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<section id="how-to-create-instances">
<span id="instances-create"></span><h1>How to create instances<a class="headerlink" href="#how-to-create-instances" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>When creating an instance, you must specify the <a class="reference internal" href="../../image-handling/#about-images"><span class="std std-ref">image</span></a> on which the instance should be based.</p>
<p>Images contain a basic operating system (for example, a Linux distribution) and some LXD-related information.
Images for various operating systems are available on the built-in remote image servers.
See <a class="reference internal" href="../../images/#images"><span class="std std-ref">Images</span></a> for more information.</p>
<p>If you don’t specify a name for the instance, LXD will automatically generate one.
Instance names must be unique within a LXD deployment (also within a cluster).
See <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/instance_properties/#instance-name-requirements"><span class="std std-ref">Instance name requirements</span></a> for additional requirements.</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>To create an instance, you can use either the <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/init/#lxc-init-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">init</span></code></span></a> or the <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/launch/#lxc-launch-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">launch</span></code></span></a> command.
The <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/init/#lxc-init-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">init</span></code></span></a> command only creates the instance, while the <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/launch/#lxc-launch-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">launch</span></code></span></a> command creates and starts it.</p>
<p>Enter the following command to create a container:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc launch|init <image_server>:<image_name> <instance_name> [flags]
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Unless the image is available locally, you must specify the name of the image server and the name of the image (for example, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu:24.04</span></code> for the official Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image).</p>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/launch/#lxc-launch-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">launch</span> <span class="pre">--help</span></code></span></a> or <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/init/#lxc-init-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">init</span> <span class="pre">--help</span></code></span></a> for a full list of flags.
The most common flags are:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--config</span></code> to specify a configuration option for the new instance</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--device</span></code> to override <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/devices/#devices"><span class="std std-ref">device options</span></a> for a device provided through a profile, or to specify an <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/devices_disk/#devices-disk-initial-config"><span class="std std-ref">initial configuration for the root disk device</span></a> (syntax: <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--device</span> <span class="pre"><device_name>,<device_option>=<value></span></code>)</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--profile</span></code> to specify a <a class="reference internal" href="../../profiles/#profiles"><span class="std std-ref">profile</span></a> to use for the new instance</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--network</span></code> or <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--storage</span></code> to make the new instance use a specific network or storage pool</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--target</span></code> to create the instance on a specific cluster member</p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">--vm</span></code> to create a virtual machine instead of a container</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Instead of specifying the instance configuration as flags, you can pass it to the command as a YAML file.</p>
<p>For example, to launch a container with the configuration from <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">config.yaml</span></code>, enter the following command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc launch ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-config < config.yaml
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition tip">
<p class="admonition-title">Tip</p>
<p>Check the contents of an existing instance configuration (<a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/config/show/#lxc-config-show-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">config</span> <span class="pre">show</span> <span class="pre"><instance_name></span> <span class="pre">--expanded</span></code></span></a>) to see the required syntax of the YAML file.</p>
</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>To create an instance, send a POST request to the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">/1.0/instances</span></code> endpoint:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "<instance_name>",
"source": {
"alias": "<image_alias>",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "<server_URL>",
"type": "image"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The return value of this query contains an operation ID, which you can use to query the status of the operation:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request GET /1.0/operations/<operation_ID>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Use the following query to monitor the state of the instance:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request GET /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/state
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See <a class="reference external" href="/api/#/instances/instances_post"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">POST</span> <span class="pre">/1.0/instances</span></code></a> and <a class="reference external" href="/api/#/instances/instance_state_get"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GET</span> <span class="pre">/1.0/instances/{name}/state</span></code></a> for more information.</p>
<p>The request creates the instance, but does not start it.
To start an instance, send a PUT request to change the instance state:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request PUT /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/state --data '{"action": "start"}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>See <a class="reference internal" href="../instances_manage/#instances-manage-start"><span class="std std-ref">Start an instance</span></a> for more information.</p>
<p>If you would like to start the instance upon creation, set the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">start</span></code> property to true. The following example will create the container, then start it:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "<instance_name>",
"source": {
"alias": "<image_alias>",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "<server_URL>",
"type": "image"
},
"start": true
}'
</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>To create an instance, go to the <span class="guilabel">Instances</span> section and click <span class="guilabel">Create instance</span>.</p>
<p>On the resulting screen, optionally enter a name and description for the instance.
Then click <span class="guilabel">Browse images</span> to select the image to be used for the instance.
Depending on the selected image, you might be able to select the <a class="reference internal" href="../../explanation/instances/#expl-instances"><span class="std std-ref">instance type</span></a> (container or virtual machine).
You can also specify one or more profiles to use for the instance.</p>
<p>To further tweak the instance configuration or add devices to the instance, go to any of the tabs under <span class="guilabel">Advanced</span>.
