How to run commands in an instance

LXD allows to run commands inside an instance using the LXD client or the API, without needing to access the instance through the network.

For containers, this always works and is handled directly by LXD. For virtual machines, the lxd-agent process must be running inside of the virtual machine for this to work.

Note

The UI does not currently support sending commands to an instance. However, it provides a terminal that gives you shell access to your instance.

Run commands inside your instance

CLIAPI

To run a single command from the terminal of the host machine, use the lxc exec command:

lxc exec <instance_name> -- <command>

For example, enter the following command to update the package list on your container:

lxc exec my-instance -- apt-get update

Send a POST request to the instance’s exec endpoint to run a single command from the terminal of the host machine:

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/exec --data '{
  "command": [ "<command>" ]
}'

For example, enter the following command to update the package list on your container:

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/my-instance/exec --data '{
  "command": [ "apt-get", "update" ]
}'

See POST /1.0/instances/{name}/exec for more information.

Execution mode

LXD can execute commands either interactively or non-interactively.

CLIAPI

In interactive mode, a pseudo-terminal device (PTS) is used to handle input (stdin) and output (stdout, stderr). This mode is automatically selected by the CLI if connected to a terminal emulator (and not run from a script). To force interactive mode, add either --force-interactive or --mode interactive to the command.

In non-interactive mode, pipes are allocated instead (one for each of stdin, stdout and stderr). This method allows running a command and properly getting separate stdin, stdout and stderr as required by many scripts. To force non-interactive mode, add either --force-noninteractive or --mode non-interactive to the command.

In both modes, the operation creates a control socket that can be used for out-of-band communication with LXD. You can send signals and window sizing information through this socket.

Interactive mode

In interactive mode, the operation creates an additional single bi-directional WebSocket. To force interactive mode, add "interactive": true and "wait-for-websocket": true to the request data. For example:

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/my-instance/exec --data '{
  "command": [ "/bin/bash" ],
  "interactive": true,
  "wait-for-websocket": true
}'

Non-interactive mode

In non-interactive mode, the operation creates three additional WebSockets: one each for stdin, stdout, and stderr. To force non-interactive mode, add "interactive": false to the request data.

When running a command in non-interactive mode, you can instruct LXD to record the output of the command. To do so, add "record-output": true to the request data. You can then send a request to the exec-output endpoint to retrieve the list of files that contain command output:

lxc query --request GET /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/logs/exec-output

To display the output of one of the files, send a request to one of the files:

lxc query --request GET /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/logs/exec-output/<record-output-file>

When you don’t need the command output anymore, you can delete it:

lxc query --request DELETE /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/logs/exec-output/<record-output-file>

See GET /1.0/instances/{name}/logs/exec-output, GET /1.0/instances/{name}/logs/exec-output/{filename}, and DELETE /1.0/instances/{name}/logs/exec-output/{filename} for more information.

User, groups and working directory

LXD has a policy not to read data from within the instances or trust anything that can be found in the instance. Therefore, LXD does not parse files like /etc/passwd, /etc/group or /etc/nsswitch.conf to handle user and group resolution.

As a result, LXD doesn’t know the home directory for the user or the supplementary groups the user is in.

By default, LXD runs commands as root (UID 0) with the default group (GID 0) and the working directory set to /root. You can override the user, group and working directory by specifying absolute values.

CLIAPI

You can override the default settings by adding the following flags to the lxc exec command:

• --user - the user ID for running the command

• --group - the group ID for running the command

• --cwd - the directory in which the command should run

You can override the default settings by adding the following fields to the request data:

• "user": <user_ID> - the user ID for running the command

• "group": <group_ID> - the group ID for running the command

• "cwd": "<directory>" - the directory in which the command should run

Environment

You can pass environment variables to an exec session in the following two ways:

Set environment variables as instance options

CLIAPIUI

To set the <ENVVAR> environment variable to <value> in the instance, set the environment.<ENVVAR> instance option (see environment.*):

lxc config set <instance_name> environment.<ENVVAR>=<value>

To set the <ENVVAR> environment variable to <value> in the instance, set the environment.<ENVVAR> instance option (see environment.*):

lxc query --request PATCH /1.0/instances/<instance_name> --data '{
  "config": {
    "environment.<ENVVAR>": "<value>"
  }
}'

To set the <ENVVAR> environment variable to <value> in the instance, go to the instance detail page, switch to the Configuration tab and select YAML configuration. Then click Edit instance.

Add the environment.<ENVVAR> configuration under the config section. For example:

config:
  environment.<ENVVAR>: "<value>"

Click Save changes.

Pass environment variables to the exec command

CLIAPI

To pass an environment variable to the exec command, use the --env flag. For example:

lxc exec <instance_name> --env <ENVVAR>=<value> -- <command>

To pass an environment variable to the exec command, add an environment field to the request data. For example:

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/exec --data '{
  "command": [ "<command>" ],
  "environment": {
    "<ENVVAR>": "<value>"
  }
}'

Default Environment Variables Set by LXD

Unless overridden, LXD sets the following default values:

PATH value (concatenated):

• /usr/local/sbin
• /usr/local/bin
• /usr/sbin
• /usr/bin
• /sbin
• /bin
• /snap (if applicable)
• /etc/NIXOS (if applicable) |

Get shell access to your instance

If you want to run commands directly in your instance, run a shell command inside it.

CLIAPIUI

Enter the following command (assuming that the /bin/bash command exists in your instance):

lxc exec <instance_name> -- /bin/bash

Enter the following command (assuming that the /bin/bash command exists in your instance):

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/exec --data '{ "command": [ "/bin/bash" ] }'

Navigate to the instance detail page and switch to the Terminal tab to access the shell.

By default, you are logged in as the root user. If you want to log in as a different user, enter the following command:

CLIAPIUI

lxc exec <instance_name> -- su --login <user_name>

To exit the instance shell, enter exit or press Ctrl+d.

lxc query --request POST /1.0/instances/<instance_name>/exec --data '{ "command": [ "su", "--login", "<user_name>" ] }'

su --login <user_name>

To exit the user shell and go back to the root shell, enter exit or press Ctrl+d.

Note

Depending on the operating system that you run in your instance, you might need to create a user first.