How to install and set up LXD on Fedora Linux server

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Requirements to run LXD on Fedora Linux

Fedora Linux server either running on bare metal or in the cloud. I tested with Fedora Linux version 30/31/32. Snapd installed and configured on Fedora

I set up a brand new Fedora Linux server in the cloud. How can I install and setup LXD on Fedora Linux? How do I create my first VM using LXD?Linux container is an implementation of operating system-level virtualization for the Linux operating system. LXD is a system container manager. You get an experience similar to virtual machines but using Linux containers instead. You can run various Linux distros using LXD. This page shows how to set up, use LXD and create your first VM on Fedora Linux server. Finally, you will then learn how to route traffic to the container from the Internet.

Let us see all steps to install and setup LXD on Fedora Linux server in details.

Step 1 – Install snapd

To install the snapd package type the following dnf command:

sudo dnf install snapd



sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

snap version

snap 2.45.3.1-1.fc32 snapd 2.45.3.1-1.fc32 series 16 fedora 32 kernel 5.7.11-200.fc32.x86_64

Step 2 – Install and setup LXD on Fedora Linux server

Type the following snap command:

## first restart snapd using the systemctl command ##

sudo systemctl restart snapd.service

sudo snap install lxd



Verify LXD installation

Make sure lxd service enabled on the Fedora Linux:

$ sudo snap enable lxd

$ sudo snap services lxd

Service Startup Current lxd.daemon enabled active

If not active, startit:

sudo snap start lxd

Type the following usermod command (feel free to replace the username ‘vivek‘ with your actual username on Fedora Linux):

sudo usermod -a -G lxd vivek

id vivek

newgrp lxd



At this stage log out and log in again if session not activated

logout

Step 3 – Configure the LXD networking and storage for VM

Type the following command:

lxd init



I suggest you use new backends such as ZFS, BTRFS, or LVM and along with DHCP based IP networking for ease of setup for each VM. As a result, you can use snapshots and other advanced features supported by new backends. You may get warning as follows:

WARNING: cgroup v2 is not fully supported yet, proceeding with partial confinement

Currenlty support for cgroups v2 is in development, but has not been rolled out. Hence, you need to ignore this warning on Fedora Linux 32.

lxd verification

Make sure the lxc client is talking to the LXD daemon:

lxc list



lxc image list images:



lxc image alias list images:

lxc image alias list images: | grep -i arch

lxc image alias list images: | grep -i debian

lxc image alias list images: | grep -i fedora

Step 4. Create your first LXD VM on Fedora

Most of the images are known by several aliases. To see a list, enter:

It is time to create and use your first container. To create and start containers from images use the launch command:

lxc launch images:{distro}/{version}/{arch} {container-name-here}

Let us see some examples to create and start containers from various Linux distro images as per your needs.

CentOS Linux 7 and 8 container

lxc launch images:centos/7/amd64 cenots-7-vm

lxc launch images:centos/8/amd64 cenots-8-vm

Fedora Linux 32 container

lxc launch images:fedora/32/amd64 fedora-32-vm

OpenSUSE Linux 15.2 continer

lxc launch images:opensuse/15.2/amd64 opensuse-15-2

Gentoo Linux container

lxc launch images:gentoo/amd64 gentoo-linux-vm

Arch Linux

lxc launch images:archlinux/amd64 arch-linux-vm

Ubuntu Linux LTS 18.04

lxc launch images:ubuntu/18.10/amd64 ubuntu-nginx-vm

Debian Linux 9.x

lxc launch images:debian/9/amd64 debian-nfs-server-vm

Debian Linux 10.x

lxc launch images:debian/10/amd64 debian-10-vm

lxc list

Sample outputs:

+--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+ | NAME | STATE | IPV4 | IPV6 | TYPE | SNAPSHOTS | +--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+ | debian- 10 -vm | RUNNING | 10.205.77.80 ( eth0 ) | fd42: 400 :b94d:ad98: 216 :3eff:fe7e:1ec5 ( eth0 ) | PERSISTENT | | +--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+ +--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+ | NAME | STATE | IPV4 | IPV6 | TYPE | SNAPSHOTS | +--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+ | debian-10-vm | RUNNING | 10.205.77.80 (eth0) | fd42:400:b94d:ad98:216:3eff:fe7e:1ec5 (eth0) | PERSISTENT | | +--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+