You can also edit the full instance configuration on the <span class="guilabel">YAML configuration</span> tab.</p>
<p>Finally, click <span class="guilabel">Create</span> or <span class="guilabel">Create and start</span> to create the instance.</p>
</div></div>
<section id="examples">
<h2>Examples<a class="headerlink" href="#examples" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h2>
<p>The following CLI and API examples create the instances, but don’t start them.
If you are using the CLI client, you can use <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/launch/#lxc-launch-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">launch</span></code></span></a> instead of <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/init/#lxc-init-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">init</span></code></span></a> to automatically start them after creation.</p>
<p>In the UI, you can choose between <span class="guilabel">Create</span> and <span class="guilabel">Create and start</span> when you are ready to create the instance.</p>
<section id="create-a-container">
<h3>Create a container<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-container" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a container with an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image from the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu</span></code> server using the instance name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu-container</span></code>:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-1-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-1-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-1-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-1-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-1-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-1-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-1-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-1-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-container
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-1-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-1-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "ubuntu-container",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-1-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-1-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><figure class="align-default">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/create_instance_ex1.png"><img alt="Create an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS container" src="../../_images/create_instance_ex1.png" style="width: 80%;" />
</a>
</figure>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="create-a-virtual-machine">
<h3>Create a virtual machine<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-virtual-machine" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a virtual machine with an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image from the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu</span></code> server using the instance name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ubuntu-vm</span></code>:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-2-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-2-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-2-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-2-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-2-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-2-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-2-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-2-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-vm --vm
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-2-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-2-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "ubuntu-vm",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
},
"type": "virtual-machine"
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-2-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-2-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><figure class="align-default">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/create_instance_ex2.png"><img alt="Create an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS VM" src="../../_images/create_instance_ex2.png" style="width: 80%;" />
</a>
</figure>
</div></div>
<p>Or with a bigger disk:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-3-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-3-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-3-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-3-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-3-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-3-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-3-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-3-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-vm-big --vm --device root,size=30GiB
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-3-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-3-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"devices": {
"root": {
"path": "/",
"pool": "default",
"size": "30GiB",
"type": "disk"
}
},
"name": "ubuntu-vm-big",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
},
"type": "virtual-machine"
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-3-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-3-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><figure class="align-default">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/create_instance_ex2-2.png"><img alt="Configure the size of the root disk" src="../../_images/create_instance_ex2-2.png" style="width: 80%;" />
</a>
</figure>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="create-a-container-with-specific-configuration-options">
<h3>Create a container with specific configuration options<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-container-with-specific-configuration-options" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a container and limit its resources to one vCPU and 8 GiB of RAM:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-4-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-4-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-4-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-4-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-4-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-4-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-4-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-4-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-limited --config limits.cpu=1 --config limits.memory=8GiB
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-4-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-4-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"config": {
"limits.cpu": "1",
"limits.memory": "8GiB"
},
"name": "ubuntu-limited",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-4-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-4-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><figure class="align-default">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/create_instance_ex3.png"><img alt="Configure resource limits" src="../../_images/create_instance_ex3.png" style="width: 80%;" />
</a>
</figure>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="create-a-vm-on-a-specific-cluster-member">
<h3>Create a VM on a specific cluster member<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-vm-on-a-specific-cluster-member" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a virtual machine on the cluster member <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">micro2</span></code>, enter the following command:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-5-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-5-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-5-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-5-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-5-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-5-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-5-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-5-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 ubuntu-vm-server2 --vm --target micro2
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-5-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-5-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances?target=micro2 --data '{
"name": "ubuntu-vm-server2",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
},
"type": "virtual-machine"
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-5-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-5-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><figure class="align-default">
<a class="reference internal image-reference" href="../../_images/create_instance_ex4.png"><img alt="Specify which cluster member to create an instance on" src="../../_images/create_instance_ex4.png" style="width: 80%;" />
</a>
</figure>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="create-a-container-with-a-specific-instance-type">
<h3>Create a container with a specific instance type<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-container-with-a-specific-instance-type" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>LXD supports simple instance types for clouds.
Those are represented as a string that can be passed at instance creation time.</p>
<p>The list of supported clouds and instance types can be found at <a class="reference external" href="https://images.lxd.canonical.com/meta/instance-types/all.yaml"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">images.lxd.canonical.com/meta/instance-types/all.yaml</span></code></a>.</p>
<p>The syntax allows the three following forms:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><instance</span> <span class="pre">type></span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre"><cloud>:<instance</span> <span class="pre">type></span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">c<CPU>-m<RAM</span> <span class="pre">in</span> <span class="pre">GiB></span></code></p></li>
</ul>
<p>For example, the following three instance types are equivalent:</p>
<ul class="simple">
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">t2.micro</span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">aws:t2.micro</span></code></p></li>
<li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">c1-m1</span></code></p></li>
</ul>
<p>To create a container with this instance type:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-6-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-6-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-6-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-6-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-6-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-6-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-6-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-6-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init ubuntu:24.04 my-instance --type t2.micro
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-6-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-6-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"instance_type": "t2.micro",
"name": "my-instance",
"source": {
"alias": "24.04",
"protocol": "simplestreams",
"server": "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/",
"type": "image"
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-6-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-6-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>Creating an instance with a specific cloud instance type is currently not possible through the UI.
