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API Extensions

API extensions

The changes below were introduced to the LXD API after the 1.0 API was finalized.

They are all backward compatible and can be detected by client tools by looking at the api_extensions field in GET /1.0.

storage_zfs_remove_snapshots

A zfs.remove_snapshots daemon configuration key was introduced.

It’s a Boolean that defaults to false and that when set to true instructs LXD to remove any needed snapshot when attempting to restore another.

This is needed as ZFS will only let you restore the latest snapshot.

container_host_shutdown_timeout

A boot.host_shutdown_timeout container configuration key was introduced.

It’s an integer which indicates how long LXD should wait for the container to stop before killing it.

Its value is only used on clean LXD daemon shutdown. It defaults to 30s.

container_stop_priority

A boot.stop.priority container configuration key was introduced.

It’s an integer which indicates the priority of a container during shutdown.

Containers will shutdown starting with the highest priority level.

Containers with the same priority will shutdown in parallel. It defaults to 0.

container_syscall_filtering

A number of new syscalls related container configuration keys were introduced.

See Instance configuration for how to use them.

Note

Initially, those configuration keys were (accidentally) introduced with offensive names. They have since been renamed (container_syscall_filtering_allow_deny_syntax), and the old names are no longer accepted.

auth_pki

This indicates support for PKI authentication mode.

In this mode, the client and server both must use certificates issued by the same PKI.

See Security for details.

container_last_used_at

A last_used_at field was added to the GET /1.0/containers/<name> endpoint.

It is a timestamp of the last time the container was started.

If a container has been created but not started yet, last_used_at field will be 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z

etag

Add support for the ETag header on all relevant endpoints.

This adds the following HTTP header on answers to GET:

  • ETag (SHA-256 of user modifiable content)

And adds support for the following HTTP header on PUT requests:

  • If-Match (ETag value retrieved through previous GET)

This makes it possible to GET a LXD object, modify it and PUT it without risking to hit a race condition where LXD or another client modified the object in the meantime.

patch

Add support for the HTTP PATCH method.

PATCH allows for partial update of an object in place of PUT.

usb_devices

Add support for USB hotplug.

https_allowed_credentials

To use LXD API with all Web Browsers (via SPAs) you must send credentials (certificate) with each XHR (in order for this to happen, you should set withCredentials=true (opens in a new tab) flag to each XHR Request).

Some browsers like Firefox and Safari can’t accept server response without Access-Control-Allow-Credentials: true header. To ensure that the server will return a response with that header, set core.https_allowed_credentials to true.

image_compression_algorithm

This adds support for a compression_algorithm property when creating an image (POST /1.0/images).

Setting this property overrides the server default value (images.compression_algorithm).

directory_manipulation

This allows for creating and listing directories via the LXD API, and exports the file type via the X-LXD-type header, which can be either file or directory right now.

container_cpu_time

This adds support for retrieving CPU time for a running container.

storage_zfs_use_refquota

Introduces a new server property zfs.use_refquota which instructs LXD to set the refquota property instead of quota when setting a size limit on a container. LXD will also then use usedbydataset in place of used when being queried about disk utilization.

This effectively controls whether disk usage by snapshots should be considered as part of the container’s disk space usage.

storage_lvm_mount_options

Adds a new storage.lvm_mount_options daemon configuration option which defaults to discard and allows the user to set addition mount options for the file system used by the LVM LV.

network

Network management API for LXD.

This includes:

  • Addition of the managed property on /1.0/networks entries

  • All the network configuration options (see Network configuration for details)

  • POST /1.0/networks (see RESTful API for details)

  • PUT /1.0/networks/<entry> (see RESTful API for details)

  • PATCH /1.0/networks/<entry> (see RESTful API for details)

  • DELETE /1.0/networks/<entry> (see RESTful API for details)

  • ipv4.address property on nic type devices (when nictype is bridged)

  • ipv6.address property on nic type devices (when nictype is bridged)

  • security.mac_filtering property on nic type devices (when nictype is bridged)

profile_usedby

Adds a new used_by field to profile entries listing the containers that are using it.

container_push

When a container is created in push mode, the client serves as a proxy between the source and target server. This is useful in cases where the target server is behind a NAT or firewall and cannot directly communicate with the source server and operate in pull mode.

container_exec_recording

Introduces a new Boolean record-output, parameter to /1.0/containers/<name>/exec which when set to true and combined with with wait-for-websocket set to false, will record stdout and stderr to disk and make them available through the logs interface.

