2 backend, and downloaded and installed the Linux kernel update package.
I am learning Docker and I have some doubts about how Docker works behind the scenes.
I have drawn a basic architecture diagram of Docker on windows with
WSL2, is this correct?
Whenever we create a new Linux container it gets created in the same lightweight utility VM provided
by WSL2?
And if we create a windows container it gets created on windows os?
Can these containers access windows and Linux kernels both when
required? Like when running a java app in a Linux container it requires windows kernel, right?
So, by default docker runs Linux containers, when do we need windows containers? I can containerize a java application by using
openjdk:8, but I am not able to pull windows nanoserver image when I
run Linux containers, it works only when I switch to Windows
Containers. What is going on here? Does this mean the openjdk:8 image is a Linux image(i do not know how to say it), and windows nanoserver a windows image?
How Linux Containers can run my java application? It must need the
windows kernel, right?
If the docker containers reside within the lightweight utility VM
created by WSL2, can it access both the Linux kernel that it ships
with and the Windows Kernel?
I have the default Linux container mode and I tried these two
commands.
docker run --platform=linux -d ubuntu /bin/sh -c "while true; do echo
hello world; sleep 1; done"
docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/windows/nanoserver:1903
The first one worked for the second one I got the following error.
1903: Pulling from windows/nanoserver no matching manifest for Linux/amd64 in the manifest list entries
But when I switch to windows containers it works.
So what is the difference between my java app on openjdk:8 image and windows nanoserver?
Do these not require windows kernel to run?
How is the java thing running on Linux containers then?
Edits :- Need more clarification on this-
Copying the question from comment section.
And one more thing, the containers do not access windows and Linux kernels simultaneously in WSL2 right? After all they are just isolated spaces in an OS, so either they can be in windows or Linux? Please correct me if I am wrong. The Linux images are built in such a way that it has everything to run my java and as java is a cross platform language so it can run on Linux kernel, is this the concept?
About the architecture diagram that I have made here- the containers(isolated processes in an operating system with app files) , in case of Linux containers all of them(multiple containers) runs on the same WSL2 VM, right?
Firstly, good question.
I hope I can answer it as best as possible.
So, by default docker runs Linux containers, when do we need windows containers?
you don't need windows containers. You should always consider what your application needs. For instance, if you are working on a java app, you would pull a java image and not an entire host OS. The only time I ever pulled a windows image was when I dockerized an ASP.NET application that can only be run on windows.
How Linux Containers can run my java application? It must need the windows kernel, right?
In the context of docker:
Docker for Windows allows you to simulate running Linux containers on Windows, but under the hood a Linux VM is created, so still Linux containers are running on Linux, and Windows containers are running on Windows.
if the docker containers reside within the lightweight utility VM created by WSL2, can it access both the Linux kernel that it ships with and the Windows Kernel?
Containers are using the underlying Operating System resources and drivers, so Windows containers can run on Windows only, and Linux containers can run on Linux only. Docker for Windows allows you to simulate running Linux containers on Windows, but under the hood a Linux VM is created, so still Linux containers are running on Linux, and Windows containers are running on Windows.
So what is the difference between my java app on openjdk:8 image and windows nanoserver?
The openJdk image and windows nano server core difference is the very base image that they use. openJdk is probably using some very bare unix os as the base where as the nanoserver is an entire os which is windows.
Do these not require windows kernel to run?
The openjdk image does not require windows to run as it is built from linux. Docker for windows will use the WsL to run. The nanoserver will only run on windows (as windows images can only run on windows).
How is the java thing running on Linux containers then?
I understand this question to be "How does the openjdk image run on linux and windows?"
if so, because it uses a linux os as its base image, it can run by default on linux. But because the WsL2 exists, a VM is created and simulates a linux OS in windows. That is why we can run windows images and linux images on Docker for windows.
I hope this helped, here are some extra tips from the questions for you to consider.
The images will always perform best when the image is the same type as the OS. This is because docker will utilise resources of the host and performance is better when the host and container are of the same os.
Use images that are best fit for purpose. Don't use an entire os image just to run a java app. Rather use the java image. This applies to a wide range of frameworks and languages.
Read this This is the crediting article if you want to read more.
The diagram is not quite correct. Both the Windows Kernel and a lightweight VM that hosts WSL2 KVM sit on top of the Hyper-V hypervisor. In other words, WSL2 leverages Hyper-V. (An alternative would be to use only Hyper-V, but with WSL2 it is more seamless.) WSL2 uses docker-desktop as the main bootstrap VM and docker-desktop-data for storing images and containers data. 9p network protocol is used for seamless host-to-guest and guest-to-host file access:
https://wiki.qemu.org/File:9pfs_topology.png
This way, docker commands can be run from both Windows and from within a distro installed under WSL2 such as Ubuntu etc. In both cases, containers run under Linux. A rationale for this architecture is that Linux Docker cannot be installed on Hyper-V VM nor inside a WSL2 Linux.
Hi,
In practice exist two great use-cases/types of hypervisors:
a)Hyper-V is hypervisor(software which controls the containers=VMs) which is type-1 so it worked directly(bare-metal) on machine=PC=hardware:
Hyper-V(hypervisor type-1) <---->PC-machine
In this first type The Hypervisor take control over hardware directly(it avoid using of the Host-OS because the control taken from machine's BIOS)
That means that not use Host-OS but not means that Host-OS not exist!!!!
b)Virtual Box(VB) is hypervisor type 2(heavy software). So VB worked with machine via Host-OperationSystem(Host-OS):
VB(hypervisor type2) <---> Host-OS <----> PC-machine
So in this last case the control of hardware(PC-machine) is heavy because the control over machine=PC=hardware is exercised via supplemental or tertial-part=component which is Host-OS
Also need to know that the containers=VMs(regardless of type 1 or 2) have each the OS one but it is named OS-guest(fr. invite).
