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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_create/">Create a network</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_bgp/">Configure as BGP server</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_ovn_setup/">Set up OVN</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_ovn_peers/">Configure peer routing</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_ipam/">Display IPAM information</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_form/">Form a cluster</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_config_networks/">Configure networks</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_config_storage/">Configure storage</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_manage_instance/">Manage instances</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_groups/">Set up cluster groups</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_placement_groups/">Use placement groups</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_recover/">Recover a cluster</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/cluster_vip/">Set up a highly available virtual IP</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/benchmark_performance/">Benchmark performance</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/network_increase_bandwidth/">Increase bandwidth</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/logs_loki/">Send logs to Loki</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/grafana/">Set up Grafana</a></li>
<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../backup/">Back up a server</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l3"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/disaster_recovery_replication/">Disaster recovery with storage replication</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="../howto/snap/">Manage the snap</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="../explanation/lxd_lxc/"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxd</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span></code></a></li>
<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="../explanation/instances/">Containers and VMs</a></li>
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<article role="main" id="furo-main-content">
<section id="how-to-use-cloud-init">
<span id="cloud-init"></span><h1>How to use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code><a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-use-cloud-init" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p class="youtube_link">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OCG15TAldI" target="_blank">
<span title="LXD instance configuration with cloud-init" class="play_icon">▶</span>
<span title="LXD instance configuration with cloud-init">Watch on YouTube</span>
</a>
</p>
<p><a class="reference external" href="https://cloud-init.io/"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code></a> is a tool for automatically initializing and customizing an instance of a Linux distribution.</p>
<p>By adding <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration to your instance, you can instruct <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> to execute specific actions at the first start of an instance.
Possible actions include, for example:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>Updating and installing packages</p></li>
<li><p>Applying certain configurations</p></li>
<li><p>Adding users</p></li>
<li><p>Enabling services</p></li>
<li><p>Running commands or scripts</p></li>
<li><p>Automatically growing the file system of a VM to the size (quota) of the disk</p></li>
</ul>
<p>See the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/index.html#index" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>Cloud-init documentation</span></a> for detailed information.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> actions are run only once on the first start of the instance.
Rebooting the instance does not re-trigger the actions.</p>
</div>
<section id="cloud-init-support-in-images">
<span id="cloud-init-support"></span><h2><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> support in images<a class="headerlink" href="#cloud-init-support-in-images" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>To use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>, you must base your instance on an image that has <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> installed:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p>All images from the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu-daily</span></code> <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/remote_image_servers/#remote-image-servers"><span class="std std-ref">image servers</span></a> have <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> support.
However, images for Ubuntu releases prior to 20.04 LTS require special handling to integrate properly with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>, so that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">exec</span></code> works correctly with virtual machines that use those images. Refer to <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/devices_disk/#vm-cloud-init-config"><span class="std std-ref">VM <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code></span></a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Images from the <a class="reference external" href="https://images.lxd.canonical.com/"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">images</span></code> remote</a> have <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>-enabled variants, which are usually bigger in size than the default variant.
The cloud variants use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/cloud</span></code> suffix, for example, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">images:alpine/edge/cloud</span></code>.</p></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="configuration-options">
<h2>Configuration options<a class="headerlink" href="#configuration-options" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>LXD supports two different sets of configuration options for configuring <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.*</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.*</span></code>.
Which of these sets you must use depends on the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> support in the image that you use.
As a rule of thumb, newer images support the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.*</span></code> configuration options, while older images support <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.*</span></code>.
However, there might be exceptions to that rule.</p>
<p>The following configuration options are supported:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.vendor-data</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.vendor-data</span></code> (see <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/vendordata.html#vendor-data" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>Vendor-data</span></a>)</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.user-data</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.user-data</span></code> (see <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/format/index.html#user-data-formats" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>User-data formats</span></a>)</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.network-config</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.network-config</span></code> (see <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/network-config.html#network-config" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>Network configuration</span></a>)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>For more information about the configuration options, see the <a class="reference internal" href="../reference/instance_options/#instance-options-cloud-init"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> instance options</span></a>, and the documentation for the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/datasources/lxd.html#datasource-lxd" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">LXD data source</span></a> in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> documentation.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Ubuntu 20.04 and earlier have recent versions of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> package but support for the modern <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.*</span></code> configuration options is disabled in those series. As such, when using such old instances, remember to use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user.*</span></code> configuration options instead.</p>
</div>
<section id="vendor-data-and-user-data">
<h3>Vendor data and user data<a class="headerlink" href="#vendor-data-and-user-data" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>Both <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> are used to provide <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/format/cloud-config.html#user-data-formats-cloud-config" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">cloud configuration data</span></a> to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>.</p>
<p>The main idea is that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> is used for the general default configuration, while <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> is used for instance-specific configuration.