Configure the corresponding options manually or through a profile.</p>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="create-a-vm-that-boots-from-an-iso">
<span id="instances-create-iso"></span><h3>Create a VM that boots from an ISO<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-vm-that-boots-from-an-iso" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a VM that boots from an ISO:</p>
<div class="sphinx-tabs docutils container">
<div aria-label="Tabbed content" class="closeable" role="tablist"><button aria-controls="panel-7-Q0xJ" aria-selected="true" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-7-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tab" tabindex="0">CLI</button><button aria-controls="panel-7-QVBJ" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-7-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tab" tabindex="-1">API</button><button aria-controls="panel-7-VUk=" aria-selected="false" class="sphinx-tabs-tab group-tab" id="tab-7-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tab" tabindex="-1">UI</button></div><div aria-labelledby="tab-7-Q0xJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" id="panel-7-Q0xJ" name="Q0xJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><!-- iso_vm_step1 start -->
<p>First, create an empty VM that we can later install from the ISO image:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step1 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc init iso-vm --empty --vm --config limits.cpu=2 --config limits.memory=4GiB --device root,size=30GiB
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Adapt the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">limits.cpu</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">limits.memory</span></code>, and root size based on the hardware recommendations for the ISO image used.</p>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step2 start -->
<p>The second step is to import an ISO image that can later be attached to the VM as a storage volume:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step2 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc storage volume import <pool> <path-to-image.iso> iso-volume --type=iso
</pre></div>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step3 start -->
<p>Lastly, attach the custom ISO volume to the VM using the following command:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step3 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc config device add iso-vm iso-volume disk pool=<pool> source=iso-volume boot.priority=10
</pre></div>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step4 start -->
<p>The <a class="configref reference internal" href="../../reference/devices_disk/#device-disk-device-conf:boot.priority"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">boot.priority</span></code></a> configuration key ensures that the VM will boot from the ISO first.
Start the VM and <a class="reference internal" href="../instances_console/#instances-console"><span class="std std-ref">connect to the console</span></a> as there might be a menu you need to interact with:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step4 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc start iso-vm --console
</pre></div>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step5 start -->
<p>Once you’re done in the serial console, disconnect from the console using <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">a</kbd> <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">q</kbd> and <a class="reference internal" href="../instances_console/#instances-console"><span class="std std-ref">connect to the VGA console</span></a> using the following command:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step5 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc console iso-vm --type=vga
</pre></div>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step6 start -->
<p>You should now see the installer. After the installation is done, detach the custom ISO volume:</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step6 end -->
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc storage volume detach <pool> iso-volume iso-vm
</pre></div>
</div>
<!-- iso_vm_step7 start -->
<p>Now the VM can be rebooted, and it will boot from disk.</p>
<!-- iso_vm_step7 end -->
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>On Linux virtual machines, the <a class="reference internal" href="#lxd-agent-manual-install"><span class="std std-ref">LXD agent can be manually installed</span></a>.</p>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-7-QVBJ" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-7-QVBJ" name="QVBJ" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>First, create an empty VM that we can later install from the ISO image:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances --data '{
"name": "iso-vm",
"config": {
"limits.cpu": "2",
"limits.memory": "4GiB"
},
"devices": {
"root": {
"path": "/",
"pool": "default",
"size": "30GiB",
"type": "disk"
}
},
"source": {
"type": "none"
},
"type": "virtual-machine"
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>Adapt the values for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">limits.cpu</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">limits.memory</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">root:</span> <span class="pre">size</span></code> based on the hardware recommendations for the ISO image used.</p>
</div>
<p>The second step is to import an ISO image that can later be attached to the VM as a storage volume:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" -H "X-LXD-name: iso-volume" \
-H "X-LXD-type: iso" --data-binary @<path-to-image.iso> --unix-socket /var/snap/lxd/common/lxd/unix.socket \
lxd/1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/custom
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>When importing an ISO image, you must send both binary data from a file and additional headers.
The <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/manpages/lxc/query/#lxc-query-md"><span class="std std-ref"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">query</span></code></span></a> command cannot do this, so you need to use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">curl</span></code> or another tool instead.</p>
</div>
<p>Lastly, attach the custom ISO volume to the VM using the following command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request PATCH /1.0/instances/iso-vm --data '{
"devices": {
"iso-volume": {
"boot.priority": "10",
"pool": "<pool>",
"source": "iso-volume",
"type": "disk"
}
}
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>The <a class="configref reference internal" href="../../reference/devices_disk/#device-disk-device-conf:boot.priority"><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">boot.priority</span></code></a> configuration key ensures that the VM will boot from the ISO first.
