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This repository has been archived - find the latest version at https://github.com/pktpls/notes/tree/main/openwrt-firecracker

OpenWrt as a Firecracker MicroVM

  • Boots in less than 4-6 seconds. There are a number of large sleeps in the OpenWrt boot process that can probably be avoided in a VM (no actual hardware to wait for).
  • Works with OpenWrt snapshots and not with OpenWrt 21.02, because the kernel needs to have CONFIG_VIRTIO_MMIO_CMDLINE_DEVICES enabled, which was added in October 2021.
  • Reboot and shutdown are wonky in Firecracker VMs. poweroff will halt the guest system but not exit the VM itself, reboot will exit the VM as you'd expect from poweroff. From the host's side, you can simply kill the Firecracker process for a non-graceful shutdown.

Basic usage

OpenWrt automatically uses eth0 for the lan bridge and eth1 for wan/wan6. If the latter doesn't exist, it will simply skipped and only the lan bridge created.

Get the kernel and rootfs images.

wget -O extract-vmlinux.sh https://github.com/torvalds/linux/raw/master/scripts/extract-vmlinux
chmod +x extract-vmlinux.sh

wget -O bzImage https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/x86/64/openwrt-x86-64-generic-kernel.bin
./extract-vmlinux.sh bzImage > vmlinux.elf

wget -O rootfs.img.gz https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/x86/64/openwrt-x86-64-generic-ext4-rootfs.img.gz
gunzip rootfs.img.gz

Create host-side interfaces for the VM's eth0/lan and eth1/wan interfaces. The interface names must match what's specified in vmconfig.json.

sudo ip tuntap add dev tap0 mode tap
sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.2/24 dev tap0 # could alternatively obtain DHCP lease
sudo ip link set dev tap0 up

sudo ip tuntap add dev tap1 mode tap
sudo ip addr add 192.168.123.1/24 dev tap1
sudo ip link set dev tap1 up

In a separate shell, start the VM. Note that changes to the ext4 rootfs partition are persistent. Other rootfs options (layered or ephemeral) haven't been evaluated yet.

sudo `which firecracker` --no-api --config-file ./vmconfig.json

Now the host can already ping the lan bridge.

ping 192.168.1.1
ssh [email protected] ping 192.168.1.2

To stop the VM, you use reboot inside or kill outside.

sudo killall firecracker

DHCP for eth1 / wan

To get the VM's wan interface up, again in a separate shell, start the host's DHCP server for the guest. The -d option enables debug mode, so dnsmasq prints the incoming DHCP requests. If you want the VM to have Internet access, you'd also need to enable forwarding and possibly NAT/masquerading separately.

sudo dnsmasq -d --bind-dynamic --listen-address=192.168.123.1 --dhcp-range=192.168.123.10,192.168.123.100

Multiple VMs

Each VM needs its own TAP interfaces and vmconfig.json file.

If you want to run multiple VMs with a bridge connecting their TAP interfaces, you'd need to enable ARP proxying so the VMs can see each other via the host.

sudo sysctl net.ipv4.conf.tap0.proxy_arp=1 # optional

VLAN

Because TAP interfaces carry Ethernet frames (while TUN interfaces carry IP packets), many convenient things just work, including VLANs.

On the host:

sudo ip link add link tap0 name tap0.foo type vlan id 42
sudo ip addr add 10.42.0.2/24 dev tap0.foo
sudo ip link set tap0.foo up

In the VM:

ip link add link eth0 name eth0.foo type vlan id 42
ip addr add 10.42.0.1/24 dev eth0.foo
ip link set eth0.foo up

Et voila:

ping 10.42.0.1
ssh [email protected] ping 10.42.0.2