searxng/docs/utils/lxc.sh.rst

utils/lxc.sh

further reading

• snap, snapcraft LXD
• LXC, LXD
• LXC/LXD Image Server
• LXD@github

With the use of Linux Containers (LXC) we can scale our tasks over a stack of containers, what we call the: lxc suite. The SearXNG suite (lxc-searxng.env <utils/lxc-searxng.env>) is loaded by default, every time you start the lxc.sh script (you do not need to care about).

Before you can start with containers, you need to install and initiate LXD once:

$ snap install lxd
$ lxd init --auto

To make use of the containers from the SearXNG suite, you have to build the LXC suite containers <lxc.sh help> initial. But be warned, this might take some time:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh build

A cup of coffee later, your LXC suite is build up and you can run whatever task you want / in a selected or even in all LXC suite containers <lxc.sh help>.

Hint

If you see any problems with the internet connectivity of your containers read section internet connectivity docker.

If you do not want to build all containers, you can build just one:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh build searx-archlinux

Good to know ...

Each container shares the root folder of the repository and the command utils/lxc.sh cmd handles relative path names transparent, compare output of:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd -- ls -la Makefile
...

In the containers, you can run what ever you want, e.g. to start a bash use:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd searx-archlinux bash
INFO:  [searx-archlinux] bash
root@searx-archlinux:/share/searxng#

If there comes the time you want to get rid off all the containers and clean up local images just type:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh remove
$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh remove images

Internet Connectivity & Docker

further read

• Docker blocking network of existing LXC containers
• Docker and IPtables (fralef.me)
• Docker and iptables (docker.com)

There is a conflict in the iptables setup of Docker & LXC. If you have docker installed, you may find that the internet connectivity of your LXD containers no longer work.

Whenever docker is started (reboot) it sets the iptables policy for the FORWARD chain to DROP [ref]:

$ sudo -H iptables-save | grep FORWARD
:FORWARD ACCEPT [7048:7851230]
:FORWARD DROP [7048:7851230]

A handy solution of this problem might be to reset the policy for the FORWARD chain after the network has been initialized. For this create a file in the if-up section of the network (/etc/network/if-up.d/iptable) and insert the following lines:

#!/bin/sh
iptables -F FORWARD
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT

Don't forget to set the execution bit:

sudo chmod ugo+x /etc/network/if-up.d/iptable

Reboot your system and check the iptables rules:

$ sudo -H iptables-save | grep FORWARD
:FORWARD ACCEPT [7048:7851230]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [7048:7851230]

Install suite

To install the complete SearXNG suite (includes searx, morty & filtron) <lxc-searxng.env> into all LXC use:

$ sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh install suite

The command above installs a SearXNG suite (see installation scripts). To install a nginx <installation nginx> reverse proxy (or alternatively use apache <installation apache>):

sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd -- FORCE_TIMEOUT=0 ./utils/searxng.sh install nginx

To get the IP (URL) of the SearXNG service in the containers use show suite command. To test instances from containers just open the URLs in your WEB-Browser:

$ sudo ./utils/lxc.sh show suite | grep SEARXNG_URL

[searxng-ubu2110]      SEARXNG_URL          : http://n.n.n.147/searxng
[searxng-ubu2004]      SEARXNG_URL          : http://n.n.n.246/searxng
[searxnggfedora35]     SEARXNG_URL          : http://n.n.n.140/searxng
[searxng-archlinux]    SEARXNG_URL          : http://n.n.n.165/searxng

Running commands

Inside containers, you can use make or run scripts from the toolboxing. By example: to setup a buildhosts and run the Makefile target test in the archlinux container:

sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd searx-archlinux ./utils/searxng.sh install buildhost
sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd searx-archlinux make test

Setup SearXNG buildhost

You can install the SearXNG buildhost environment into one or all containers. The installation procedure to set up a build host<buildhosts> takes its time. Installation in all containers will take more time (time for another cup of coffee).:

sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd -- ./utils/searxng.sh install buildhost

To build (live) documentation inside a archlinux container:

sudo -H ./utils/lxc.sh cmd searx-archlinux make docs.clean docs.live
...
[I 200331 15:00:42 server:296] Serving on http://0.0.0.0:8080

To get IP of the container and the port number live docs is listening:

$ sudo ./utils/lxc.sh show suite | grep docs.live
...
[searx-archlinux]  INFO:  (eth0) docs.live:  http://n.n.n.12:8080/

Overview

The --help output of the script is largely self-explanatory:

../utils/lxc.sh --help

SearXNG suite

../../utils/lxc-searxng.env