The URL to the recorded output is included in the operation metadata once the command is done running.

That output will expire similarly to other log files, typically after 48 hours.

certificate_update

Adds the following to the REST API:

  • ETag header on GET of a certificate

  • PUT of certificate entries

  • PATCH of certificate entries

container_exec_signal_handling

Adds support /1.0/containers/<name>/exec for forwarding signals sent to the client to the processes executing in the container. Currently SIGTERM and SIGHUP are forwarded. Further signals that can be forwarded might be added later.

gpu_devices

Enables adding GPUs to a container.

container_image_properties

Introduces a new image configuration key space. Read-only, includes the properties of the parent image.

migration_progress

Transfer progress is now exported as part of the operation, on both sending and receiving ends. This shows up as a fs_progress attribute in the operation metadata.

id_map

Enables setting the security.idmap.isolated, security.idmap.size, and raw.idmap fields.

network_firewall_filtering

Add two new keys, ipv4.firewall and ipv6.firewall which if set to false will turn off the generation of iptables FORWARDING rules. NAT rules will still be added so long as the matching ipv4.nat or ipv6.nat key is set to true.

Rules necessary for dnsmasq to work (DHCP/DNS) will always be applied if dnsmasq is enabled on the bridge.

network_routes

Introduces ipv4.routes and ipv6.routes which allow routing additional subnets to a LXD bridge.

storage

Storage management API for LXD.

This includes:

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools (see RESTful API for details)

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • PUT /1.0/storage-pools/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • PATCH /1.0/storage-pools/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • DELETE /1.0/storage-pools/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<name>/volumes (see RESTful API for details)

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<name>/volumes/<volume_type> (see RESTful API for details)

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools/<name>/volumes/<volume_type> (see RESTful API for details)

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<volume_type>/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<volume_type>/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • PUT /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<volume_type>/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • PATCH /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<volume_type>/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • DELETE /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<volume_type>/<name> (see RESTful API for details)

  • All storage configuration options (see Storage configuration for details)

file_delete

Implements DELETE in /1.0/containers/<name>/files

file_append

Implements the X-LXD-write header which can be one of overwrite or append.

network_dhcp_expiry

Introduces ipv4.dhcp.expiry and ipv6.dhcp.expiry allowing to set the DHCP lease expiry time.

storage_lvm_vg_rename

Introduces the ability to rename a volume group by setting lvm.vg_name.

storage_lvm_thinpool_rename

Introduces the ability to rename a thin pool name by setting lvm.thinpool_name.

network_vlan

This adds a new vlan property to macvlan network devices.

When set, this will instruct LXD to attach to the specified VLAN. LXD will look for an existing interface for that VLAN on the host. If one can’t be found it will create one itself and then use that as the macvlan parent.

image_create_aliases

Adds a new aliases field to POST /1.0/images allowing for aliases to be set at image creation/import time.

container_stateless_copy

This introduces a new live attribute in POST /1.0/containers/<name>. Setting it to false tells LXD not to attempt running state transfer.

container_only_migration

Introduces a new Boolean container_only attribute. When set to true only the container will be copied or moved.

storage_zfs_clone_copy

Introduces a new Boolean zfs.clone_copy property for ZFS storage pools. When set to false copying a container will be done through zfs send and receive. This will make the target container independent of its source container thus avoiding the need to keep dependent snapshots in the ZFS pool around. However, this also entails less efficient storage usage for the affected pool. The default value for this property is true, i.e. space-efficient snapshots will be used unless explicitly set to false.

unix_device_rename

Introduces the ability to rename the unix-block/unix-char device inside container by setting path, and the source attribute is added to specify the device on host. If source is set without a path, we should assume that path will be the same as source. If path is set without source and major/minor isn’t set, we should assume that source will be the same as path. So at least one of them must be set.

storage_rsync_bwlimit

When rsync has to be invoked to transfer storage entities setting rsync.bwlimit places an upper limit on the amount of socket I/O allowed.

network_vxlan_interface

This introduces a new tunnel.NAME.interface option for networks.

