Installing LXD on Ubuntu 24.04

If you're looking to set up LXD on Ubuntu 24.04, you've come to the right place. In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of installing LXD using Snap, assuming you already have Ubuntu installed, a wired network connection, and ZFS set up. Let's get started!

Why Use Snap to Install LXD?

Snap packages are secure, easy to update, and maintain. Canonical, the creator of Ubuntu, recommends using Snap for LXD because it ensures you always get the latest features and security patches.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Ubuntu 24.04 installed
Wired network connection (recommended for server setups)
ZFS installed and configured as your storage backend

Installation Steps

Step 1: Update your system

Start by updating your package list and upgrading existing packages:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

This ensures that all packages are up to date before installing LXD.

Step 2: Install Snapd

Snapd should come pre-installed on Ubuntu 24.04. However, if it's not installed, run:

sudo apt install snapd -y

After installing, make sure Snapd is up and running:

sudo systemctl status snapd

If Snapd is not running, start it with:

sudo systemctl start snapd

Step 3: Install LXD Using Snap

To install the latest version of LXD, use the following command:

sudo snap install lxd

This will download and install the latest stable version of LXD from the Snap store.

Step 4: Add your user to the LXD group

To manage LXD containers without using sudo, add your user to the lxd group:

sudo usermod -aG lxd $USER

Log out and log back in for the changes to take effect. Alternatively, you can use:

newgrp lxd

This command will add your user to the lxd group without logging out.

Step 5: Initialize LXD

After adding your user to the LXD group, initialize LXD with the following command:

lxd init

This command will guide you through the LXD initialization process, allowing you to set up your storage backend, network configuration, and other settings.

During the interactive setup, you'll be prompted with several questions. Here are the recommended settings for using ZFS:

sudo lxd init
Would you like to use LXD clustering? (yes/no) [default=no]: **no**
Do you want to configure a new storage pool? (yes/no) [default=yes]: **yes**
Name of the new storage pool [default=default]: lxdpool **you can choose any name**
Name of the storage backend to use (btrfs, ceph, dir, lvm, powerflex, zfs) [default=zfs]: **zfs**
Create a new ZFS pool? (yes/no) [default=yes]: **yes**
Would you like to use an existing empty block device (e.g. a disk or partition)? (yes/no) [default=no]: **no**
Size in GiB of the new loop device (1GiB minimum) [default=5GiB]: **10GiB (I chose 10GiB)**
Would you like to connect to a MAAS server? (yes/no) [default=no]: **no**
Would you like to create a new local network bridge? (yes/no) [default=yes]:  **yes**
What should the new bridge be called? [default=lxdbr0]: **lxdbr0**
What IPv4 address should be used? (CIDR subnet notation, “auto” or “none”) [default=auto]: **auto**
What IPv6 address should be used? (CIDR subnet notation, “auto” or “none”) [default=auto]: **auto**
Would you like the LXD server to be available over the network? (yes/no) [default=no]: **no**
Would you like stale cached images to be updated automatically? (yes/no) [default=yes]: **yes**
Would you like a YAML "lxd init" preseed to be printed? (yes/no) [default=no]: **no**

Run the zfs command to verify that the storage pool has been created:

sudo zfs list
NAME                               USED  AVAIL  REFER  MOUNTPOINT
lxdpool                            621K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/buckets                     24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/containers                  24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/custom                      24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted                    144K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted/buckets             24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted/containers          24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted/custom              24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted/images              24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/deleted/virtual-machines    24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/images                      24K  9.20G    24K  legacy
lxdpool/virtual-machines            24K  9.20G    24K  legacy

Step 6: Verify LXD Installation

Check the status of LXD:

lxd --version

This command will display the installed version of LXD.

Next, verify the setup by launching your first container:

lxc launch ubuntu:noble mycontainer

This command will create and start a new container named mycontainer using the Ubuntu 24.04 image.

Check the status of the running container:

lxc list
+------------------+---------+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+
|       NAME       |  STATE  |         IPV4         |                     IPV6                      |   TYPE    | SNAPSHOTS |
+------------------+---------+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| mycontainer      | RUNNING | 10.25.124.146 (eth0) | fd42:565a:a13a:22ec:214:3eff:fee8:84e7 (eth0) | CONTAINER | 0         |
+------------------+---------+----------------------+-----------------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully installed LXD on Ubuntu 24.04 using Snap with ZFS as the storage backend. You're now ready to create and manage system containers efficiently. Stay tuned for more tutorials and tips on using LXD effectively. If you found this guide helpful, feel free to share it and check out our other posts!