Containers on CHR (x86_64) - device-mode does not apply

RouterOS Virtualization
1

Hi All,

I am trying to set up a NAS on a CHR (v7.13 - latest).
The router is running as a vm on DigitalOcean.
I have followed instructions from Mikrotik Youtube channel : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMcJs4oyHDk.
Followed instructions 1:1 for the pihole example.
At the point where command “system device-mode update container=yes” is run.
I am prompted to turn the machine off within 5 minutes - so I turn the VM off and 10 -15 seconds later turn on.
After the CHR boots up, when I try to pull the container, I get error:
“Start Error - not allowed by the device-mode (6)”.

When I go to /system/device-mode/

print - the result is “mode: enterprise”
get container - result is blank

Any idea about why is container not set?

2

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/Feature+support+based+on+architecture

According to the table, the container feature is not available on CHR.

The first video in the Container Series on the MikroTik YouTube channel lists the same information. Containers, part 1, 1m5s mark Playlist

3

Just resolved the issue.
Apparently when selecting “Power off” option, the vm manager informs the chr that is is to be shut down, so it does it gracefully.
The log did not show “router was rebooted without proper shutdown”

Selecting option “Power cycle” did the trick.

4

That is not what that table shows.
It is absent from the “Not Supported”, so it is supposed to work. Tile architecture is missing at least one entry though.

It is, and it does work. As OP discovered, try the various shutdown/restart commands in your provider’s VPS control panel.. Needs to be a hard-reset, not a graceful one, I struggled with that one for a bit too.

5

It does work. I am not sure why it is not on the list, as it is ideal platform for this purpose - runs on x86-64 architecture (0% CPU utilization @ 2GHZ), has a vast (for a router) disk space ( in my case the CHR VM is using 50 MB out of available 25 GB), and running on an SSD disk. And all of that as a cheapest option for a VM.

6

I see what you mean. From the package page is can I added be seen that container is support on both x86_64 VM platform and CHR platform.

https://help.mikrotik.com/docs/display/ROS/Packages

*) container - added support for running Docker ™ containers on ARM, ARM64 and x86 (containers created before v7.4 must be recreated);

From the 7.5 stable release notes. CHR is not mentioned at. All. Only x86. :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: (feeling confounded :confounded_face:)

7

CHR is x86_64 though.

8

From a license perspective. The x86_64 is a license tightly knitted to the disk-id. With CHR being “cloud license” that can be moved from one CHR to another without “much hassle”.

Which is how I am used to perceive it. CHR != x86_64 (from a license perspective). Apart from the license perspective. You are indeed correct most (to everything) is equal between the versions (feature parity wise).

9

Hi, I tried to enable container today, but it seems not to work.
I around with the poweroff mode, including killing the qemu process with kill -9.
Nothing works. Any further hints on how to enable the container on a chr?

thx in advance

meno