Run vmlab in a container

§ 1Purpose

Run a lab inside Docker/Podman with KVM and optional eBPF network acceleration.

§ 2Prerequisites

• The host exposes /dev/kvm (else vmlab falls back to slow TCG).
• For eBPF acceleration, the host exposes /dev/net/tun and permits CAP_BPF + CAP_NET_ADMIN.
• The vmlab image is built or pulled.

§ 3Flowchart

§ 4Steps

$ docker build -t vmlab -f Containerfile .   # from the repo (or: just image)
$ docker pull ghcr.io/<owner>/vmlab:latest   # or a published release

Build with just image (or the command above), or skip building — every release is published to GHCR as ghcr.io/<owner>/vmlab:<version> (and :latest).

$ docker run --rm -it --device /dev/kvm --device /dev/net/tun \
    --cap-add BPF --cap-add NET_ADMIN -e VMLAB_FASTPATH=auto \
    -v ~/.local/share/vmlab/templates:/root/.local/share/vmlab/templates \
    -v "$PWD":/lab -w /lab vmlab vmlab up

Mount the template store (persistent) and the lab directory, grant /dev/kvm, and add /dev/net/tun plus CAP_BPF and CAP_NET_ADMIN when eBPF acceleration is wanted. Run a vmlab verb (the command above overrides the default). By default the container serves the web console (vmlab-web on :7878 — see the docker compose stack); for CLI use, override the command or drive a running container via docker exec <ctr> vmlab ....