Get Started with Incus

A Tiny Cheatsheet with the CRUD

Prerequisites:

Install Incus by following the instructions here:

This has to be done only once, for most use cases, it's right after the install

sudo incus admin init --minimal

This is the same as running the following:

sudo incus admin init

With an Interactive Options list as follows:

Statement	Response
Would you like to use clustering? (yes/no) [default=no]:	no
Do you want to configure a new storage pool? (yes/no) [default=yes]:	yes
Name of the new storage pool [default=default]:	incus_stor_local
Where should this storage pool store its data? [default=/var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default]:	/var/lib/incus/storage-pools/default
Would you like to create a new local network bridge? (yes/no) [default=yes]:	yes
What should the new bridge be called? [default=incusbr0]:	incusbr0
What IPv4 address should be used? (CIDR subnet notation, “auto” or “none”) [default=auto]:	auto
What IPv6 address should be used? (CIDR subnet notation, “auto” or “none”) [default=auto]:	auto
Would you like the server to be available over the network? (yes/no) [default=no]:	no
Would you like stale cached images to be updated automatically? (yes/no) [default=yes]:	yes
Would you like a YAML "init" preseed to be printed? (yes/no) [default=no]:	no

incus launch images:ubuntu/22.04 container0

This command will download a barebones version of Ubuntu-22.04 from the default Incus Image Repository and create a container named container0.

incus exec container0 -- sudo --login --user ubuntu

The Images from the default incus image repository ship with ubuntu as a default user

I get it, sometimes that login command looks way too tedious to type (I'm Lazy), so we can create an alias (a.k.a short-cut) to login easily using:

incus alias add ubuntu 'exec @ARGS@ -- su -l ubuntu'

Use this only once, per incus install

This will now condense the login method to:

incus ubuntu container0

Use only in Host Machine

exit

Use only in Container

incus stop container0

Some times this is not enough , and you would need some elbow grease, so use the --force flag, like this:

incus stop container0 --force

Use only in Host Machine

incus restart container0

Use only in Host Machine

Some times this is not enough , and you would need some elbow grease, so use the --force flag, like this:

incus restart container0 --force

incus copy container0 container1

Use only in Host Machine

Make sure the Container being copied is completely stopped