So in both case(type 1 and type 2) the Hypervisor work as backend for containers/VMs(which are frontends).
For more details read about in this tutorial/article:
https://www.nakivo.com/blog/hyper-v-virtualbox-one-choose-infrastructure/
PS: One Virtual-Machine (VM) can controls many Containers like in the image
Thanks
or use this google images search(firstly 3 images)
Another explanation about communication from VM and its isolated-Containers can be fount in this article.
I'm trying to run a Linux (ubuntu LTS) container inside a windows server 2019 OS. The problem is that the windows OS runs as an AWS instance.
There have been problem for me trying to achieve this and I've been reading somewhat different opinions on the internet regarding whether or not it is possible. Some say it will be possible on a .metal instance which is bare metal. Currently I've been trying running it on a regular t3 instance with has virtualization type HVM.
To sum up my questions are:
Is running a linux container on windows aws instance possible?
If yes, how?
If not, will it be possible on a bare metal instance?
Please keep in mind that I need the container to run in a Windows environment due to multiple tasks the the OS needs to achieve (and I don't want multiple instances)
In order to use Docker Desktop on Windows, you need either Hyper-V or Windows Susbsystem for Linux enabled (which at its turn requires Hyper-V). Both solutions demand of VT-x capabilities, but you're running inside a VM, which means that is not so easy to achieve.
It is called "nested virtualization", and it is not supported in common EC2 virtual machines. (source)
You can certainly run Linux containers on a bare metal Windows instance (but why you should? it is way cheaper and simpler to create a Linux virtual machine on EC2 and communicate it with your Windows host). Should still that be your purpose, you can install Windows Server 2019 with Hyper-V. (tutorial)
Another alternative for SMALL, SMALL things, that could work without nested virtualization (I haven't tried), would be using WSL1. (more info)
WSL1 uses a compatibility layer between Windows and Linux system calls, without actually virtualizing the operating system. Some folks have been able to install Docker 17.09 on WSL1, but this is a very adventurous path I would not recommend taking.
My company has decided to migrate our base server images from Ubuntu Server to Amazon Linux. In the past we would spin up an Ubuntu Server LTS box from vagrantbox.es to emulate an instance in our AWS stack, but Amazon only provides an AMI.
According to the Amazon Linux AMI FAQ, updates are custom tailored depending on the EC2 region the AMI is launched in, which might have issues with exporting an AMI to VDI. I've also read that Amazon Linux removes a lot of cruft from RHEL and Fedora to make it a server-optimized distribution.
How can I emulate Amazon Linux in an environment where I might not have a persistent network connection?
Apart from switching to yum, what pitfalls should I expect in running Amazon Linux locally?
Is there some pre-built vagrant box for Amazon Linux that gets around these pitfalls?
Amazon does not provide an image of its distribution for use on other VM platforms. You may find these blog posts useful though; they provide detailed instructions for building Amazon Linux disk images, and in the last article he provides direct links to images he built for VMWare and VirtualBox.
Amazon Linux is based on CentOS so you could also start there.
I am not sure if amazon simply does not offer graphics for linux vm instances or if its to do with configuration. But i recently setup a linux node on ec2 and i tried to setup rdp. I kept getting a blank screen but after much trial and error, went with bizspark and setup a linux node and to my surprise I see the bizspark linux node comes with a vga graphics card! while the amazon one does not!
Without a vga graphics card or builtin chipset its not possible to rdp in the linux node.
So does amazon offer graphics card on linux vms or is it a simply a matter of configuration ?
edit:
It is possible to have rdp even without a graphic card apparently. What I found out is one can install X2GO server on their ubuntu server and then just get the x2go client. No need for rdp.
If you'd like to get RDP working on EC2, take a look here:
http://michaelhallsmoore.com/blog/Desktop-Ubuntu-in-Amazon-EC2-The-Right-Way
or
http://activeintelligence.org/blog/archive/remote-graphical-linux-desktop-on-ec2/
You don't actually need a video card.
Actually I will want to use that JeOS for our webserver. Is it a good choice?
Thanks for piquing my interest. From the Ubuntu website:
Ubuntu Server Edition JeOS (pronounced
"Juice") is an efficient variant of
our server operating system,
configured specifically for virtual
appliances. Currently available as a
CD-Rom ISO for download, JeOS is a
specialised installation of Ubuntu
Server Edition with a tuned kernel
that only contains the base elements
needed to run within a virtualized
environment.
It looks promising to me - I run several full Ubuntu 8.04 VMs so I'll certainly check it out. Why not just try it?
Be aware that the kernel it installs is striped down to only have the stuff required for virtual machines, therefore you might have problems accessing the network from a real machine. (Note that the install-CD kernel isn't the same as the installed kernel as well).
If you can bypass that (IIRC I booted from the CD, and downloaded the normal server kernel and it all worked fine), then you end up with an absolutely minimal Linux system, but backed by the full Ubuntu repositories, so it's an excellent base for a server.
Also note minimal really means minimal - no cron by default for example.
Is it a good choice?
If you plan to run JeOS in a virtual machine, then yes, this is a good choice.