lx man page

lx.5

LX(5)                 Standards, Environments, and Macros                LX(5)

NAME
     lx – zone brand for running a GNU/Linux user-level environment

DESCRIPTION
     The lx brand uses the brands(5) framework to provide an environment for
     running binary applications built for GNU/Linux. User-level code,
     including an entire Linux distribution, can run inside the zone. Both
     32-bit and 64-bit applications are supported. The majority of Linux
     system calls are provided, along with emulation for a variety of Linux
     file systems, such as proc, cgroup and sysfs.

     The /proc file system within the zone is a subset of a full Linux /proc.
     Most kernel-level tuning applied to /proc is unavailable or ignored. Some
     tuning can be performed, but only to reduce the overall limits that have
     been specified on the zone's configuration.  That is, within the zone
     there is no way to increase the resource limits set on the zone itself.

     The zone must be installed using a clone of a zfs(1m) dataset which
     contains an image of the software to be run in the zone.

     Example:
           zoneadm -z myzone install -x nodataset -t debian7

     Applications provided by the base SunOS operating system are also
     available within the zone under the /native mount point. This allows the
     use of various native tools such as dtrace(1m), mdb(1), or the proc(1)
     tools on GNU/Linux applications. However, not every native tool will work
     properly within an lx zone.

CONFIGURATION
     The kernel-version attribute can be included in the zone's zonecfg(1m)
     settings as a way to specify the Linux version that the zone is
     emulating. For example, the value could be 3.13.0.

LIMITATIONS
     The brand only supports the exclusive IP stack zone configuration.

     Most modern GNU/Linux application software runs on lx, but because there
     are some system calls or file systems which are not currently
     implemented, it's possible that an application won't run. This does not
     preclude the application running in the future as the lx brand adds new
     capabilities.

     Because there is only the single SunOS kernel running on the system,
     there is no support for any Linux kernel-level modules. That is, there is
     no support for add-on drivers or any other modules that are part of the
     Linux kernel itself. If that is required, a full virtual machine should
     be used instead of an lx branded zone.

     Any core files produced within the zone are in the native SunOS format.

     As with any zone, the normal security mechanisms and privileges apply.
     Thus, certain operations (for example, changing the system time), will
     not be allowed unless the zone has been configured with the appropriate
     additional privileges.

SEE ALSO
     mdb(1), proc(1), dtrace(1m), zfs(1m), zoneadm(1m), zonecfg(1m),
     brands(5), privileges(5), resource_controls(5), zones(5)