community.general.lxc_container module – Manage LXC Containers

Note

This module is part of the community.general collection (version 8.6.8).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install community.general. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: community.general.lxc_container.

Synopsis

• Management of LXC containers.

Aliases: cloud.lxc.lxc_container

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

• lxc >= 2.0 # OS package

• python3 >= 3.5 # OS Package

• python3-lxc # OS Package

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
archive boolean	Create an archive of a container. This will create a tarball of the running container. Choices: false ← (default) true
archive_compression string	Type of compression to use when creating an archive of a running container. Choices: "gzip" ← (default) "bzip2" "none"
archive_path path	Path the save the archived container. If the path does not exist the archive method will attempt to create it.
backing_store string	Backend storage type for the container. Choices: "dir" ← (default) "lvm" "loop" "btrfs" "overlayfs" "zfs"
clone_name string	Name of the new cloned server. This is only used when state is clone.
clone_snapshot boolean	Create a snapshot a container when cloning. This is not supported by all container storage backends. Enabling this may fail if the backing store does not support snapshots. Choices: false ← (default) true
config path	Path to the LXC configuration file.
container_command string	Run a command within a container.
container_config list / elements=string	A list of key=value options to use when configuring a container.
container_log boolean	Enable a container log for host actions to the container. Choices: false ← (default) true
container_log_level string	Set the log level for a container where container_log was set. Choices: "Info" "info" "INFO" ← (default) "Error" "error" "ERROR" "Debug" "debug" "DEBUG"
directory path	Place rootfs directory under DIR.
fs_size string	File system Size. Default: "5G"
fs_type string	Create fstype TYPE. Default: "ext4"
lv_name string	Name of the logical volume, defaults to the container name. If not specified, it defaults to $CONTAINER_NAME.
lxc_path path	Place container under PATH.
name string / required	Name of a container.
state string	Define the state of a container. If you clone a container using clone_name the newly cloned container created in a stopped state. The running container will be stopped while the clone operation is happening and upon completion of the clone the original container state will be restored. Choices: "started" ← (default) "stopped" "restarted" "absent" "frozen" "clone"
template string	Name of the template to use within an LXC create. Default: "ubuntu"
template_options string	Template options when building the container.
thinpool string	Use LVM thin pool called TP.
vg_name string	If backend store is lvm, specify the name of the volume group. Default: "lxc"
zfs_root string	Create zfs under given zfsroot.

Attributes

Attribute	Support	Description
check_mode	Support: none	Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target.
diff_mode	Support: none	Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode.

Notes

Note

• Containers must have a unique name. If you attempt to create a container with a name that already exists in the users namespace the module will simply return as “unchanged”.

• The container_command can be used with any state except absent. If used with state stopped the container will be started, the command executed, and then the container stopped again. Likewise if state=stopped and the container does not exist it will be first created, started, the command executed, and then stopped. If you use a “|” in the variable you can use common script formatting within the variable itself. The container_command option will always execute as BASH. When using container_command, a log file is created in the /tmp/ directory which contains both stdout and stderr of any command executed.

• If archive=true the system will attempt to create a compressed tarball of the running container. The archive option supports LVM backed containers and will create a snapshot of the running container when creating the archive.

• If your distro does not have a package for python3-lxc, which is a requirement for this module, it can be installed from source at https://github.com/lxc/python3-lxc or installed via pip using the package name lxc.

Examples

- name: Create a started container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-started
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: started
    template_options: --release trusty

- name: Create a stopped container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-stopped
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: stopped
    template_options: --release trusty

- name: Create a frozen container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-frozen
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: frozen
    template_options: --release trusty
    container_command: |
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/started-frozen

# Create filesystem container, configure it, and archive it, and start it.
- name: Create filesystem container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-config
    backing_store: dir
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: started
    archive: true
    archive_compression: none
    container_config:
      - "lxc.aa_profile=unconfined"
      - "lxc.cgroup.devices.allow=a *:* rmw"
    template_options: --release trusty

