# LinuxKit with bare metal on Packet

[Packet](http://packet.net) is a bare metal hosting provider.

You will need to [create a Packet account] and a project to
put this new machine into. You will also need to [create an API key]
with appropriate read/write permissions to allow the image to boot.

[create a Packet account]:https://app.packet.net/#/registration/
[create an API key]:https://help.packet.net/quick-start/api-integrations

Linuxkit is known to boot on the [Type 0] 
and [Type 1] servers at Packet.
Support for other server types, including the [Type 2A] ARM server,
is a work in progress.

[Type 0]:https://www.packet.net/bare-metal/servers/type-0/
[Type 1]:https://www.packet.net/bare-metal/servers/type-1/
[Type 2A]:https://www.packet.net/bare-metal/servers/type-2a/

The `linuxkit run packet` command can mostly either be configured via
command line options or with environment variables. see `linuxkit run
packet --help` for the options and environment variables.

## Boot

LinuxKit on Packet boots the `kernel+initrd` output from moby
via
[iPXE](https://help.packet.net/technical/infrastructure/custom-ipxe). iPXE
booting requires a HTTP server on which you can store your images. The
`-base-url` option specifies the URL to the HTTP server.

If you don't have a public HTTP server at hand, you can use the
`-serve` option. This will create a local HTTP server which can either
be run on another Packet machine or be made accessible with tools
like [ngrok](https://ngrok.com/).

For example, to boot the toplevel [linuxkit.yml](../linuxkit.yml)
example with a local HTTP server:

```sh
moby build linuxkit.yml
# run the web server
# run 'ngrok http 8080' in another window
PACKET_API_KEY=<API key> linuxkit run packet -serve :8080 -base-url http://9b828514.ngrok.io -project-id <Project ID> linuxkit
```

**Note**: It may take several minutes to deploy a new server. If you
are attached to the console, you should see the BIOS and the boot
messages.


## Console

By default, `linuxkit run packet ...` will connect to the
Packet
[SOS ("Serial over SSH") console](https://help.packet.net/technical/networking/sos-rescue-mode). This
requires `ssh` access, i.e., you must have uploaded your SSH keys to
Packet beforehand.

**Note**: We also require that the Packet SOS host is in your
`known_hosts` file, otherwise the connection to the console will
fail. There is a Packet SOS host per zone.

You can disable the serial console access with the `-console=false`
command line option.


## Disks

At this moment the Linuxkit server boots from RAM, with no persistent
storage.  We are working on adding persistent storage support on Packet.


## Networking

Some Packet server types have bonded networks; the current code does
not support that.

## Integration services and Metadata

Packet supports [user state](https://help.packet.net/technical/infrastructure/user-state)
during system bringup, which enables the boot process to be more informative about the
current state of the boot process once the kernel has loaded but before the
system is ready for login.