OctoPrint in an LXC container on ProxMox

Running OctoPrint in an LXC Container.

Sources

• Setting-up OctoPrint

Create an LXC Container

• Name: octo
• cores: 2
• RAM: 1GB
• HDD: 32GB
• Network: accept defaults, pick a fixed IP address
• Template: ubuntu 20.04

Pass through the USB ports for controller and webcam connection.

Create User

Create user to run octoprint, say pi:

Add user/group pi

adduser pi
usermod -a -G adm,sudo,tty,dialout pi

Install Dependencies

Update OS, install dependencies:

apt update
apt upgrade
apt install python3-pip python3-dev python3-setuptools python3-venv \
    git libyaml-dev build-essential

Install OctoPrint

As user pi, create python venv:

mkdir ~/OctoPrint && cd ~/OctoPrint
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

Within that venv:

pip install pip --upgrade
pip install octoprint

For some plugins this is important:

pip install wheel setuptools

Test Start

You should be able to start the OctoPrint server using:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ ~/OctoPrint/venv/bin/octoprint serve

After you done with testing - shut it by Ctrl+C

GUI

Should be available on http://octo:5000.

Automatic Start-up

Setup the start-up script:

wget https://github.com/OctoPrint/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.service && sudo mv octoprint.service /etc/systemd/system/octoprint.service

Add the script to autostart:

sudo systemctl enable octoprint.service

Enable restart/shutdown via OctoPrint’s system menu

In the UI, under Settings > Commands, configure the following commands:

• Restart OctoPrint: sudo service octoprint restart
• Restart system: sudo shutdown -r now
• Shutdown system: sudo shutdown -h now

Passthrough USB port(s) and tty to the OctoPrint Container

• Passthrough USB port to an LXC Container
• https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/usb-passthrough-to-a-container-lxc.101741/
• https://gist.github.com/crundberg/a77b22de856e92a7e14c81f40e7a74bd

Identify the USB port and tty to pass through:

root@suprox:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2c99:0002 Prusa Original Prusa i3 MK3
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0557:2419 ATEN International Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:7000 ATEN International Co., Ltd Hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0764:0501 Cyber Power System, Inc. CP1500 AVR UPS
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

root@suprox:~# ls -la /dev/bus/usb/001/005
crw-rw-r-- 1 root root 189, 4 Dec 27 12:34 /dev/bus/usb/001/005

root@suprox:/var/log# ls -la /dev/ttyACM0
crw-rw---- 1 root dialout 166, 0 Dec 27 12:34 /dev/ttyACM0

Now we know that:

• we need to pass through Bus 001 Device 005
• the vendor is 2c99 and the product is 0002
• note cgroup is 166

My octoprint lxc ID is 103, so I did:

mkdir -p /lxc/103/devices
cd /lxc/103/devices/
mknod -m 660 ttyACM0 c 166 0
chown 100000:100020 ttyACM0

Edit /etc/pve/nodes/<host>/lxc/<id>.conf, and add the following lines:

lxc.cgroup2.devices.allow: c 166:* rwm
lxc.mount.entry: /dev/bus/usb/001/005 dev/bus/usb/001/005 none bind,optional,create=file
lxc.mount.entry: /lxc/<id>/devices/ttyACM0 dev/ttyACM0 none bind,optional,create=file

Add /etc/udev/rules.d/50-myusb.rules:

SUBSYSTEM=="tty", ATTRS{idVendor}=="2c99", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0002", MODE="0666", SYMLINK+="prusa"

And then:

udevadm control --reload-rules && service udev restart && udevadm trigger

Restart the container. Then in the container:

root@octo:~# lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 2c99:0002 Prusa Research (prusa3d.com) Original Prusa i3 MK3
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0557:2419 ATEN International Co., Ltd ABST600
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0557:7000 ATEN International Co., Ltd Hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0764:0501 Cyber Power System, Inc. CP1500 AVR UPS
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
root@octo:~# ls -la /dev/tty*
crw-rw-rw- 1 nobody nogroup   5, 0 Dec 27 22:50 /dev/tty
crw------- 1 root   tty     136, 1 Dec 27 22:52 /dev/tty1
crw--w---- 1 root   tty     136, 2 Dec 27 22:51 /dev/tty2
crw-rw---- 1 root   dialout 166, 0 Dec 27 22:41 /dev/ttyACM0