lxc-copy

lxc-copy(1) lxc-copy(1)

NAME

   lxc-copy - copy an existing container.

SYNOPSIS

   lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] {-N, --newname newname} [-p, --newpath newpath] [-B, --backingstorage backingstorage] [-s, --snapshot] [-a, --allowrunning] [-K,
            --keepname] [-D, --keepdata] [-M, --keepmac] [-L, --fssize size [unit]] [-- hook arguments]
   lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] [-N, --newname newname] [-p, --newpath newpath] {-e, --ephemeral} [-B, --backingstorage backingstorage] [-s, --snapshot] [-a,
            --allowrunning] [-K, --keepname] [-D, --keepdata] [-M, --keepmac] [-L, --fssize size [unit]] [-- hook arguments]
   lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] [-N, --newname newname] [-p, --newpath newpath] {-e, --ephemeral} [-B, --backingstorage backingstorage] [-s, --snapshot] [-t, --tmpfs]
            [-K, --keepname] [-M, --keepmac] [-- hook arguments]
   lxc-copy {-n, --name name} [-P, --lxcpath path] {-N, --newname newname} [-p, --newpath newpath] {-R, --rename}

DESCRIPTION

   lxc-copy creates and optionally starts (ephemeral or non-ephemeral) copies of existing containers.

   lxc-copy  creates  copies  of existing containers. Copies can be complete clones of the original container. In this case the whole root filesystem of the container is simply copied to
   the new container. Or they can be snapshots, i.e. small copy-on-write copies of the original container. In this case the specified backing storage for the copy must support snapshots.
   This currently includes btrfs, lvm (lvm devices do not support snapshots of snapshots.), overlay, and zfs.

   The copy's backing storage will be of the same type as the original container. overlay snapshots of directory backed containers are exempted from this rule.

   When the -e flag is specified an ephemeral snapshot of the original container is created and started. Ephemeral containers will have lxc.ephemeral = 1 set in  their  config  file  and
   will  be  destroyed  on  shutdown.  When -e is used in combination with -D a non-ephemeral snapshot of the original container is created and started.  Ephemeral containers can also be
   placed on a tmpfs with -t flag. NOTE: If an ephemeral container that is placed on a tmpfs is rebooted all changes made to it will currently be lost!

   When -e is specified and no newname is given via -N a random name for the snapshot will be chosen.

   Containers created and started with -e can have custom mounts. These are specified with the -m flag. Currently two types of mounts are supported: bind, and overlay.  Mount  types  are
   specified  as  suboptions  to  the -m flag and can be specified multiple times separated by commas. overlay mounts are currently specified in the format -m overlay=/src:/dest. When no
   destination dest is specified dest will be identical to src. Read-only bind mounts are specified -m bind=/src:/dest:ro and read-write bind  mounts  -m  bind=/src:/dest:rw.  Read-write
   bind  mounts  are  the  default and rw can be missing when a read-write mount is wanted. When dest is missing dest will be identical to src. An example for multiple mounts would be -m
   bind=/src1:/dest1:ro,bind=/src2:ro,overlay=/src3:/dest3.

   The mounts, their options, and formats supported via the -m flag are subject to change.

OPTIONS

   -N,--newname newname
          The name for the copy.

   -p,--newpath newpath
          The path for the copy.

   -R,--rename
          Rename the original container.

   -s,--snapshot
          Create a snapshot of the original container. The backing storage for the copy must support snapshots. This currently includes btrfs, lvm, overlay, and zfs.

   -a,--allowrunning
          Allow the creation of a Snapshot of an already running container.  This may cause data corruption or data loss depending on the used filesystem and applications. Use with care.

   -F,--foreground
          Run the snapshot in the foreground. The snapshots console will be attached to the current tty. (This option can only be specified in conjunction with -e.)

   -d, --daemon
          Run the snapshot as a daemon (This is the default mode for ephemeral containers.). As the container has no more tty, if an error occurs nothing will be displayed, the log  file
          can be used to check the error. (This option can only be specified in conjunction with -e.)

   -m, --mount mounttype
          Specify  a  mount for a snapshot The opts argument for the mount type can by of type {bind, overlay}. For example -m bind=/src:/dest:ro,overlay=/src:/dest (This option can cur
          rently only be specified in conjunction with -e.).

   -t, --tmpfs
          When this option is specified the ephemeral container will be placed on a tmpfs. NOTE: Rebooting an ephemeral container that is located on a  tmpfs  will  currently  cause  all
          changes made to it to be lost. This flag will only work for ephemeral containers created with the -e flag. The original container, from which the ephemeral snapshot is created,
          must be stored as a simple directory.

   -B, --backingstorage backingstorage
          Specify the backing storage type to be used for the copy where 'backingstorage' is of type 'btrfs', 'dir', 'lvm', 'loop', 'overlay', or 'zfs'.

   -L, --fssize size [unit]
          Specify the size for an 'lvm' filesystem.

   -K, --keepname
          When this option is specified the hostname of the original container will be kept for the copy.

   -D, --keepdata
          When this option is specified with -e a non-ephemeral container is created and started.

   -M, --keepmac
          When this option is specified the MAC address of the original container will be kept for the copy.

COPY HOOK

   If  the  container being copied has one or more lxc.hook.clone specified, then the specified hooks will be called for the new container. The first 3 arguments passed to the clone hook
   will be the container name, a section ('lxc'), and the hook type ('clone'). Extra arguments passed to lxc-copy will be  passed  to  the  hook  program  starting  at  argument  4.  The
   LXC_ROOTFS_MOUNT environment variable gives the path under which the container's root filesystem is mounted. The configuration file pathname is stored in LXC_CONFIG_FILE, the new con
   tainer name in LXC_NAME, the old container name in LXC_SRC_NAME, and the path or device on which the rootfs is located is in LXC_ROOTFS_PATH.

COMMON OPTIONS

   These options are common to most of lxc commands.

   -?, -h, --help
          Print a longer usage message than normal.

   --usage
          Give the usage message

   -q, --quiet
          mute on

   -P, --lxcpath=PATH
          Use an alternate container path. The default is /var/lib/lxc.

   -o, --logfile=FILE
          Output to an alternate log FILE. The default is no log.

   -l, --logpriority=LEVEL
          Set log priority to LEVEL. The default log priority is ERROR. Possible values are : FATAL, ALERT, CRIT, WARN, ERROR, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG, TRACE.

          Note that this option is setting the priority of the events log in the alternate log file. It do not have effect on the ERROR events log on stderr.

   -n, --name=NAME
          Use container identifier NAME.  The container identifier format is an alphanumeric string.

   --rcfile=FILE
          Specify the configuration file to configure the virtualization and isolation functionalities for the container.

          This configuration file if present will be used even if there is already a configuration file present in the previously created container (via lxc-create).

   --version
          Show the version number.

SEE ALSO

   lxc(7), lxc-create(1), lxc-copy(1), lxc-destroy(1), lxc-start(1), lxc-stop(1), lxc-execute(1), lxc-console(1), lxc-monitor(1), lxc-wait(1), lxc-cgroup(1), lxc-ls(1), lxc-info(1), lxc-
   freeze(1), lxc-unfreeze(1), lxc-attach(1), lxc.conf(5)

                                                                                      2025-07-30                                                                               lxc-copy(1)