This means that you should specify <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> in a profile and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> in the instance configuration.
LXD does not enforce this method, but allows using both <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> in profiles and in the instance configuration.</p>
<p>If both <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> are supplied for an instance, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> merges the two configurations.
However, if you use the same keys in both configurations, merging might not be possible.
In this case, configure how <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> should merge the provided data.
See <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/merging.html#merging-user-data" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>Merging cloud-config</span></a> for instructions.</p>
</section>
</section>
<section id="how-to-configure-cloud-init">
<h2>How to configure <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code><a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-configure-cloud-init" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>To configure <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> for an instance, add the corresponding configuration options to a <a class="reference internal" href="../profiles/#profiles"><span class="std std-ref">profile</span></a> that the instance uses or directly to the <a class="reference internal" href="../howto/instances_configure/#instances-configure"><span class="std std-ref">instance configuration</span></a>.</p>
<p>When configuring <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> directly for an instance, keep in mind that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> runs only on instance start.
This means any changes to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration only take effect after the next instance start. To ensure <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configurations are applied on every boot, LXD changes the instance ID whenever relevant <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration keys are modified. This triggers <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> to fetch and apply the updated data from LXD as if it were the instance’s first boot. For more information, see the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> docs regarding <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/first_boot.html#first-boot-determination" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>First boot determination</span></a>.</p>
<p>To add your configuration:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-0-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-0-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-0-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-0-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-0-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-0-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-0-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-0-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>Write the configuration to a file and pass that file to the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">config</span></code> command.
For example, create <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.yml</span></code> with the following content:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>#cloud-config
package_upgrade: true
packages:
- package1
- package2
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Then run the following command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc config set <instance_name> cloud-init.user-data - < cloud-init.yml
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-0-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-0-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>Provide the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration as a string with escaped newline characters.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request PATCH /1.0/instances/<instance_name> --data '{
"config": {
"cloud-init.user-data": "#cloud-config\npackage_upgrade: true\npackages:\n - package1\n - package2"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Alternatively, to avoid mistakes, write the configuration to a file and include that in your request.
For example, create <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.txt</span></code> with the following content:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>#cloud-config
package_upgrade: true
packages:
- package1
- package2
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Then send the following request:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request PATCH /1.0/instances/<instance_name> --data '{
"config": {
"cloud-init.user-data": "'"$(awk -v ORS='\\n' '1' cloud-init.txt)"'"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-0-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-0-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>Go to the <span class="guilabel">Configuration</span> tab of the instance detail page and select <span class="guilabel">Advanced > Cloud init</span>.
Then click <span class="guilabel">Edit instance</span> and override the configuration for one or more of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration options.</p>
</div></div>
<section id="yaml-format-for-cloud-init-configuration">
<h3>YAML format for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration<a class="headerlink" href="#yaml-format-for-cloud-init-configuration" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> options require YAML’s <a class="reference external" href="https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#812-literal-style">literal style format</a>.
You use a pipe symbol (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">|</span></code>) to indicate that all indented text after the pipe should be passed to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> as a single string, with new lines and indentation preserved.</p>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> options usually start with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">#cloud-config</span></code>. But <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> has an array of <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/format/index.html#user-data-formats" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">configuration types</span></a> available.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">package_upgrade: true</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">packages:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- package1</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- package2</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#!/usr/bin/bash</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">echo hello | tee -a /tmp/example.txt</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition tip">
<p class="admonition-title">Tip</p>
<p>See <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/howto/debug_user_data.html#check-user-data-cloud-config" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">How to validate user data</span></a> for information on how to check whether the syntax is correct.</p>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="how-to-check-the-cloud-init-status">
<h2>How to check the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> status<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-check-the-cloud-init-status" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> runs automatically on the first start of an instance.