This key control what host network interface is used for a VXLAN tunnel.

storage_btrfs_mount_options

This introduces the btrfs.mount_options property for Btrfs storage pools.

This key controls what mount options will be used for the Btrfs storage pool.

entity_description

This adds descriptions to entities like containers, snapshots, networks, storage pools and volumes.

image_force_refresh

This allows forcing a refresh for an existing image.

storage_lvm_lv_resizing

This introduces the ability to resize logical volumes by setting the size property in the containers root disk device.

id_map_base

This introduces a new security.idmap.base allowing the user to skip the map auto-selection process for isolated containers and specify what host UID/GID to use as the base.

file_symlinks

This adds support for transferring symlinks through the file API. X-LXD-type can now be symlink with the request content being the target path.

container_push_target

This adds the target field to POST /1.0/containers/<name> which can be used to have the source LXD host connect to the target during migration.

network_vlan_physical

Allows use of vlan property with physical network devices.

When set, this will instruct LXD to attach to the specified VLAN on the parent interface. LXD will look for an existing interface for that parent and VLAN on the host. If one can’t be found it will create one itself. Then, LXD will directly attach this interface to the container.

storage_images_delete

This enabled the storage API to delete storage volumes for images from a specific storage pool.

container_edit_metadata

This adds support for editing a container metadata.yaml and related templates via API, by accessing URLs under /1.0/containers/<name>/metadata. It can be used to edit a container before publishing an image from it.

container_snapshot_stateful_migration

This enables migrating stateful container snapshots to new containers.

storage_driver_ceph

This adds a Ceph storage driver.

storage_ceph_user_name

This adds the ability to specify the Ceph user.

instance_types

This adds the instance_type field to the container creation request. Its value is expanded to LXD resource limits.

storage_volatile_initial_source

This records the actual source passed to LXD during storage pool creation.

storage_ceph_force_osd_reuse

This introduces the ceph.osd.force_reuse property for the Ceph storage driver. When set to true LXD will reuse an OSD storage pool that is already in use by another LXD instance.

storage_block_filesystem_btrfs

This adds support for Btrfs as a storage volume file system, in addition to ext4 and xfs.

resources

This adds support for querying a LXD daemon for the system resources it has available.

kernel_limits

This adds support for setting process limits such as maximum number of open files for the container via nofile. The format is limits.kernel.[limit name].

storage_api_volume_rename

This adds support for renaming custom storage volumes.

network_sriov

This adds support for SR-IOV enabled network devices.

console

This adds support to interact with the container console device and console log.

restrict_devlxd

A new security.devlxd container configuration key was introduced. The key controls whether the /dev/lxd interface is made available to the instance. If set to false, this effectively prevents the container from interacting with the LXD daemon.

migration_pre_copy

This adds support for optimized memory transfer during live migration.

infiniband

This adds support to use InfiniBand network devices.

maas_network

This adds support for MAAS network integration.

When configured at the daemon level, it’s then possible to attach a nic device to a particular MAAS subnet.

devlxd_events

This adds a WebSocket API to the devlxd socket.

When connecting to /1.0/events over the devlxd socket, you will now be getting a stream of events over WebSocket.

proxy

This adds a new proxy device type to containers, allowing forwarding of connections between the host and container.

network_dhcp_gateway

Introduces a new ipv4.dhcp.gateway network configuration key to set an alternate gateway.

file_get_symlink

This makes it possible to retrieve symlinks using the file API.

network_leases

Adds a new /1.0/networks/NAME/leases API endpoint to query the lease database on bridges which run a LXD-managed DHCP server.

unix_device_hotplug

This adds support for the required property for Unix devices.

storage_api_local_volume_handling

This add the ability to copy and move custom storage volumes locally in the same and between storage pools.

operation_description

Adds a description field to all operations.

clustering

Clustering API for LXD.

