Incus Build Memo on Ubuntu 24.04: GUI and Initial Settings

I was thinking I wanted to handle container environments easily, and caught wind that “incus, a fork of LXD, seems nice”. It seems development is proceeding independently from Canonical, and it’s been getting attention gradually recently.

So this time, I summarize the flow of installing incus on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and finishing initial settings as a memo for myself. I tried up to introducing GUI, so I hope it serves as a reference for those wanting to touch it from now on.

Install Incus

In this section, I list tasks until incus initialization is complete.

1. Install Host OS
2. Install incus
3. Initialize incus

Install Host OS

Since incus, like LXD, seems stable on Ubuntu, I chose Ubuntu 24.04 LTS simply this time.

If you want to operate as a server, setting a static IP during installation makes accessing via SSH or GUI later incredibly easier.

I configured the file system as follows:

• /boot/efi: fat32 (ESP)
• /boot: ext4 (A bit anxious with btrfs here)
• /: btrfs (Want to utilize in incus)

If you want to use btrfs, it’s better to format it at this point.

Install incus

Install from the following repository.

GitHub - zabbly/incus: Incus package repository

Incus package repository. Contribute to zabbly/incus development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Ref: https://linuxcontainers.org/incus/docs/main/installing/#linux

# Add repository key
sudo curl -fsSL https://pkgs.zabbly.com/key.asc -o /etc/apt/keyrings/zabbly.asc

# Add repository (6.0 LTS)
sudo sh -c 'cat <<EOF > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/zabbly-incus-lts-6.0.sources
Enabled: yes
Types: deb
URIs: https://pkgs.zabbly.com/incus/lts-6.0
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo ${VERSION_CODENAME})
Components: main
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/zabbly.asc

EOF'

# Install incus and GUI
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install incus

Initialize incus

Once installation is complete:

sudo incus admin init

You will be asked the following, so configure according to your situation.

Would you like to use clustering? (yes/no) [default=no]: yes
What IP address or DNS name should be used to reach this server? [default=192.168.100.101]:
Are you joining an existing cluster? (yes/no) [default=no]: no
What member name should be used to identify this server in the cluster? [default=incus1]:
Do you want to configure a new local storage pool? (yes/no) [default=yes]:
Name of the storage backend to use (dir, lvm, btrfs) [default=btrfs]:
Would you like to create a new btrfs subvolume under /var/lib/incus? (yes/no) [default=yes]:

Do you want to configure a new remote storage pool? (yes/no) [default=no]: no
Would you like to use an existing bridge or host interface? (yes/no) [default=no]:
Would you like stale cached images to be updated automatically? (yes/no) [default=yes]:
Would you like a YAML "init" preseed to be printed? (yes/no) [default=no]:

Install GUI

In the zabbly version of incus, UI (incus-ui-canonical) is also provided. Appearance is almost same as UI for LXD, just commands swapped for incus.

GitHub - zabbly/incus-ui-canonical: Fork of canonical/lxd-ui for use with Incus (gets rebased frequently)

Fork of canonical/lxd-ui for use with Incus (gets rebased frequently) - zabbly/incus-ui-canonical

github.com

In this section, I explain up to installation and initialization of GUI.

Install incus-ui-canonical

Assume zabbly repository addition is done during incus installation.

sudo apt-get install incus-ui-canonical

Access incus-ui-canonical

Check GUI IP with following command.

sudo incus config get core.https_address

Access via browser to the IP confirmed in settings. If screen like below appears, success.

Connection Settings for incus-ui-canonical

Instructions are on screen around here, so you should just follow them.

scp /mnt/c/.../incus-ui.crt username@[ip_address]:/home/username

Confirm Login

Once certificate installation is complete, restart browser. Accessing GUI again should display the post-login screen.

Conclusion

For now, I completed introducing incus on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and building an environment manageable via GUI. Now that initial settings are done, I think I can proceed to actual operation phase like creating containers, network settings, customizing profiles etc.

Trying to create actual environments or operating in cluster configuration will be themes for next time onwards. If interested, please come again.