# Create an lvm container, run a complex command in it, add additional
# configuration to it, create an archive of it, and finally leave the container
# in a frozen state. The container archive will be compressed using bzip2
- name: Create a frozen lvm container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-lvm
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: frozen
    backing_store: lvm
    template_options: --release trusty
    container_command: |
      apt-get update
      apt-get install -y vim lxc-dev
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/started
      if [[ -f "/opt/started" ]]; then
          echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/found-started
      fi
    container_config:
      - "lxc.aa_profile=unconfined"
      - "lxc.cgroup.devices.allow=a *:* rmw"
    archive: true
    archive_compression: bzip2
  register: lvm_container_info

- name: Debug info on container "test-container-lvm"
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: lvm_container_info

- name: Run a command in a container and ensure its in a "stopped" state.
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-started
    state: stopped
    container_command: |
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/stopped

- name: Run a command in a container and ensure its it in a "frozen" state.
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-stopped
    state: frozen
    container_command: |
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/frozen

- name: Start a container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-stopped
    state: started

- name: Run a command in a container and then restart it
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-started
    state: restarted
    container_command: |
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/restarted

- name: Run a complex command within a "running" container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-started
    container_command: |
      apt-get update
      apt-get install -y curl wget vim apache2
      echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/started
      if [[ -f "/opt/started" ]]; then
          echo 'hello world.' | tee /opt/found-started
      fi

# Create an archive of an existing container, save the archive to a defined
# path and then destroy it.
- name: Archive container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-started
    state: absent
    archive: true
    archive_path: /opt/archives

# Create a container using overlayfs, create an archive of it, create a
# snapshot clone of the container and and finally leave the container
# in a frozen state. The container archive will be compressed using gzip.
- name: Create an overlayfs container archive and clone it
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-overlayfs
    container_log: true
    template: ubuntu
    state: started
    backing_store: overlayfs
    template_options: --release trusty
    clone_snapshot: true
    clone_name: test-container-overlayfs-clone-snapshot
    archive: true
    archive_compression: gzip
  register: clone_container_info

- name: Debug info on container "test-container"
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: clone_container_info

- name: Clone a container using snapshot
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-overlayfs-clone-snapshot
    backing_store: overlayfs
    clone_name: test-container-overlayfs-clone-snapshot2
    clone_snapshot: true

- name: Create a new container and clone it
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-new-archive
    backing_store: dir
    clone_name: test-container-new-archive-clone

- name: Archive and clone a container then destroy it
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-new-archive
    state: absent
    clone_name: test-container-new-archive-destroyed-clone
    archive: true
    archive_compression: gzip

- name: Start a cloned container.
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: test-container-new-archive-destroyed-clone
    state: started

- name: Destroy a container
  community.general.lxc_container:
    name: '{{ item }}'
    state: absent
  with_items:
    - test-container-stopped
    - test-container-started
    - test-container-frozen
    - test-container-lvm
    - test-container-config
    - test-container-overlayfs
    - test-container-overlayfs-clone
    - test-container-overlayfs-clone-snapshot
    - test-container-overlayfs-clone-snapshot2
    - test-container-new-archive
    - test-container-new-archive-clone
    - test-container-new-archive-destroyed-clone

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key	Description
lxc_container complex	container information Returned: success
archive string	resulting state of the container Returned: success, when archive is true Sample: "/tmp/test-container-config.tar"
clone boolean	if the container was cloned Returned: success, when clone_name is specified Sample: true
init_pid integer	pid of the lxc init process Returned: success Sample: 19786
interfaces list / elements=string	list of the container’s network interfaces Returned: success Sample: ["eth0", "lo"]
ips list / elements=string	list of ips Returned: success Sample: ["10.0.3.3"]
name string	name of the lxc container Returned: success Sample: "test_host"
state string	resulting state of the container Returned: success Sample: "running"

Authors

• Kevin Carter (@cloudnull)

Collection links

• Issue Tracker
• Repository (Sources)
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• Submit a bug report
• Request a feature
• Communication