How to list all my containers/VMs

List the existing containers:

lxc list --fast

lxc list | grep RUNNING

lxc list | grep STOPPED



How to execute/run the specified command in a container VM

lxc exec containerName -- command

lxc exec containerName -- /path/to/script

lxc exec containerName --env EDITOR=/usr/bin/vim -- command

### run date, ip a, ip rm and other commands on various containers ###

lxc exec cenots-7-vm -- date

lxc exec ubuntu-nginx-vm -- ip r

lxc exec fedora-30-vm -- dnf update

lxc exec debian-nfs-server-vm -- cat /etc/debian_version

How to login to my containers/VMs

To gain login and gain shell access in a container named debian-nfs-server-vm , enter:

lxc exec debian-nfs-server-vm bash

Now you can run commands or install packages for the VM:

# cat /etc/*issue*

# apt-get update

# apt-get upgrade

# apt-get install nginx

To exit simply from container simply type exit:

# exit

Sample session:



How to start/stop/restart my containers

lxc start containerName # <--- start it

lxc stop containerName # <--- stop it

lxc restart containerName # <--- restart it

lxc stop ubuntu-nginx-vm

lxc start ubuntu-nginx-vm

lxc restart ubuntu-nginx-vm

How to delete my containers

lxc stop vmName && lxc delete vmName

lxc stop ubuntu-nginx-vm && lxc delete ubuntu-nginx-vm

Get info about running containers

lxc info

lxc info containerName

lxc info ubuntu-nginx-vm



Step 5 – Forward incoming connections to the Linux container VM

First install the nginx server inside ubuntu-nginx-vm:

lxc exec ubuntu-nginx-vm bash

apt update && apt upgrade && apt install nginx

systemctl enable nginx

systemctl status nginx

### update/create the default html file

cat /var/www/html/index.nginx-debian.html

Sample file:

<!DOCTYPE html> < html > < head > < title > Welcome to nginx running on LXD VM! < / title > < / head > < body > < h1 >< h1 > Welcome to nginx running on LXD VM! < / h1 > < / body > < / html > <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Welcome to nginx running on LXD VM!</title> </head> <body> <h1><h1>Welcome to nginx running on LXD VM!</h1> </body> </html>

Finally logout from the LXD vm:

# logout

Find ubuntu-nginx-vm IP address:

lxc list ubuntu-nginx-vm

Sample outputs:

+-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+ | NAME | STATE | IPV4 | IPV6 | TYPE | SNAPSHOTS | +-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+ | ubuntu-nginx-vm | RUNNING | 10.75.139.74 ( eth0 ) | | PERSISTENT | 0 | +-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+ +-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+ | NAME | STATE | IPV4 | IPV6 | TYPE | SNAPSHOTS | +-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+ | ubuntu-nginx-vm | RUNNING | 10.75.139.74 (eth0) | | PERSISTENT | 0 | +-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+

You need to redirect/forward all incoming traffic on port 80 to Fedora Linux 28 public IP address say 104.20.187.5 to LXD private IP address 10.75.139.74.

Find the default firewalld zone

sudo firewall-cmd --get-default-zone

FedoraServer

Open port 80 for FedoraServer zone

sudo firewall-cmd --zone=FedoraServer --add-service=http --permanent

Forward port 80 to the LXD server 10.75.139.74 port 80

sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=FedoraServer --add-forward-port=port=80:proto=tcp:toport=80:toaddr=10.75.139.74

Reload the fireall

sudo firewall-cmd --reload

Test it

Fire the web browser and type url:

http://104.20.187.5



For more info see FirewallD docs here and LXD info here.

Conclusion

You just set up an LXD container running on Fedora Linux. Once the container is up and running, you could install additional services such as Nginx, MariaDB, PHP, Python and more. See LXD page for more info.