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Introduction to Incus and Initial Server Setup
This short post introduces Incus and shows you how to set up your first Incus server. We'll cover the basic features and topics of Incus this time, but we'll explore more advanced features in future posts.
Hi, my name is Mamadou, and I am a freelance Software Engineer. This is my first public article, so please forgive any mistakes. I will do my best to keep it straightforward and clear.
In the following sections, we will:
- Briefly introduce Incus
- Discuss what we need to get started with Incus
- Set up our first Incus server
- Explore the next steps
1. What is Incus?
"Incus is a modern, secure and powerful system container and virtual machine manager" according to the definition on Incus official page. I don't think there is a better way to tell you what Incus is.
For new IT learners, network applications were traditionally deployed on physical servers. Each server could host one or more applications, but all those applications had to be compatible with the server's operating system. If an application wasn't compatible, we had to get a new physical server and install the required operating system, even if the existing server had enough resources.
To solve this issue, engineers developed Virtualization Technologies. These technologies virtualize server hardware components, allowing multiple virtual servers to run on a single physical server. Incus is one such technology. In Incus and similar technologies, these virtual servers are called instances. If you're new to Virtualization Technologies, I hope this helps you understand why Incus exists.
Why should you use Incus?
- Incus supports many Linux distribution images.
- It is built around a powerful API.
- It is secure and scalable.
- It is ready to handle development and production workloads.
- It is easy to deploy and maintain.
- It has a powerful CLI tool.
- and more...
Containers vs Virtual Machines in Incus
In Incus, an instance can be either a container or a virtual machine. Incus uses LXC for containers and QEMU for virtual machines.
A container is a native instance of Incus and supports more features than virtual machines. One key difference between a container and a virtual machine is that a container does not have its own kernel, unlike a virtual machine. An Incus container relies on the host kernel, making it less resource-intensive compared to a full virtual machine.
2. Getting Started with Incus
There is no better place to learn Incus than its official documentation page. So head to the main page to read about all the cool things you can do with Incus. Don't forget to support the project and contributors if you can. Find the links at the end of the article.
To start using Incus, you must install it on your computer/server using one of the options available for the operating system of your computer/server. Before you even get to installing Incus on your own system, you can try it online at https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/try-it/
3. Setting Up a New Incus Server
The documentation provides clear instructions on how to get Incus running on your server. However, I thought I'd show you how I set up mine from start to finish using an Ubuntu 24.04 machine.
Things to Know
- Incus server works only on Linux.
- Incus consists of a daemon and a client. The daemon runs your containers, VMs, and API. The client is a CLI tool for interacting with the daemon.
- Incus client is available for most operating systems, including Windows and macOS.
- Incus does not come with a built-in UI application
Install Incus daemon and client on Ubuntu 24.04
The following commands install the Incus daemon and client on Ubuntu 24.04. If you have a version of Ubuntu below 24.04 or any other Linux distribution, check out the installation page on the Incus website for specific instructions.
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install incus
Check Your Incus installation
Use incus --version to check the version you installed.
Initialize Incus daemon:
sudo incus admin init
To keep things simple let's accept all default options.
Add your user account to Incus administrator group
sudo adduser sam incus-admin
sudo newgrp incus-admin
You can bootstrap Incus initialization by following the instructions on this page.
Create your first Incus container
incus launch images:ubuntu/20.04 my-container-1
4. Where to Go from Here
Use Incus client --help flag to discover more commands to manage your resources.
Incus project: https://github.com/zabbly/incus
Incus home page: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/introduction/
Incus documentation: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/
Conclusion
In this post, I wanted to create a simple tutorial on how to get started with Incus without diving into too many details. This is a reference for me, and I hope it helps you get started too. In future posts, I will cover more details on Incus resource types and management, including networking, storage, backup, clustering, security, and more. I hope you'll come back to learn more about Incus with me.
Using Incus client to manage our containers and virtual machines
Today, we will explore how to use Incus command line client to do basic management of Incus resources. If you need instructions on installing and setting up Incus server for the first time, please refer to my my previous article. So, this article assume that you already have Incus server up and running.
I will try to keep things simple and brief here again, as Incus documentation page offers much more details on how to manage your workloads using the command line client.
In the following sections, I will:
- Show you how to install Incus client on a Windows machine
- Show you how to run basic commands
- Tell you where to learn more about Incus command line client
1. Install Incus Command Line Client
Incus client is the package that allows you to interact with Incus daemon. When you run the command incus --help, you are actually interacting with Incus client. It takes your commands and then forwards them to the daemon.
Incus client comes preinstalled with Incus server, so you won't need to install it on the machine where you host your containers and virtual machines.
However, if you want Incus server in a different location and Incus client on your workstation, you will need to install and set up the client.
To install Incus command line client on a Windows PC, you can use Chocolatey, Winget, or download the native build from Incus client page.
Installing Incus client using Chocolatey
- Make sure you have Chocolatey installed:
Checkout Chocolatey installation page if you don't have it on your Windows computer yet.
- Install Incus client:
choco install incus
For installing Incus client using other methods, please check out this page on Incus documentation page.
Once Incus client is installed, you need to connect it to the server to manage the resources.
How to add an Incus server the command line client?
- Expose Incus API to the network. On the server, run::
incus config set core.https_address :8443
This commands make Incus API available on your network.
- On the server, enter the following command:
incus config trust add <CLIENT_NAME>
Replace client name (CLIENT_NAME) with a descriptive name for your client. For example my_laptop.
- On the client, add the server by running the command:
incus remote add <SERVER_NAME>
Replace the server name (SERVER_NAME) with a descriptive name of you Incus server. For example my_server_1. Follow the prompt to add the token given to you by the server.
Make sure you properly added you Incus server to the client. Run incus remote list to see all the servers your Incus client is connected to.
2. Run Basic Commands using Incus Command Line Client
- How to create a new container instance?
To create an Incus container called my-container, run the following command:
incus launch images:ubuntu/22.04 my-container
By default, the command incus launch creates a system container. If you want a full virtual machine, you can use the --vm flag (incus launch images:ubuntu/22.04 my-virtual-machine --vm). There are more options available when creating a new instance, but we will not cover all of them today.
Stopping or deleting an instance is simple with incus stop my-container and incus delete my-container. To learn more about what you can do with Incus command line client, please visit the official documentation of Incus.
3. Where to Go from Here
Incus project: https://github.com/zabbly/incus
Incus home page: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/introduction/
Incus documentation: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/
Conclusion
Today, I wanted to introduce Incus command line client and show you how to install it on your machine. Incus client is supported on major operating systems, including macOS and Windows.
Just a quick reminder, Incus client comes with Incus server installation. This means you don't have to install the client separately on your server. You only need to install Incus client yourself if you want to manage your resources from a computer other than the one where you installed Incus server. After installing the command line client, expose Incus API to your network, add the server to the client, and you'll be ready to do some cool stuff.