feat(labs): add a nested Docker Engine to the Lab image for ROOT 04

Installs docker.io + a static docker-compose v2 binary (same "curl a static binary" pattern
already used for k3s) inside the same already-Privileged Lab container that runs k3s.
scripts/entrypoint.sh starts dockerd (vfs storage driver, to avoid nesting overlay-on-overlay)
non-blockingly right after k3s's own API server is confirmed up — a Docker daemon failure only
logs a warning and never breaks the Kubernetes-only Labs that are the vast majority of usage.

This does not weaken the security boundary: the container was already Privileged (required for
k3s, the existing accepted threat model), so a second runtime inside it grants no new host
capability, and the Lab Host's own real Docker socket is never touched — the nested dockerd
listens on its own /var/run/docker.sock entirely inside the guest's filesystem namespace.

Tested empirically against the real production resource caps (2 vCPU, 4096MB, 512 PIDs,
Privileged: true) before merging: k3s + dockerd + a running nginx:alpine container (with a
published port, curled successfully) + a real docker build all together used 884MB/4096MB and
160/512 PIDs — comfortable headroom in every dimension. See docs/ROOT_FOUNDATIONS_LAB_STRATEGY.md
§3 for the full test log.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <[email protected]>
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-26 12:59:23 -05:00
co-authored by Claude Sonnet 5
parent 3c815cfeea
commit 87526bcf7f
2 changed files with 41 additions and 0 deletions
+22
View File
@@ -58,6 +58,28 @@ for i in $(seq 1 60); do
done
OK "k3s API server is up"
# ── 1b. Start a nested Docker daemon (ROOT 04) ───────────────────────────────
# A second, independent runtime for Docker/container-fundamentals labs — see
# docs/ROOT_FOUNDATIONS_LAB_STRATEGY.md §3. vfs storage driver deliberately avoids nesting
# overlay-on-overlay under this container's own overlay filesystem. Best-effort and
# non-blocking: a Docker daemon failure must never break the Kubernetes-only Labs that are the
# vast majority of usage, so this never calls `exit 1` — only a log line.
if command -v dockerd >/dev/null 2>&1; then
LOG "Starting nested Docker daemon (ROOT 04 labs)..."
dockerd --storage-driver=vfs --host=unix:///var/run/docker.sock &>/var/log/dockerd.log &
DOCKERD_PID=$!
for i in $(seq 1 30); do
if docker version >/dev/null 2>&1; then
OK "Docker daemon is up"
break
fi
sleep 1
if [ $i -eq 30 ]; then
LOG "⚠ Docker daemon did not become ready in time — ROOT 04 labs will be unavailable this session, everything else is unaffected"
fi
done
fi
# Symlink kubeconfig to the standard location for convenience
mkdir -p /root/.kube
cp "$KUBECONFIG_PATH" /root/.kube/config