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Install CoreOS on Your Linode

Updated by Linode Contributed by Michael Zuo

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Deprecated
This guide has been deprecated and is no longer being maintained.
Note
CoreOS Container Linux is now available for deployment from the Linode Manager.

CoreOS is a container-centric Linux distribution designed for clustered systems running in the cloud. With user applications running inside containers, the host system itself provides minimal functionality. This guide details installing CoreOS on a KVM Linode. If you’re running a Xen Linode, you can upgrade, but it is currently not possible to install CoreOS on a Xen Linode.

CoreOS is not officially supported by Linode so there are limitations to using it in comparison to the Linux images provided in the Linode Manager.

  • The CoreOS installer will create a partition table on the disk image which will interfere with the Linode Backup service because the disk image will not be directly mountable.

  • Unlike the case with most partitioned images, you will be able to resize the disk image holding a CoreOS system; however, it can only grow, not shrink. CoreOS will resize its root partition to fill the disk on next boot.

Caution
These instructions perform destructive operations on your Linode! You should not attempt to install CoreOS on a Linode with data you want to preserve. You may wish to use a second Linode and transfer your data after installation.

Before You Begin

CoreOS configures no default way to log in except by supplying an option to the kernel command line. You should prepare a cloud-config file with authentication details for your first login. Should you forego this option, you can always add an SSH key through Lish after installation.

Prepare the Linode

  1. From the Linode Manager, create a new Linode.

  2. Under the Disks section of the Linode Dashboard, click on Create a new Disk:

    Create a new disk

  3. Label your new disk image and choose an appropriate size. You will probably need to allocate at least 5 GB. Set the Type to unformatted / raw.

    Specify disk name and size

If you’re not sure how big your disk image needs to be, you may wish to choose a small size so that you can grow the disk later. You will not be able to shrink the disk image after it has been generated.

  1. Return to the Linode Dashboard and select the Rescue tab. Check to make sure the CoreOS disk image you created is set as /dev/sda and all other selectable devices set to –None–, then click the Reboot into Rescue Mode button. Your Linode will now boot into the Finnix recovery image.

    Set /dev/sda to CoreOS disk image

  2. Use Lish to access your Linode. From your Linode’s dashboard, click the Launch Console link to open an SSH connection in the local system’s terminal.

Collect Installation Files

Note
These commands should be run from a root prompt under Finnix through Lish.

CoreOS can be installed using a self-contained script which automates the task of downloading an appropriate release image and copying it to disk.

  1. In order to securely download this script, it’s recommended to install the appropriate CA certificates from the Debian repositories:

    apt-get update
apt-get install ca-certificates

  2. Now download the installation script from GitHub and mark it executable:

    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coreos/init/master/bin/coreos-install
chmod +x coreos-install

    You may wish to read the options available to install CoreOS:

    ./coreos-install -h

Cloud-Config File

The easiest way to copy your cloud-config file to your Linode is to simply cat > cloud-config.yml and paste into a text editor in your Lish shell. At minimum, you should have an authorized key for SSH access as shown below.

/cloud-config.yml 
1
2

ssh_authorized_keys:
  - "example_public_ssh_key"

Install CoreOS to disk

  1. Run coreos-install on your disk image:

    ./coreos-install -v -d /dev/sda -c cloud-config.yml
    Note
    You can also supply any other options (see coreos-install -h). If you do not want verbose output, you can leave out the -v flag.

  2. ADVANCED: At this point, you can modify the image by mounting /dev/sda9. For example, you can make additions to your cloud-config file, you can add an authorized_keys for the core user as follows:

    mount /dev/sda9
cat > /media/sda9/home/core/.ssh/authorized_keys <<EOF
# ... ssh keys ...  EOF

  3. Power off your Linode.

    shutdown -h now

Configure your Linode to boot CoreOS

  1. Return to the Linode Dashboard and under Dashboard select Create a new Configuration Profile.

  2. Since CoreOS is installed with its own partition table and MBR, we cannot use the Linode-provided kernels. Under Boot Settings, click on the Kernel drop-down menu and select Direct Disk.

  3. Under Block Device Assignment, set /dev/sda to the CoreOS disk image you created and installed CoreOS to.

    Configuration profile

  4. All other settings can be left in their default state. Click Save Changes.

  5. Return to the Linode Dashboard, select the new configuration profile and click Reboot

Log in to CoreOS

  1. With Lish open, you should see your Linode booting into CoreOS, finishing with a list of SSH host keys and a login prompt, something similar to:

    This is li1010-4 (Linux x86_64 4.1.7-coreos-r1) 22:19:29
SSH host key: 36:b5:e9:cd:8b:74:e9:52:fd:54:b1:30:78:af:f2:11 (DSA)
SSH host key: 13:fe:66:49:35:35:5e:64:ae:4f:64:65:e2:98:8a:d4 (ED25519)
SSH host key: 60:97:2c:b3:bf:2b:42:71:11:42:93:ff:ba:9f:ca:07 (RSA)
eth0: 203.0.113.0 2001:db8:0:123::1

li1010-4 login:

  2. You should now be able to access your Linode via SSH. If you did not specify a user in the cloud-config file, CoreOS’s default user is core. You should confirm that the host keys match the first time you log in, to reduce your risk from MITM attack.

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This guide is published under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.