lxc-create(1) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | COMMON OPTIONS | DIAGNOSTIC | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

lxc-create(1)                                              lxc-create(1)

NAME         top

       lxc-create - creates a container

SYNOPSIS         top

       lxc-create {-n name} [-f config_file] {-t template} [-B
                  backingstore] [-- template-options]

DESCRIPTION         top

       lxc-create creates a system object where is stored the configura‐
       tion  information  and  where can be stored user information. The
       identifier name is used to specify the container to be used  with
       the different lxc commands.

       The  object is a directory created in /var/lib/lxc and identified
       by its name.

       The object is the definition of the different resources an appli‐
       cation can use or can see. The more the configuration  file  con‐
       tains  information,  the  more  the container is isolated and the
       more the application is jailed.

       If the configuration file config_file is not specified, the  con‐
       tainer  will  be  created  with the default isolation: processes,
       sysv ipc and mount points.

OPTIONS         top

       -f, --config config_file
              Specify the configuration file to configure the virtual‐
              ization and isolation functionalities for the container.

       -t, --template template
              'template' is the short name of an existing 'lxc-template'
              script that is called by lxc-create, eg. busybox, debian,
              fedora, ubuntu or sshd.  Refer to the examples in
              /usr/share/lxc/templates for details of the expected
              script structure.  Alternatively, the full path to an exe‐
              cutable template script can also be passed as a parameter.
              "none" can be used to force lxc-create to skip rootfs cre‐
              ation.

       -B, --bdev backingstore
              'backingstore' is one of 'dir', 'lvm', 'loop', 'btrfs',
              'zfs', 'rbd', or 'best'. The default is 'dir', meaning
              that the container root filesystem will be a directory un‐
              der /var/lib/lxc/container/rootfs.  This backing store
              type allows the optional --dir ROOTFS to be specified,
              meaning that the container rootfs should be placed under
              the specified path, rather than the default. (The 'none'
              backingstore type is an alias for 'dir'.) If 'btrfs' is
              specified, then the target filesystem must be btrfs, and
              the container rootfs will be created as a new subvolume.
              This allows snapshotted clones to be created, but also
              causes rsync --one-filesystem to treat it as a separate
              filesystem.  If backingstore is 'lvm', then an lvm block
              device will be used and the following further options are
              available: --lvname lvname1 will create an LV named lv‐
              name1 rather than the default, which is the container
              name. --vgname vgname1 will create the LV in volume group
              vgname1 rather than the default, lxc.  --thinpool thin‐
              pool1 will create the LV as a thin-provisioned volume in
              the pool named thinpool1 rather than the default, lxc.
              --fstype FSTYPE will create an FSTYPE filesystem on the
              LV, rather than the default, which is ext4.  --fssize SIZE
              will create a LV (and filesystem) of size SIZE rather than
              the default, which is 1G.

              If backingstore is 'loop', you can use --fstype FSTYPE and
              --fssize SIZE as 'lvm'. The default values for these op‐
              tions are the same as 'lvm'.

              If backingstore is 'rbd', then you will need to have a
              valid configuration in ceph.conf and a ceph.client.ad‐
              min.keyring defined.  You can specify the following op‐
              tions : --rbdname RBDNAME will create a blockdevice named
              RBDNAME rather than the default, which is the container
              name.  --rbdpool POOL will create the blockdevice in the
              pool named POOL, rather than the default, which is 'lxc'.

              If backingstore is 'best', then lxc will try, in order,
              btrfs, zfs, lvm, and finally a directory backing store.

       -- template-options
              This will pass template-options to the template as argu‐
              ments. To see the list of options supported by the tem‐
              plate, you can run lxc-create -t TEMPLATE -h.

COMMON OPTIONS         top

       These options are common to most of lxc commands.

       -?, -h, --help
              Print a longer usage message than normal.

       --usage
              Give the usage message

       -q, --quiet
              mute on

       -P, --lxcpath=PATH
              Use an alternate container path. The default is
              /var/lib/lxc.

       -o, --logfile=FILE
              Output to an alternate log FILE. The default is no log.

       -l, --logpriority=LEVEL
              Set log priority to LEVEL. The default log priority is ER‐
              ROR. Possible values are : FATAL, ALERT, CRIT, WARN, ER‐
              ROR, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE.

              Note that this option is setting the priority of the
              events log in the alternate log file. It do not have ef‐
              fect on the ERROR events log on stderr.

       -n, --name=NAME
              Use container identifier NAME.  The container identifier
              format is an alphanumeric string.

       --rcfile=FILE
              Specify the configuration file to configure the virtual‐
              ization and isolation functionalities for the container.

              This configuration file if present will be used even if
              there is already a configuration file present in the pre‐
              viously created container (via lxc-create).

       --version
              Show the version number.

DIAGNOSTIC         top

       The container already exists
              As the message mention it, you try to create a container
              but there is a container with the same name. You can use
              the lxc-ls command to list the available containers on the
              system.

SEE ALSO         top

       lxc(7), lxc-create(1), lxc-copy(1), lxc-destroy(1), lxc-start(1),
       lxc-stop(1), lxc-execute(1), lxc-console(1), lxc-monitor(1),
       lxc-wait(1), lxc-cgroup(1), lxc-ls(1), lxc-info(1),
       lxc-freeze(1), lxc-unfreeze(1), lxc-attach(1), lxc.conf(5)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the lxc (Linux containers) project.  Infor‐
       mation about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://linuxcontainers.org/⟩.  If you have a bug report for this
       manual page, send it to lxc-devel@lists.linuxcontainers.org.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://github.com/lxc/lxc.git⟩ on 2024-06-14.  (At that time,
       the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
       repository was 2024-06-05.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

                               2024-04-03                  lxc-create(1)

Pages that refer to this page: lxc-attach(1)lxc-autostart(1)lxc-cgroup(1)lxc-checkconfig(1)lxc-checkpoint(1)lxc-config(1)lxc-console(1)lxc-copy(1)lxc-create(1)lxc-destroy(1)lxc-device(1)lxc-execute(1)lxc-freeze(1)lxc-info(1)lxc-ls(1)lxc-monitor(1)lxc-snapshot(1)lxc-start(1)lxc-stop(1)lxc-top(1)lxc-unfreeze(1)lxc-unshare(1)lxc-update-config(1)lxc-usernsexec(1)lxc-wait(1)lxc.container.conf(5)lxc.system.conf(5)lxc(7)