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# On Ubuntu (LXD is distributed exclusively via snap)
sudo snap install lxd

# On Debian (LXC available via apt; LXD via snap)
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lxc
sudo snap install lxd

# On Fedora/RHEL/CentOS (Incus is the community fork, recommended successor)
sudo dnf install incus incus-tools

# On Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S lxc lxd
# Or for the community fork:
sudo pacman -S incus

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# Initial interactive configuration
sudo lxd init
# or
sudo incus admin init

# Non-interactive initialization
sudo lxd init --auto

# Preseed from YAML
cat preseed.yaml | sudo lxd init --preseed

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# List available commands
lxc --help

# Show server / cluster information
lxc info

# List all instances (containers and VMs)
lxc list

# Filter running instances
lxc list status=running

# List only VMs
lxc list type=virtual-machine

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# Create Ubuntu container (latest LTS)
lxc launch ubuntu:24.04 my-ubuntu-container

# Create container from the Linux Containers image server
lxc launch images:debian/12 my-debian-container

# Create a virtual machine instead of a container
lxc launch ubuntu:24.04 my-vm --vm

# Create instance without starting it
lxc init ubuntu:24.04 my-container

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# Start an instance
lxc start my-container

# Stop an instance (use --force to skip graceful shutdown)
lxc stop my-container

# Restart an instance
lxc restart my-container

# Delete an instance (use --force to delete a running one)
lxc delete my-container

# Pause/Resume (freeze cgroup)
lxc pause my-container
lxc resume my-container

# Rename
lxc rename my-container new-name

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# List local images
lxc image list

# List remotes
lxc remote list

# Browse remote images
lxc image list images:
lxc image list ubuntu:

# Copy an image into the local store
lxc image copy ubuntu:24.04 local: --alias ubuntu-lts

# Import a local image tarball
lxc image import image.tar.gz --alias my-image

# Delete an image
lxc image delete <alias_or_fingerprint>

# Refresh remote images
lxc image refresh <alias>

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# List profiles
lxc profile list

# Show profile contents
lxc profile show default

# Create a new profile
lxc profile create dev-profile

# Edit profile in $EDITOR
lxc profile edit dev-profile

# Apply one or more profiles at launch
lxc launch ubuntu:24.04 my-container -p default -p dev-profile

# Add/remove profile on an existing instance
lxc profile add my-container dev-profile
lxc profile remove my-container dev-profile

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# Set memory limit
lxc config set my-container limits.memory=2GiB

# Pin CPU cores
lxc config set my-container limits.cpu=2

# Show effective configuration
lxc config show my-container --expanded

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# List storage pools
lxc storage list

# Create ZFS pool (recommended for production)
lxc storage create my-pool zfs source=/dev/sdb

# Create simple dir-backed pool
lxc storage create my-pool dir

# Create custom storage volume
lxc storage volume create my-pool data-vol

# Attach a custom volume to an instance
lxc storage volume attach my-pool data-vol my-container /mnt/data

# Add a host directory as a disk device
lxc config device add my-container data disk source=/path/to/data path=/mnt/data

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# List networks
lxc network list

# Create managed bridge network
lxc network create lxdbr0 ipv4.address=10.0.8.1/24 ipv4.nat=true ipv6.address=none

# Create an OVN network (requires cluster + OVN)
lxc network create ovn0 --type=ovn network=UPLINK

# Attach a NIC to an instance
lxc config device add my-container eth0 nic nictype=bridged parent=lxdbr0

# Forward a host port to an instance
lxc network forward create lxdbr0 192.0.2.10
lxc network forward port add lxdbr0 192.0.2.10 tcp 80 10.0.8.5 80

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# CPU weight (cgroup v2 replaces cpu.shares)
lxc config set my-container limits.cpu.priority=10

# Memory and swap
lxc config set my-container \
    limits.memory=2GiB \
    limits.memory.swap=true \
    limits.memory.swap.priority=5

# Disk I/O
lxc config device set my-container root limits.read=50MB
lxc config device set my-container root limits.write=50MB

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# Create snapshot (stateless)
lxc snapshot my-container initial-setup

# Create stateful snapshot (preserves running state, requires CRIU)
lxc snapshot my-container --stateful runtime-snap

# List snapshots
lxc info my-container

# Restore from snapshot
lxc restore my-container initial-setup

# Schedule automatic snapshots
lxc config set my-container snapshots.schedule="@daily"
lxc config set my-container snapshots.expiry="7d"

# Export instance to a backup tarball
lxc export my-container /path/to/backup.tar.gz

# Import a backup
lxc import /path/to/backup.tar.gz

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# Add a remote
lxc remote add remote-host https://remote.example.com:8443

# Copy instance to a remote
lxc copy my-container remote-host:new-container

# Live move between hosts (requires CRIU for containers)
lxc move my-container remote-host:my-container

# Cluster member migration
lxc move my-container --target=cluster-node-2

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# Containers are unprivileged by default; explicitly enforce:
lxc config set my-container security.privileged=false

# Adjust idmap base (advanced; only when manual mapping required)
lxc config set my-container security.idmap.base=100000
lxc config set my-container security.idmap.size=65536

# Enable nesting (for running containers inside containers, e.g., Docker)
lxc config set my-container security.nesting=true

# Restrict syscalls / kernel features
lxc config set my-container security.syscalls.intercept.mknod=true

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# Bind-mount host directory
lxc config device add my-container hostdata disk \
    source=/host/path path=/container/path

# Copy files into/out of an instance
lxc file push local_file my-container/path/to/destination
lxc file pull my-container/path/to/file local_destination

# Recursive copy
lxc file push -r ./localdir my-container/opt/

# Edit a file in place using your $EDITOR
lxc file edit my-container/etc/hosts

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# Show instance state, including log
lxc info my-container --show-log

# Tail log file directly
lxc console my-container --show-log

# Subscribe to lifecycle events
lxc monitor --type=lifecycle

# Per-instance metrics (Prometheus exporter is built in)
curl -k https://127.0.0.1:8443/1.0/metrics

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# Inline user-data
lxc launch ubuntu:24.04 my-container \
    -c cloud-init.user-data="$(cat cloud-config.yaml)"

# Provide network-config and vendor-data
lxc config set my-container cloud-init.network-config="$(cat net.yaml)"
lxc config set my-container cloud-init.vendor-data="$(cat vendor.yaml)"

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# Check daemon status
systemctl status snap.lxd.daemon
# or for Incus:
systemctl status incus

# View daemon logs
journalctl -u snap.lxd.daemon
sudo tail -f /var/snap/lxd/common/lxd/logs/lxd.log

# Drop into an instance shell
lxc exec my-container -- bash

# Run one-off commands
lxc exec my-container -- systemctl status nginx

# Recover database / instances after disaster
sudo lxd recover