LXD container management system

Install and configure LXD

There are 2 ways to install LXD. One is through snap and the other is through APT. The way through snap is usually the better way.

Install LXD through snap

$ sudo snap install lxd

Install LXD through APT

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-lxc/lxd-stable
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt full-upgrade
$ sudo apt install lxd

Initialize LXD configuration

$ lxd init

Restart the computer to gain permissions to the lxd group

$ sudo reboot

Work with LXD

IMPORTANT! DON’T RUN LXC COMMANDS WITH SUDO!

List all containers

$ lxc list

Create a container

For an Ubuntu container:

$ lxc launch ubuntu: <container_name>

For an Arch Linux container:

For newer LXD versions:

$ lxc launch images:archlinux <container_name>

For older LXD version it may be:

$ lxc launch images:archlinux/current/amd64 <container_name>

Delete a container

$ lxc delete <container_name>

Enter a container

$ lxc exec bash <container_name>

Start a container

$ lxc start <container_name>

Restart a container

$ lxc restart <container_name>

Stop a container

$ lxc stop <container_name>

Create a snapshot of a container

$ lxc snapshot <container_name> [snapshot_name]

[snapshot_name] is optional.

Restore a snapshot of a container

$ lxc restore <container_name> <snapshot_name>

The snapshot names are normally formatted like this: snap<number>

LXD useful locations

Container location

/var/lib/lxd/containers/<container_name>

Root home location

/var/lib/lxd/containers/<container_name>/rootfs/root

User homes location

/var/lib/lxd/containers/<container_name>/rootfs/home/<user_name>

Snapshot location

/var/lib/lxd/snapshots/<snapshot_name>

Devices

Creating a new device for a container

Example:

lxc config device add <container> <somename> disk path=<target_path> source=<source_path>

Real example:

lxc config device add harp harp-somefolder disk path=/harp/somefolder/kb source=/mnt/storagedisk/data/SomeUser/files/Some\ Folder

Set a device to readonly

To set a device to readonly (so the container cannot change files), execute the following command:

lxc config device set <container> <devicename> readonly=true

Showing the info and devices of a container:

lxc config show <container>