selfhosted-apps-docker/arch_linux_host_install

Arch Linux installation to serve as a docker host

guide-by-example

Notice

Since 2022 I am using the archinstall script that comes with arch iso
After the install I use my ansible playbooks to setup the arch the way I like it

Purpose

Linux that will run docker.

This is not a hand holding explaining guide how to install arch.
It's more of a checklist on what to do if you already done it and know what you are doing.

• Official site
• Arch wiki install guide
• Arch wiki docker entry

Files and directory structure

/home/
└── bastard/
    └── docker/
        ├── container-setup #1
        ├── container-setup #2
        ├── ...

Make installation usb

wiki

sudo dd bs=4M if=archlinux-2020.05.01-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdX status=progress oflag=direct

The above command will fuck your machine up if you dunno what you are doing.

Boot from the usb

This is BIOS/MBR setup as I am running on an old thinkpad with a busted screen, plus I like the simplicity of it.
So if theres boot menu option choose non-uefi.

Installation

• create a single partition and mark it bootable
  cfdisk -z /dev/sda
• build ext4 filesystem on it
  mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1
• mount the new partition
  mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
• install the base system
  pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware base-devel grub micro
• generate fstab
  genfstab -U /mnt > /mnt/etc/fstab
• chroot in to the new system
  arch-chroot /mnt
• install grub
  grub-install /dev/sda
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
• set password for root
  passwd
• remove the bootable media and restart the machine
  exit
reboot

Basic configuration after the first boot

• login as root
  

• set hostname
  echo docker-host > /etc/hostname

• add new user and set their password
  useradd -m -G wheel bastard
passwd bastard

• edit sudoers to allow users of the group wheel to sudo
  EDITOR=micro visudo
  %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

• check the network interface name
  ip link

• setup networking using systemd-networkd and systemd-resolved
  create 20-wired.network file either in static or dhcp configuration

  micro /etc/systemd/network/20-wired.network

  [Match]
  Name=enp0s25
  
  [Network]
  Address=10.0.19.2/24
  Gateway=10.0.19.1
  #DNS=8.8.8.8
  

  [Match]
  Name=enp0s25
  
  [Network]
  DHCP=yes
  

  for DNS resolution and hostname exposure using mDNS and LLMNR
  systemd-resolved will be used in stub mode
  by replacing /etc/resolv.conf with a link to stub-resolv.conf

  ln -sf /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf /etc/resolv.conf

  enable the services

  • systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved
  • systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd

• uncomment desired locales in locale.gen
  micro /etc/locale.gen
  

• generate new locales and set one system wide
  locale-gen
localectl set-locale LANG=en_US.UTF-8

• select timezone and set it permanent
  tzselect
timedatectl set-timezone 'Europe/Bratislava'

• set hardware clock and sync using ntp
  hwclock --systohc --utc
timedatectl set-ntp true

• setup a swap file
  dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1M count=8192 status=progress
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
micro /etc/fstab
  /swapfile none swap defaults 0 0

• reboot
  reboot

SSH, Docker, ZSH, AUR

From now on its login as non-root user.

Setup SSH access

wiki

• install openssh package
  sudo pacman -S openssh
• edit sshd_config
  sudo micro /etc/ssh/sshd_config
  PasswordAuthentication yes
• enable sshd service
  sudo systemctl enable --now sshd

Setup docker

Wiki

• have docker and docker-compose packages installed
  sudo pacman -S docker docker-compose
• enable docker service
  sudo systemctl enable --now docker
• add non-root user to the docker group
  sudo gpasswd -a bastard docker

ZSH shell

wiki

I like Zim, it's the fastest zsh framework and set up nicely out of the box

• install zsh and curl packages
  sudo pacman -S zsh git curl
• install zim
  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zimfw/install/master/install.zsh | zsh
• change the default shell to zsh
  chsh -s /bin/zsh
• I prefer steeef theme echo 'zmodule steeef' >> ~/.zimrc && zimfw install

Adding stuff to .zshrc

micro .zshrc

• export EDITOR=micro
export VISUAL=micro

• for ctrl+f prepending sudo

  add_sudo (){
      BUFFER="sudo $BUFFER"
      zle -w end-of-line
  }
  zle -N add_sudo
  bindkey "^f" add_sudo
  

ZSH docker autocomplete

Here. For zim it's "Without oh-my-zsh shell" section.

Access to AUR

Using Yay.

• install git package
  sudo pacman -S git
• install yay
  git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay-bin.git
cd yay-bin && makepkg -si
cd .. && rm -rf yay-bin
  

ctop-bin and inxi are good AUR packages.

Extra stuff

wiki - general general recommendations
wiki - improving performance

CPU microcode

• sudo pacman -S intel-ucode
• sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Some packages

Tools

• sudo pacman -S fuse curl wget micro nnn bind-tools borg python-llfuse

Monitoring and testing

• sudo pacman -S htop lm_sensors iotop nload powertop iproute2

Performance and maintenance

• install cron and enable the service
  sudo pacman -S cronie
sudo systemctl enable --now cronie

• if ssd, enable periodic trim
  sudo pacman -S util-linux
sudo systemctl enable --now fstrim.timer

• set noatime in fstab to prevent unnecessary tracking of read times
  sudo micro /etc/fstab
  UUID=cdd..addb / ext4 rw,noatime 0 1

• enable use of all cpu cores for makepkg jobs and disable compression
  sudo micro /etc/makepkg.conf
  MAKEFLAGS="-j$(nproc)"
  PKGEXT='.pkg.tar'

• clean up old packages weekly, keep last 3
  sudo pacman -S pacman-contrib
sudo systemctl enable --now paccache.timer

• use reflector to get the fastest mirrors based on country -c <country code>
sudo pacman -S reflector
sudo reflector -c SK,CZ,UA -p http --score 20 --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

  automatic mirror update with reflector

  /etc/xdg/reflector/reflector.conf

  --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
  --protocol http
  --country SK,CZ,UA
  --score 20
  --sort rate
  

  enable it, it will run weekly

  sudo systemctl enable --now reflector.timer

Comfort

• enable colors in pacman.conf
  sudo micro /etc/pacman.conf
  Color

Notebook

Lid closed should not make the machine go to sleep.

• Set lid handle switch to ignore in systemd logind.conf
  sudo micro /etc/systemd/logind.conf
  HandleLidSwitch=ignore

But this alone leaves the screen running nonstop.

Tried to find solution, and while sudo vbetool dpms off works, turning it back on does not sudo vbetool dpms on and it timesout without any message or error.

Might be specific for the hardware, currently its latitude E5570