yannick

If you want to launch a container say test-container3 from some image like Rocky Linux 8 then you need to use lxc launch images:rockylinux/8/amd64 test-container3 command as shown below.

Example 4: How to List Storage Pool

If you want to list all the storage pool then you need to use

lxc
storage ls

command as shown below.

Please note that if you are not able to see any storage on the output then probably first you need to either create the storage or initialize the LXD environment using lxd init command if not already initialized. This is important because you won't be able to launch any container without a storage pool.

Example 5: How to List all the running Containers

If you want to list all the running containers then you need to use lxc list command as shown below.

Example 6: How to Stop a Container

If you want to stop any running container then you need to use

lxc
stop <container_name>

syntax. In this example, we are stopping test-container3 using lxc stop test-container3 command as shown below.

Example 7: How to Start a Container

If you want to start a stopped container then you need to use

lxc
start <container_name>

syntax. In this example, we are starting a stopped container test-container3 using

lxc
start test-container3

command as shown below.

Example 8: How to restart a Container

You also have the option to restart a container. You can use

lxc
restart <container_name>

syntax to restart the container. In this example, we are restarting container test-container3 using lxc restart test-container3 command as shown below.

Example 9: How to delete a Container

In order to delete a container, you need to first stop it by using lxc stop test-container3 command as shown below.

Example 10: How to execute a command on the Container

If you want to execute a command on the container then you need to use lxc exec <container_name> <command> syntax. In this example, we are checking the OS information of container test-container3 using

lxc exec
test-container3 cat /etc/os-release

command as shown below.

Example 11: How to Check a Container's Information

If you want to check complete information about a container then you need to use lxc info <container_name> syntax. In this example, we are checking all the information related to container test-container3 using

lxc info
test-container3

command as shown below.

Example 12: How to Get Shell Access to a LXC Container

If you want to get the shell access to a container then you need to use lxc exec <container_name> bash syntax. In this example, we are taking shell access of test-container3 using lxc exec test-container3 bash command as shown below.

Example 13: How to List Prebuilt Images

If you want to check the list of all prebuilt images then you need to use lxc image list images command. But the output shown will be quite long so if you are looking for any specific image then you can only grep the list of that image by using

lxc
image list images: | grep -i <image_name>

. For example, here we are looking for all centos based prebuilt images by using

lxc
image list images: | grep -i centos

command as shown below.

Example 14: How to Display Information about Network Interface

If you want to check complete information about a network interface then you need to use

lxc network show
<interface_name>

syntax. In this example, we are checking complete information about interface lxdbr0 using lxc network show lxdbr0 command as shown below.

Example 15: How to check the default profile using lxc command

If you want to check the LXC default profile then you need to use lxc profile show default command as shown below. This will display you many of the important information like network interface details, storage details, container details etc.

Example 16: How to take Snapshot of an Instance using lxc command

If you want to take snapshot of an Instance then you need to use lxc snapshot <container_name> <snapshot_name> syntax. In this example we are taking snapshot of instance test-container3 and naming it as test-container3_snap using lxc snapshot test-container3 test-container3_snap command as shown below.

Example 17: How to restore an instance from snapshot using lxc command

If you want to restore an instance from snapshot then you need to use lxc restore <container_name> <snapshot_name> syntax. Here the snapshot name will be the snapshot using which you want to restore your instance. For example, here we are restoring test-container3 instance from test-container3_snap snapshot using lxc restore test-container3 test-container3_snap command as shown below.

Example 18: How to take backup of an Instance using lxc command

You can take backup of any instance by using

lxc export
<container_name> <backup_name>

syntax. In this example we are taking backup of test-container3 under /root/backup/lxd directory using

lxc export
test-container3 /root/backup/lxd/test-container3_bkp--$(date
+'%m-%d-%Y').tar.xz --optimized-storage

command as shown below.

Example 19: How to Restore Instance from a backup using lxc command

Similarly, if you want to restore your instance from a backup then you need to import the backup using lxc import command. For example, here we are restoring our instance test-container3 from backup test-container3_bkp--05-07-2022.tar.xz which is available under /root/backup/lxd directory by using

lxc
import /root/backup/lxd/test-container3_bkp--05-07-2022.tar.xz

command as shown below.

To verify the restoration, you can use lxc list command as shown below. It will show you the container restored in stopped state. You can now start the container and verify if everything is working fine as expected.

Please note that the container you are restoring must not be already available otherwise you will end up with

Error: Create
instance from backup: Cannot restore volume, already exists on
target

Example 20: How to Check all the options available with lxc command

If you want to check all the options with lxc command then you need to use lxc --help command as shown below.