A container in 81 lines of Bash: what the kernel primitives cost on Ubuntu 24 (gshell.dev)

A recent exploration into containerization has shown how to build a functional container using just 81 lines of Bash on Ubuntu 24. The author created a minimal container by leveraging kernel primitives such as namespaces and cgroups, highlighting the complexities associated with process isolation and system resources. The post represents Lab 0a in a journey to establish a two-node AI infrastructure, detailing step-by-step commands along with raw performance metrics and lessons learned. This endeavor is significant for the AI and ML community, as it lays the groundwork for configuring more advanced AI workloads, such as GPU inference serving and observability tools. The detailed examination of Linux namespaces, memory management using cgroups, and network isolation provides critical insights for developers looking to optimize container-based AI environments. The project uses an Alpine Linux root filesystem for efficiency and demonstrates the potential pitfalls of running isolated environments, particularly with PID namespaces and AppArmor restrictions. Overall, this work contributes to a deeper understanding of building foundational AI infrastructure, essential for performance and security in machine learning applications.