Depending on the configured actions, it might take a while until it finishes.</p>
<p>To check the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> status, log on to the instance and enter the following command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>cloud-init status
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>If the result is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">status:</span> <span class="pre">running</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> is still working. If the result is <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">status:</span> <span class="pre">done</span></code>, it has finished.</p>
<p>Alternatively, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--wait</span></code> flag to be notified only when <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> is finished:</p>
<div class="terminal docutils container">
<div class="input docutils container">
<div class="prompt docutils container">
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">root@instance:~#</span> </code></div>
<span class="command"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span> <span class="pre">status</span> <span class="pre">--wait</span>
</code></span></div>
<div class="terminal-code highlight-text notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>.....................................
status: done
</pre></div>
</div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="how-to-specify-user-or-vendor-data">
<h2>How to specify user or vendor data<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-specify-user-or-vendor-data" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">vendor-data</span></code> configuration can be used to, for example, upgrade or install packages, add users, or run commands.</p>
<p>The provided values must have a first line that indicates what type of <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/explanation/format/index.html#user-data-formats" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">user data format</span></a> is being passed to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code>.
For activities like upgrading packages or setting up a user, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">#cloud-config</span></code> is the data format to use.</p>
<p>The configuration data is stored in the following files in the instance’s root file system:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/lib/cloud/instance/cloud-config.txt</span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/lib/cloud/instance/user-data.txt</span></code></p></li>
</ul>
<section id="examples">
<h3>Examples<a class="headerlink" href="#examples" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>See the following sections for the user data (or vendor data) configuration for different example use cases.</p>
<p>You can find more advanced <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/examples.html#yaml-examples" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">examples</span></a> in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> documentation.</p>
<section id="upgrade-packages">
<h4>Upgrade packages<a class="headerlink" href="#upgrade-packages" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>To trigger a package upgrade from the repositories for the instance right after the instance is created, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">package_upgrade</span></code> key:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">package_upgrade: true</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="install-packages">
<h4>Install packages<a class="headerlink" href="#install-packages" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>To install specific packages when the instance is set up, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">packages</span></code> key and specify the package names as a list:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">packages:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- git</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- openssh-server</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="set-the-time-zone">
<h4>Set the time zone<a class="headerlink" href="#set-the-time-zone" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>To set the time zone for the instance on instance creation, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">timezone</span></code> key:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">timezone: Europe/Rome</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="run-commands">
<h4>Run commands<a class="headerlink" href="#run-commands" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>To run a command (such as writing a marker file), use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">runcmd</span></code> key and specify the commands as a list:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">runcmd:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- [touch, /run/cloud.init.ran]</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
<section id="add-a-user-account">
<h4>Add a user account<a class="headerlink" href="#add-a-user-account" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h4>
<p>To add a user account, use the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">users</span></code> key.
See the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/examples.html#including-users-and-groups" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span>Including users and groups</span></a> example in the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> documentation for details about default users and which keys are supported.</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.user-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">#cloud-config</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">users:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- name: documentation_example</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
</section>
<section id="how-to-specify-network-configuration-data">
<h2>How to specify network configuration data<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-specify-network-configuration-data" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>By default, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configures a DHCP client on an instance’s <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">eth0</span></code> interface.
