Ivan Mikushin discussed adding system services to RancherOS using Docker Compose. Today I want to show you an exmaple of how to deploy Linux Dash as a system service. Linux Dash is a simple, low overhead, and web supported monitoring tool for Linux, you can read more about Linux Dash here. In this post i will add Linux Dash as a system service to RancherOS version 0.3.0 which allows users to add system services using rancherctl command. The Ubuntu’s console is the only service that is currently available in RancherOS.
Creating Linux Dash Docker Image
I build a 32MB node.js busybox image on top of the hwestphal/nodebox image, with linux-dash installed which will run on port 80 by default. The Docker file of this image:
FROM hwestphal/nodebox
MAINTAINER Hussein Galal
RUN opkg-install unzip
RUN curl -k -L -o master.zip https://github.com/afaqurk/linux-dash/archive/master.zip
RUN unzip master.zip
WORKDIR linux-dash-master
RUN npm install
ENTRYPOINT ["node","server"]
The image needs to be available on Docker Hub to be pulled later by RancherOS, so we should build and push the image:
# docker build -t husseingalal/busydash busydash/
# docker push husseingalal/busydash
Starting Linux Dash As A System Service
Linux Dash can be started as system service in RancherOS using rancherctl service enable <system-service> while <system-service> is the location of the yaml file that contains the option for starting the system service in RancherOS. linux-dash.yml
dash:
image: husseingalal/busydash
privileged: true
links:
- network
labels:
- io.rancher.os.scope=system
restart: always
pid: host
ipc: host
net: host
To start the previous configuration as a system service, run the following command on RancherOS:
~# rancherctl service enable /home/rancher/linux-dash/linux-dash.yml
By using this command, the service will also be added to the rancher.yml file and set to enabled, but a reboot needs to occur in order for it take effect. After rebooting, you can see that the dash service has been started using rancherctl command:
rancher@xxx:~$ sudo rancherctl service list
enabled ubuntu-console
enabled /home/rancher/linux-dash/linux-dash.yml
And you can see that the Dash container has been started as a system Docker container:
rancher@xxx:~$ sudo system-docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
447ada85ca78 rancher/ubuntuconsole:v0.3.0 "/usr/sbin/entry.sh About an hour ago Up About an hour console
fb7ce6f074e6 husseingalal/busydash:latest "node server" About an hour ago Up About an hour dash
b7b1c734776b userdocker:latest "/usr/sbin/entry.sh About an hour ago Up About an hour userdocker
2990a5db9042 udev:latest "/usr/sbin/entry.sh About an hour ago Up About an hour udev
935486c2bf83 syslog:latest "/usr/sbin/entry.sh About an hour ago Up About an hour syslog
And to test the Web UI just enter the following url to your browser: http://server’s-ip 
Conclusion
In version 0.3.0 of RancherOS, you have the ability to create and manage your own RancherOS system services. System service in RancherOS make it easy to enable is a Docker container that will start at the OS startup and can be designed in Docker compose format. For more information about system services in RancherOS. You can find instructions on how to download RancherOS from Github.