Docker.github.io: Problems running aufs w/ linux-aws kernel

Created on 9 Apr 2017 · 7Comments · Source: docker/docker.github.io

Problem description

Installing Docker on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with the linux-aws kernel package fails because there is no corresponding linux-image-extra-$(uname -r) package for this kernel.

$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-$(uname -r) \
>                      linux-image-extra-virtual
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-image-extra-4.4.0-1012-aws
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-image-extra-4.4.0-1012-aws'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-image-extra-4.4.0-1012-aws'

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:  Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
Release:  16.04
Codename: xenial

$ uname -r
4.4.0-1012-aws

This is similar to an issue described in https://github.com/docker/docker.github.io/issues/2252 (although presumably the mainline is not supported).

The docs seem to suggest that linux-image-extra-* packages are only required when installing on Trusty 14.04.

However, the aufs-driver docs include the same instructions, without reference to Ubuntu versions or code names.

This is confusing and probably needs clarification.

What is the right way to install aufs support for Docker on Ubuntu 16.04?
Are the linux-image-extra-$(uname -r) packages required to use aufs with Docker?

Problem location

URLS:

Project version(s) affected

I was installing the latest version of docker ce on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, but using the brand new linux-aws kernel package. This may affect other versions of Docker on Ubuntu.

Suggestions for a fix

Not sure if this is a suggestion (or even recommended), but here are my own findings on _successfully_ installing on the linux-aws kernel.

The aufs-driver docs first suggest to check for aufs support:

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems

nodev   aufs

Then to install the linux-image-extra-* packages:

sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-$(uname -r) \
  linux-image-extra-virtual

Instead, I ran _only_ this command :

sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-virtual

This also installed linux-headers-4.4.0-72-generic, which presumably is what would be installed if I were not running the linux-aws kernel.

NOTE: At this point running grep aufs /proc/filesystems produces no output.

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems

From here, I installed docker-ce as normal.

After installing Docker, running grep aufs /proc/filesystems produces the desired output:

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems

nodev aufs

And after configuring Docker to use the aufs storage driver as described here, everything appears to run as expected.

$ sudo docker info

ubuntu@ip-10-150-100-85:~$ sudo docker info
Containers: 2
 Running: 0
 Paused: 0
 Stopped: 2
Images: 1
Server Version: 17.03.1-ce
Storage Driver: aufs
 Root Dir: /var/lib/docker/aufs
 Backing Filesystem: extfs
 Dirs: 5
 Dirperm1 Supported: true
 ...

areEngine

Source

niclic

👍6

Most helpful comment

Still an issue with the latest linux-aws kernel package

$ uname -r
4.4.0-1013-aws

niclic on 18 Apr 2017

👍7

All 7 comments

Still an issue with the latest linux-aws kernel package

$ uname -r
4.4.0-1013-aws

niclic on 18 Apr 2017

👍7

It _sounds_ like this issue could be addressed by this fix: move aufs.ko from -extra to linux-image package, by removing the need to install any linux-image-extra-* packages.

Docker is ordinarily configured to use aufs, but the aufs kernel module is only available after installing the linux-image-extra package.

Please promote aufs.ko from the linux-image-extra package to the main linux-image package for all supported Ubuntu kernels and derivatives, so as to remove Docker's dependence on linux-image-extra.

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 4.4.0-75.96

I will follow up after verifying.

niclic on 24 Apr 2017

🎉3

Per the linux-aws_4.4.0-1009.18 changelog:

[config] AWS: aufs.ko moved to linux-image package

Confirmed on a test machine:

~# grep aufs /proc/filesystems
nodev   aufs
~# dpkg -l|grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-1013-aws          4.4.0-1013.22                              amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-1016-aws          4.4.0-1016.25                              amd64        Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-aws                     4.4.0.1016.19                              amd64        Linux kernel image for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems.

heph on 25 Apr 2017

👍2

Ah, thanks @heph. I have also confirmed your findings.

Seems like the fix has yet to make it to the offical Canonical Ubuntu 16.04 EC2 AMI.

After launching ami-80861296 (the most current release 20170414):

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:  Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
Release:  16.04
Codename: xenial

$ uname -r
4.4.0-1013-aws

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems

$ dpkg -l | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-1013-aws       4.4.0-1013.22  amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-aws                  4.4.0.1013.16  amd64 Linux kernel image for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems.

I have to manually install the latest linux-image-aws package

$ sudo apt-get install linux-aws linux-headers-aws linux-image-aws -y

$ dpkg -l | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-1013-aws       4.4.0-1013.22  amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-4.4.0-1016-aws       4.4.0-1016.25  amd64 Linux kernel image for version 4.4.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii  linux-image-aws                  4.4.0.1016.19  amd64 Linux kernel image for Amazon Web Services (AWS) systems.

Then installing docker-ce as normal gives the desired result:

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems
nodev aufs

Conclusions

Going forward _no additional_ packages should need to be installed to enable aufs support for Docker on Ubuntu.
The docs should be updated to reflect this change.

BugReferences

niclic on 25 Apr 2017

👍2

The latest daily build has the most up to date linux-image-aws package, so I expect this to be available soon.

ubuntu/images-testing/hvm-ssd/ubuntu-xenial-daily-amd64-server-20170425 - ami-09d14b1f

Canonical, Ubuntu, None LTS, UNSUPPORTED daily amd64 xenial image build on 2017-04-25

After launching ami-09d14b1f, enabling aufs support with docker-ce has the desired effect, without any additional installation.

niclic on 27 Apr 2017

👍2

The latest official release is: Canonical, Ubuntu, 16.04 LTS, amd64 xenial image build on 2017-05-16

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:  Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
Release:  16.04
Codename: xenial

$ uname -r
4.4.0-1016-aws

_After_ launching ami-20631a36 in us-east-1 and installing docker-ce, aufs support is enabled by default.

$ grep aufs /proc/filesystems
nodev aufs

No additional installations or configuration is required.

niclic on 23 May 2017

👍4

@niclic Thank you for your continuous updates!
From my understanding, this effects for Ubuntu 14.04 or newer as well, right?

If it's correct, i suppose the documentation is a bit out-of-date:

Recommended extra packages for Trusty 14.04
Unless you have a strong reason not to, install the linux-image-extra-* packages, which allow Docker to use the aufs storage drivers.