slim will build a micro-vm from a Dockerfile. Slim works by building and extracting a rootfs from a Dockerfile, and then merging that filesystem with a small minimal kernel that runs in RAM.
This results in a real VM that can boot instantly, while using very limited resources. If done properly, slim can allow you to design and build immutable unikernels for running services, or build tiny and embedded development environments.
Create a micro-vm from a Dockerfile. Use build command with a directory containing a Dockerfile.
$ slim build images/alpine3.8-simple
This will add a bootable iso in the slim registry. See example Dockerfile.
See a list of micro-vm images on your machine.
$ slim images
Provision a new instance of the given micro-vm image as a virtual machine.
$ slim run micro1 alpine3.8-simple
VirtualBox will run the micro-vm instance as an attached iso loaded into a cdrom, and boot up the iso in seconds.
For convenience, a ssh connection command is provided at the end of the command, allowing easy access into the machine:
Example: ssh -i /Users/cjparnin/.slim/baker_rsa root@127.0.0.1 -p 2008 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no
Simply clone this repo and run.
npm install
npm link
Unfortunately, due to the experimental nature, there are a few dependencies you must also install:
- VirtualBox
- docker
- 7z:
brew install p7zip - cdrtools:
brew install cdrtools