This includes the following new endpoints (see RESTful API for details):

  • GET /1.0/cluster

  • UPDATE /1.0/cluster

  • GET /1.0/cluster/members

  • GET /1.0/cluster/members/<name>

  • POST /1.0/cluster/members/<name>

  • DELETE /1.0/cluster/members/<name>

The following existing endpoints have been modified:

  • POST /1.0/containers accepts a new target query parameter

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools accepts a new target query parameter

  • GET /1.0/storage-pool/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • POST /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type> accepts a new target query parameter

  • GET /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • POST /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • PUT /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • PATCH /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • DELETE /1.0/storage-pool/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

  • POST /1.0/networks accepts a new target query parameter

  • GET /1.0/networks/<name> accepts a new target query parameter

event_lifecycle

This adds a new lifecycle message type to the events API.

storage_api_remote_volume_handling

This adds the ability to copy and move custom storage volumes between remote.

nvidia_runtime

Adds a nvidia.runtime configuration option for containers, setting this to true will have the NVIDIA runtime and CUDA libraries passed to the container.

container_mount_propagation

This adds a new propagation option to the disk device type, allowing the configuration of kernel mount propagation.

container_backup

Add container backup support.

This includes the following new endpoints (see RESTful API for details):

  • GET /1.0/containers/<name>/backups

  • POST /1.0/containers/<name>/backups

  • GET /1.0/containers/<name>/backups/<name>

  • POST /1.0/containers/<name>/backups/<name>

  • DELETE /1.0/containers/<name>/backups/<name>

  • GET /1.0/containers/<name>/backups/<name>/export

The following existing endpoint has been modified:

  • POST /1.0/containers accepts the new source type backup

devlxd_images

Adds a security.devlxd.images configuration option for containers which controls the availability of a /1.0/images/FINGERPRINT/export API over devlxd. This can be used by a container running nested LXD to access raw images from the host.

container_local_cross_pool_handling

This enables copying or moving containers between storage pools on the same LXD instance.

proxy_unix

Add support for both Unix sockets and abstract Unix sockets in proxy devices. They can be used by specifying the address as unix:/path/to/unix.sock (normal socket) or unix:@/tmp/unix.sock (abstract socket).

Supported connections are now:

  • TCP <-> TCP

  • UNIX <-> UNIX

  • TCP <-> UNIX

  • UNIX <-> TCP

proxy_udp

Add support for UDP in proxy devices.

Supported connections are now:

  • TCP <-> TCP

  • UNIX <-> UNIX

  • TCP <-> UNIX

  • UNIX <-> TCP

  • UDP <-> UDP

  • TCP <-> UDP

  • UNIX <-> UDP

clustering_join

This makes GET /1.0/cluster return information about which storage pools and networks are required to be created by joining nodes and which node-specific configuration keys they are required to use when creating them. Likewise the PUT /1.0/cluster endpoint now accepts the same format to pass information about storage pools and networks to be automatically created before attempting to join a cluster.

proxy_tcp_udp_multi_port_handling

Adds support for forwarding traffic for multiple ports. Forwarding is allowed between a range of ports if the port range is equal for source and target (for example 1.2.3.4 0-1000 -> 5.6.7.8 1000-2000) and between a range of source ports and a single target port (for example 1.2.3.4 0-1000 -> 5.6.7.8 1000).

network_state

Adds support for retrieving a network’s state.

