How to install and set up LXD on Fedora Linux server nixCraft Updated Tutorials/Posts

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.

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 28/29/30.
Snapd installed and configured on Fedora

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

You must setup a symlink using the ln command, enter:
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap snap version
Sample outputs:

snap 2.39.2-1.fc30
snapd 2.39.2-1.fc30
series 16
fedora 30
kernel 5.1.12-300.fc30.x86_64

Step 2 – Install and setup LXD on Fedora Linux server

Type the following snap command:
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

Add a Linux user named ‘vivek’ to lxd group

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

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.

lxd verification

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

List all available Linux LXD (Linux Containers) VM images

lxc image list images:

lxc list all LXD VM images command on Fedora Linux — (click to enlarge)

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

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 vm

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

Fedora Linux 30 vm

lxc launch images:fedora/30/amd64 fedora-30-vm

OpenSUSE Linux 42.3 vm

lxc launch images:opensuse/42.3/amd64 opensuse-42-3

Gentoo Linux vm

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

Arch Linux vm

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

Ubuntu Linux LTS 18.04 VM

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

Debian Linux 9.x VM

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

Debian Linux 10.x VM

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 | |
+--------------+---------+---------------------+----------------------------------------------+------------+-----------+

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>

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 |
+-----------------+---------+---------------------+------+------------+-----------+

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.

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.