# Incus — Powerful System Container and Virtual Machine Manager

> Incus is a modern system container and virtual machine manager forked from LXD. It provides a unified CLI and REST API for managing Linux containers and VMs with image-based workflows, clustering, live migration, and fine-grained resource controls.

## Install

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# Incus — Powerful System Container and Virtual Machine Manager

## Quick Use
```bash
# Install on Debian/Ubuntu via Zabbly repo
sudo apt install incus

# Initialize
incus admin init --minimal

# Launch an Ubuntu container
incus launch images:ubuntu/24.04 my-container

# Launch a VM
incus launch images:ubuntu/24.04 my-vm --vm
```

## Introduction
Incus is a community-maintained fork of Canonical's LXD, managed under the Linux Containers project. It provides full system containers and virtual machines through a single tool, combining the density of containers with the isolation of VMs under one consistent API.

## What Incus Does
- Manages both system containers (LXC) and QEMU-based virtual machines
- Provides image-based workflows with a public image server
- Supports clustering for distributing instances across multiple hosts
- Enables live migration of running containers and VMs
- Offers fine-grained resource limits for CPU, memory, disk, and network

## Architecture Overview
Incus runs as a daemon exposing a REST API. The CLI (incus) communicates with this API to manage instances. Containers use LXC with kernel namespaces and cgroups. VMs use QEMU/KVM with virtio devices. Both instance types share the same storage, network, and profile abstractions, allowing unified management.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Install from distro packages (Zabbly repo for Debian/Ubuntu) or build from Go source
- Run incus admin init to configure storage pool, network bridge, and clustering
- Use profiles to define reusable configurations for CPU, memory, and devices
- Configure storage backends: ZFS, Btrfs, LVM, or directory
- Set up clustering by joining additional nodes to the leader

## Key Features
- Unified management of containers and VMs through one tool
- Built-in image server with pre-built images for 30+ Linux distributions
- Clustering with automatic instance placement and failure recovery
- Snapshot and backup support with scheduled automatic snapshots
- Project-based multi-tenancy for isolating workloads and users

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **LXD** — Incus is the community fork after Canonical moved LXD to a CLA model; feature-equivalent with independent governance
- **Docker** — application containers; Incus provides full system containers with init, SSH, and multi-process support
- **Proxmox VE** — hypervisor with web UI; Incus is CLI/API-first and lighter weight
- **libvirt/virsh** — lower-level VM management; Incus adds container support and a modern REST API

## FAQ
**Q: What is the difference between Incus and LXD?**
A: Incus is a community fork of LXD maintained by the Linux Containers project. It diverged after Canonical changed LXD's licensing. Functionally they are similar, with Incus adding community-driven features.

**Q: Can I migrate from LXD to Incus?**
A: Yes. The Incus project provides a lxd-to-incus migration tool that converts LXD installations in place.

**Q: Does Incus replace Docker?**
A: They serve different purposes. Docker runs application containers (one process). Incus runs system containers (full OS) and VMs. They can complement each other.

**Q: What storage backends are supported?**
A: ZFS, Btrfs, LVM, Ceph, and plain directory. ZFS and Btrfs offer the best snapshot and copy-on-write performance.

## Sources
- https://github.com/lxc/incus
- https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/

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Author: AI Open Source