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| Linux-VServer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Herbert Pötzl (Community Project) |
| Stable release | 2.6.22.19-vs2.2.0.7 / March 14, 2008; 17 years ago (2008-03-14) |
| Preview release | 4.9.159-vs2.3.9.8 / October 5, 2019; 6 years ago (2019-10-05) |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Platform | x86,SPARC/64,PA-RISC,s390x,MIPS/64,ARM,PowerPC/64,Itanium |
| Type | OS-level virtualization |
| License | GNU GPL v.2 |
| Website | linux-vserver |
| Repository | |
Linux-VServer is avirtual private server implementation that was created by addingoperating system-level virtualization capabilities to theLinux kernel. It is developed and distributed asopen-source software.
The project was started byJacques Gélinas. It is now maintained by Herbert Pötzl. It is not related to theLinux Virtual Server project, which implements networkload balancing.
Linux-VServer is ajail mechanism in that it can be used to securely partition resources on a computer system (such as thefile system, CPU time, network addresses and memory) in such a way thatprocesses cannot mount adenial-of-service attack on anything outside their partition.
Each partition is called asecurity context, and the virtualized system within it is thevirtual private server. Achroot-like utility for descending into security contexts is provided. Booting a virtual private server is then simply a matter of kickstartinginit in a new security context; likewise, shutting it down simply entails killing all processes with that security context. The contexts themselves are robust enough to boot manyLinux distributions unmodified, includingDebian andFedora.
Virtual private servers are commonly used inweb hosting services, where they are useful for segregating customer accounts, pooling resources and containing any potential security breaches. To save space on such installations, each virtual server's file system can be created as a tree ofcopy-on-writehard links to a "template" file system. The hard link is marked with a special filesystem attribute and when modified, is securely and transparently replaced with a real copy of the file.
Linux-VServer provides two branches, stable (2.2.x), and devel (2.3.x) for 2.6-series kernels and a single stable branch for 2.4-series. A separate stable branch integrating thegrsecurity patch set is also available.
Since December 2025 the original website is under the control of a shady individual impersonating the current Linux-VServer maintainer and promoting (fictional?) Mobile Device Management software while instead collecting eMail addresses. Unfortunately this was possible because the domain expired after the death of Jacques Gélinas and nobody noticed.
