Flatcar Self-Paced Learning Series on Flatcar Container Linux

Flatcar Self-Paced Learning Series: Basic Operation and Local Testing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Flatcar does only one thing: it runs container workloads. You can’t install anything (no package manager), nor are you supposed to ever interact with the OS outside automation.

This session will set you up with Flatcar on your local machine and cover foundational basics. Don’t worry, we’ll use a Flatcar VM - your host is safe. Goal of this session is to create a foundation for all succeeding sessions in the series, and to provide a lightweight workflow to experiment and test configurations locally. You do not need to have any experience with Flatcar, and you’ll need only very little Linux experience.

Flatcar Self-Paced Learning Series: Advanced Provisioning Configuration

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Building on the first session, we’ll dive into Butane configuration and deploy a more elaborate webpage.

A note for infrastructure developers

All configuration included in this course can also be generated programmatically. Ignition provides Go bindings for all Butane options used.

Goals

In this session, you’ll learn:

Getting familiar with Butane configuration and performing quick local test iterations to get production ready. Find the full specification here .
Extending your configuration to provision more complex services.
Securing services by running as unprivileged users.
Splitting your Butane configuration into multiple files for readability and maintainability.

Prerequisites

The session builds on the first session, Basic Operation and Local Testing . It assumes you

Flatcar Self-Paced Learning Series: Managing Storage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This session discusses handling additional storage, and customising the file system type used for the root filesystem. We will also provision encrypted storage to tighten security.

A note for infrastructure developers

All configuration included in this course can also be generated programmatically. Ignition provides Go bindings for all Butane options used.

Goals

In this session, you’ll learn:

Adding additional storage to your local QEmu set-up.
Configuring and customising the new storage device via Butane.
Encrypting data storage with LUKS.
Encrypting the root FS.

Prerequisites

The session builds on the session “Advanced Service Configuration”. We will re-use and extend on the Butane configuration from that session.

Flatcar Self-Paced Learning Series: Immutable OS, Boot Process, In‐Place Updates, and Automating Rollback

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

In this session, we’ll do a deep dive into Flatcar’s immutability and partition layout, and dissect the operating system’s start-up process. Building on this, we’ll do a deep dive into the update process, run an in-place upgrade, and configure an automated roll-back. Lastly, we’ll discuss Flatcar release channels and the release stabilisation process.

The session will cover immutability, boot, provisioning, and A/B partition layout first. While a bit dry, these are necessary to understand the innerworks of in-place updates.