arch_linux_host_install

Arch Linux installation to serve as a docker host

guide-by-example

Purpose

Linux that will run docker.

This is not a hand hodling 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.
Google for plenty of tutorials and youtube videos alongside arch wiki.

• 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
• choose geographicly close mirror, dd deletes entire line in vim
  vim /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist
• install the base system
  pacstrap /mnt base linux linux-firmware base-devel grub vim
• gnerate 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=vim visudo
  %wheel ALL=(ALL) ALL

• check the network interface name
  ip link

• set static IP using systemd-networkd and resolv.conf
  

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

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

  vim /etc/resolv.conf

  nameserver 8.8.8.8
  nameserver 1.1.1.1
  

  systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd

  No troublesome systemd-resolved in this setup.

• uncomment desidred locales in locale.gen
  vim /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
  fallocate -l 8G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
vim /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 vim /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 out of the box setup nicely

• install zsh and curl packages
  sudo pacman -S zsh git curl
• install zim, it changes users default shell to zsh
  curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zimfw/install/master/install.zsh | zsh
• change the default shell to zsh
  chsh -s /bin/zsh

Adding stuff to .zshrc

vim .zshrc

• export EDITOR=vim

• 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

Some packages

Tools

• sudo pacman -S fuse curl wget vim 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 keep of read times
  sudo vim /etc/fstab
  UUID=cdd..addb / ext4 rw,noatime 0 1
• enable use of all cpu cores for makepkg jobs and disable compression
  sudo vim /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 fastes mirrors based on country -c <country code>
sudo pacman -S reflector
sudo reflector -l 200 -n 20 -c SK -c CZ -p http --sort rate --save /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

Comfort

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

Notebook

• control power events, lid close for example
  sudo vim /etc/systemd/logind.conf
  HandleLidSwitch=ignore