This adds the following new endpoint (see RESTful API for details):

  • GET /1.0/networks/<name>/state

proxy_unix_dac_properties

This adds support for GID, UID, and mode properties for non-abstract Unix sockets.

container_protection_delete

Enables setting the security.protection.delete field which prevents containers from being deleted if set to true. Snapshots are not affected by this setting.

proxy_priv_drop

Adds security.uid and security.gid for the proxy devices, allowing privilege dropping and effectively changing the UID/GID used for connections to Unix sockets too.

pprof_http

This adds a new core.debug_address configuration option to start a debugging HTTP server.

That server currently includes a pprof API and replaces the old cpu-profile, memory-profile and print-goroutines debug options.

proxy_haproxy_protocol

Adds a proxy_protocol key to the proxy device which controls the use of the HAProxy PROXY protocol header.

network_hwaddr

Adds a bridge.hwaddr key to control the MAC address of the bridge.

proxy_nat

This adds optimized UDP/TCP proxying. If the configuration allows, proxying will be done via iptables instead of proxy devices.

network_nat_order

This introduces the ipv4.nat.order and ipv6.nat.order configuration keys for LXD bridges. Those keys control whether to put the LXD rules before or after any pre-existing rules in the chain.

container_full

This introduces a new recursion=2 mode for GET /1.0/containers which allows for the retrieval of all container structs, including the state, snapshots and backup structs.

This effectively allows for lxc list to get all it needs in one query.

backup_compression

This introduces a new backups.compression_algorithm configuration key which allows configuration of backup compression.

nvidia_runtime_config

This introduces a few extra configuration keys when using nvidia.runtime and the libnvidia-container library. Those keys translate pretty much directly to the matching NVIDIA container environment variables:

storage_api_volume_snapshots

Add support for storage volume snapshots. They work like container snapshots, only for volumes.

This adds the following new endpoint (see RESTful API for details):

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name>/snapshots

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<name>/snapshots

  • GET /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<volume>/snapshots/<name>

  • PUT /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<volume>/snapshots/<name>

  • POST /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<volume>/snapshots/<name>

  • DELETE /1.0/storage-pools/<pool>/volumes/<type>/<volume>/snapshots/<name>

storage_unmapped

Introduces a new security.unmapped Boolean on storage volumes.

Setting it to true will flush the current map on the volume and prevent any further idmap tracking and remapping on the volume.

This can be used to share data between isolated containers after attaching it to the container which requires write access.

projects

Add a new project API, supporting creation, update and deletion of projects.

Projects can hold containers, profiles or images at this point and let you get a separate view of your LXD resources by switching to it.

network_vxlan_ttl

This adds a new tunnel.NAME.ttl network configuration option which makes it possible to raise the TTL on VXLAN tunnels.

container_incremental_copy

This adds support for incremental container copy. When copying a container using the --refresh flag, only the missing or outdated files will be copied over. Should the target container not exist yet, a normal copy operation is performed.

usb_optional_vendorid

As the name implies, the vendorid field on USB devices attached to containers has now been made optional, allowing for all USB devices to be passed to a container (similar to what’s done for GPUs).

snapshot_scheduling

This adds support for snapshot scheduling. It introduces three new configuration keys: snapshots.schedule, snapshots.schedule.stopped, and snapshots.pattern. Snapshots can be created automatically up to every minute.

snapshots_schedule_aliases

Snapshot schedule can be configured by a comma-separated list of schedule aliases. Available aliases are <@hourly> <@daily> <@midnight> <@weekly> <@monthly> <@annually> <@yearly> <@startup> for instances, and <@hourly> <@daily> <@midnight> <@weekly> <@monthly> <@annually> <@yearly> for storage volumes.

container_copy_project

Introduces a project field to the container source JSON object, allowing for copy/move of containers between projects.

clustering_server_address

This adds support for configuring a server network address which differs from the REST API client network address. When bootstrapping a new cluster, clients can set the new cluster.https_address configuration key to specify the address of the initial server. When joining a new server, clients can set the core.https_address configuration key of the joining server to the REST API address the joining server should listen at, and set the server_address key in the PUT /1.0/cluster API to the address the joining server should use for clustering traffic (the value of server_address will be automatically copied to the `

Instance options