You can define your own network configuration using the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">network-config</span></code> option to override the default configuration (this is due to how the template is structured).</p>
<p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> then renders the relevant network configuration on the system using either <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ifupdown</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">netplan</span></code>, depending on the Ubuntu release.</p>
<p>The configuration data is stored in the following files in the instance’s root file system:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/var/lib/cloud/seed/nocloud-net/network-config</span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc/network/interfaces.d/50-cloud-init.cfg</span></code> (if using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ifupdown</span></code>)</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml</span></code> (if using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">netplan</span></code>)</p></li>
</ul>
<section id="example">
<h3>Example<a class="headerlink" href="#example" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To configure a specific network interface with a static IPv4 address and also use a custom name server, use the following configuration:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.network-config</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">version: 2</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">ethernets:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">eth1:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">addresses:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- 10.10.101.20/24</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">gateway4: 10.10.101.1</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">nameservers:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">addresses:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- 10.10.10.254</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
</section>
</section>
<section id="how-to-inject-ssh-keys-into-instances">
<h2>How to inject SSH keys into instances<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-inject-ssh-keys-into-instances" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>To inject SSH keys into LXD instances for an arbitrary user, use the configuration key <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.ssh-keys.<keyName></span></code>.</p>
<p>Use the format <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><user>:<key></span></code> for its value, where <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><user></span></code> is a Linux username and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><key></span></code> can be either a pure SSH public key or an import ID for a key hosted elsewhere. For example, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">root:gh:githubUser</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">myUser:ssh-keyAlg</span> <span class="pre">publicKeyHash</span></code> are valid values. To prevent a particular SSH key from being inherited from a profile by an instance, edit the instance configuration by setting the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.ssh-keys.<keyName></span></code> key that references the target SSH key to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">none</span></code>, and the key will not be injected.</p>
<p>The contents of the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.ssh-keys.<keyName></span></code> keys are merged into both <a class="configref reference internal" href="../reference/instance_options/#instance-cloud-init:cloud-init.vendor-data"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.vendor-data</span></code></a> and <a class="configref reference internal" href="../reference/instance_options/#instance-cloud-init:cloud-init.user-data"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.user-data</span></code></a> before being passed to the guest, following the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-config</span></code> specification. (See the <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/index.html" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-doc">cloud-init reference</span></a> for details.) Therefore, keys defined via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.ssh-keys.<keyName></span></code> cannot be applied if LXD cannot parse the existing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.vendor-data</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.user-data</span></code> for that instance. This might occur if those keys are not in YAML format or contain invalid YAML. Other configuration formats are not yet supported.</p>
<p>You can define SSH keys via <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.vendor-data</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.user-data</span></code> directly. Keys defined using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.ssh-keys.<keyName></span></code> do not conflict with those defined in either of those settings. For details on defining SSH keys with <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-config</span></code>, see <a class="reference external" href="https://docs.cloud-init.io/en/latest/reference/yaml_examples/ssh.html#cce-ssh" title="(in cloud-init v26.1)"><span class="xref std std-ref">the cloud-init documentation for SSH configuration</span></a>. Changing a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.*</span></code> key does not remove previously applied keys.</p>
<p>Since <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> only runs on instance start, updates to <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init.*</span></code> keys on a running instance only take effect after restart.</p>
<section id="id1">
<h3>Examples<a class="headerlink" href="#id1" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>The following command injects <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">someuser</span></code>’s key from Launchpad into the newly created <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">container</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-bash notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc<span class="w"> </span>launch<span class="w"> </span>ubuntu:24.04<span class="w"> </span>container<span class="w"> </span>-c<span class="w"> </span>cloud-init.ssh-keys.mykey<span class="o">=</span>root:lp:someuser
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The example profile configuration below defines a key to be injected on an instance. The injected key enables the owner of the private key to SSH into the instance as a user named <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">user</span></code>:</p>
<div class="highlight-yaml notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nt">config</span><span class="p">:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">cloud-init.vendor-data</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">|</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">users:</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">- name: user</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="no">ssh_authorized_keys: ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIJFDWcYmMrCZdk9JI29bAiHKD90oEUr8tqK5VvoO8Vcj</span>
</pre></div>
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Contents
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<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">How to use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code></a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#cloud-init-support-in-images"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> support in images</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#configuration-options">Configuration options</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#vendor-data-and-user-data">Vendor data and user data</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-configure-cloud-init">How to configure <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code></a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#yaml-format-for-cloud-init-configuration">YAML format for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> configuration</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-check-the-cloud-init-status">How to check the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">cloud-init</span></code> status</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-specify-user-or-vendor-data">How to specify user or vendor data</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples">Examples</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#upgrade-packages">Upgrade packages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-packages">Install packages</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#set-the-time-zone">Set the time zone</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#run-commands">Run commands</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#add-a-user-account">Add a user account</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-specify-network-configuration-data">How to specify network configuration data</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#example">Example</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#how-to-inject-ssh-keys-into-instances">How to inject SSH keys into instances</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#id1">Examples</a></li>
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