How to work with MicroCloud (command cheat sheet)

This guide lists the commands you need to know to do common operations in MicroCloud. This command list is not meant to be exhaustive, but it gives a general overview and serves as an entry point to working with MicroCloud.

Make sure to also check the LXD documentation. Most commands you use in MicroCloud are actually LXD client commands and are documented in more detail in the LXD documentation. There, you can also find the man pages for the lxc command.

The sections of the command list provide direct links to specific pages containing more information about the respective topics.

Create and manage instances

See Instances.

Check available images

See How to use remote images.

List remotes	lxc remote list
Switch remotes	lxc remote switch <remote>
List images	lxc image list [<remote>:]

Create instances

See How to create instances and How to access the console.

Create a container (without starting it)	lxc init [<remote>:]<image> [<name>] [flags]
Create and start a container	lxc launch [<remote>:]<image> [<name>] [flags]
Create a VM (without starting it)	lxc init [<remote>:]<image> [<name>] --vm [flags]
Create and start a VM and connect to its VGA console	lxc launch [<remote>:]<image> [<name>] --vm --console=vga [flags]

Manage instances

See How to manage instances.

List instances	lxc list
Show status information about an instance	lxc info <instance>
Start an instance	lxc start <instance> [flags]
Stop an instance	lxc stop <instance> [flags]
Force-stop an instance	lxc stop <instance> --force
Delete an instance	lxc delete <instance> [--force|--interactive]
Copy an instance	lxc copy <instance> <new_name> [flags]

Access instances

See How to run commands in an instance, How to access the console, and How to access files in an instance.

Run a command inside an instance	lxc exec <instance> -- <command>
Get shell access to an instance (if bash is installed)	lxc exec <instance> -- bash
Get console access to an instance	lxc console <instance> [flags]
Pull a file from an instance	lxc file pull <instance>/<instance_filepath> <local_filepath>
Push a file to an instance	lxc file pull <local_filepath> <instance>/<instance_filepath>

Configure instances

See How to configure instances, How to use profiles, and Instance configuration (and sub-pages).

Show the configuration of an instance	lxc config show <instance>
Show the configuration of an instance, including configurations inherited from a profile	lxc config show <instance> --expanded
Set some configuration options for an instance (this example limits memory and CPU usage)	lxc config set <instance> limits.memory=8GiB limits.cpu=4 Tip See Instance options for all available instance options.
Override some device options for an instance (this example sets the root disk size)	lxc config device override <instance> root size=10GiB Tip See Devices for the device options that are available for each device type.
Edit the full configuration of an instance	lxc config edit <instance>
Apply a profile to an instance	lxc profile add <instance> <profile>

Use cloud-init

See How to use cloud-init.

For example, to import an SSH key:

1. Create a profile: lxc profile create <profile>

2. Run lxc profile edit <profile> and add the following configuration to the profile:

   config:
     cloud-init.user-data: |
       #cloud-config
       ssh_authorized_keys:
         - <public_key>
   

3. Launch the instance using that profile (in addition to the default profile): lxc launch <image> [<name>] --profile default --profile <profile>

Manage instance snapshots

See Use snapshots for instance backup.

Create a snapshot	lxc snapshot <instance> [<snapshot_name>] [flags]
View information about a snapshot	lxc config show <instance>/<snapshot_name>
View all snapshots of an instance	lxc info <instance>
Restore a snapshot	lxc restore <instance> <snapshot_name> [--stateful]
Delete a snapshot	lxc delete <instance>/<snapshot_name>
Create an instance from a snapshot	lxc copy <instance>/<snapshot_name> <new_instance>

Configure storage

See How to manage storage volumes.

To create a storage pool, see How to manage storage pools. However, keep in mind that for MicroCloud to be able to use the storage pool, it must be created for the cluster and not only for one machine. Therefore, the following example commands use the remote storage pool that is automatically set up in MicroCloud.

Create a custom storage volume of content type filesystem in the remote storage pool	lxc storage volume create remote <volume>
Create a custom storage volume of content type block in the remote storage pool	lxc storage volume create remote <volume> --type=block
Attach a custom storage volume of content type filesystem to an instance	lxc storage volume attach remote <volume> <instance> <location>
Attach a custom storage volume of content type block to an instance	lxc storage volume attach remote <volume> <instance>

Configure networking

See Networking (and sub-pages).

Create a network	lxc network create <network> --type=<type> [options] Tip See How to create a network for detailed information.
Attach an instance to a network	lxc network attach <network> <instance> [<device>] [<interface>] Tip See Attach a network to an instance for detailed information.
Create and apply a network ACL to an instance	lxc network acl rule add <ACL> ingress|egress [properties] lxc network set <network> security.acls="<ACL>" Tip See How to configure network ACLs for detailed information.
Expose an instance on an external IP	lxc network forward <network> create <external_IP> target_address=<instance_IP> Tip See How to configure network forwards for detailed information.

Use projects

See About projects and Projects (and sub-pages).

Create a project	lxc project create <project> [--config <option>]
Configure a project	lxc project set <project> <option>
Switch to a project	lxc project switch <project>

Configure the LXD server

See How to configure the LXD server.

Configure server options	lxc config set <key> <value> Tip See Server configuration for all available server options.
Enable GUI access to the LXD cluster	lxc config set core.https_address :8443 Then enable the UI on the snap and reload the snap: snap set lxd ui.enable=true sudo systemctl reload snap.lxd.daemon Tip See How to access the LXD web UI for detailed information.

Manage the MicroCloud cluster

See How to manage instances in a cluster and Evacuate and restore cluster members.

Inspect the cluster status for all services at once	:command:microcloud service list
Inspect the cluster status for each service	microcloud cluster list lxc cluster list microceph cluster list microovn cluster list
Move an instance to a different cluster member	lxc move <instance> --target <member>
Copy an instance from a different LXD server	Add one of the MicroCloud cluster members as a remote on the different LXD server and copy or move the instance from that server. lxc copy <instance> <remote> Tip See How to move existing LXD instances between servers for details.
Evacuate a cluster member	lxc cluster evacuate <member>
Restore a cluster member	lxc cluster restore <member>