Start the VM and <a class="reference internal" href="../instances_console/#instances-console"><span class="std std-ref">connect to the console</span></a> as there might be a menu you need to interact with:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request PUT /1.0/instances/iso-vm/state --data '{"action": "start"}'
lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/iso-vm/console --data '{
"height": 24,
"type": "console",
"width": 80
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Once you’re done in the serial console, disconnect from the console using <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">a</kbd> <kbd class="kbd docutils literal notranslate">q</kbd> and <a class="reference internal" href="../instances_console/#instances-console"><span class="std std-ref">connect to the VGA console</span></a> using the following command:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/iso-vm/console --data '{
"height": 24,
"type": "vga",
"width": 80
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You should now see the installer. After the installation is done, detach the custom ISO volume:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>lxc query --request GET /1.0/instances/iso-vm
lxc query --request PUT /1.0/instances/iso-vm --data '{
[...]
"devices": {}
[...]
}'
</pre></div>
</div>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>You cannot remove the device through a PATCH request, but you must use a PUT request.
Therefore, get the current configuration first and then provide the relevant configuration with an empty devices list through the PUT request.</p>
</div>
<p>Now the VM can be rebooted, and it will boot from disk.</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span> :end-before:
</pre></div>
</div>
</div><div aria-labelledby="tab-7-VUk=" class="sphinx-tabs-panel group-tab" hidden="true" id="panel-7-VUk=" name="VUk=" role="tabpanel" tabindex="0"><p>In the <span class="guilabel">Create instance</span> dialog, click <span class="guilabel">Use custom ISO</span> instead of <span class="guilabel">Browse images</span>.
You can then upload your ISO file and install a VM from it.</p>
</div></div>
</section>
<section id="install-the-lxd-agent-into-virtual-machine-instances">
<span id="lxd-agent-manual-install"></span><h3>Install the LXD agent into virtual machine instances<a class="headerlink" href="#install-the-lxd-agent-into-virtual-machine-instances" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>In order for features like direct command execution (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">exec</span></code> & <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">shell</span></code>), file transfers (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">file</span></code>) and detailed usage metrics (<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">lxc</span> <span class="pre">info</span></code>)
to work properly with virtual machines, an agent software is provided by LXD.</p>
<p>The virtual machine images from the official <a class="reference internal" href="../../reference/remote_image_servers/#remote-image-servers"><span class="std std-ref">remote image servers</span></a> are pre-configured to load that agent on startup.</p>
<p>For other virtual machines, you may want to manually install the agent.</p>
<div class="admonition note">
<p class="admonition-title">Note</p>
<p>The LXD agent is currently available only on Linux virtual machines using <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">systemd</span></code>.</p>
</div>
<p>LXD provides the agent through a remote <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">9p</span></code> file system and a <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">virtiofs</span></code> one that are both available under the mount name <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">config</span></code>.
To install the agent, you’ll need to get access to the virtual machine and run the following commands as root:</p>
<div class="highlight-none notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span>modprobe 9pnet_virtio
mount -t 9p config /mnt -o access=0,transport=virtio || mount -t virtiofs config /mnt
cd /mnt
./install.sh
cd /
umount /mnt
reboot
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>You need to perform this task once.</p>
</section>
<section id="create-a-windows-vm">
<h3>Create a Windows VM<a class="headerlink" href="#create-a-windows-vm" title="Link to this heading">¶</a></h3>
<p>To create a Windows VM, you must first prepare a Windows image.
See <a class="reference internal" href="../images_create/#images-repack-windows"><span class="std std-ref">Repack a Windows image</span></a>.</p>
<p>The <a class="reference external" href="https://ubuntu.com/tutorials/how-to-install-a-windows-11-vm-using-lxd">How to install a Windows 11 VM using LXD</a> tutorial shows how to prepare the image and create a Windows VM from it.</p>
</section>
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Contents
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<div class="toc-tree">
<ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#">How to create instances</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#examples">Examples</a><ul>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-container">Create a container</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-virtual-machine">Create a virtual machine</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-container-with-specific-configuration-options">Create a container with specific configuration options</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-vm-on-a-specific-cluster-member">Create a VM on a specific cluster member</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-container-with-a-specific-instance-type">Create a container with a specific instance type</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-vm-that-boots-from-an-iso">Create a VM that boots from an ISO</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#install-the-lxd-agent-into-virtual-machine-instances">Install the LXD agent into virtual machine instances</a></li>
<li><a class="reference internal" href="#create-a-windows-vm">Create a Windows VM</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
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