Manage Linux containers with additional commands

Manage containers from the Termina shell

Now that you know the basics, here are some useful commands for managing your container from the Termina shell.

Start a stopped container:

    

        
        
lxc start u1

    

Stop a running container:

    

        
        
lxc stop u1

    

Enter the container shell:

    

        
        
lxc exec u1 -- bash

    

List all available containers and their status:

    

        
        
lxc list

    

Delete a container (permanent action):

    

        
        
lxc delete u1

    

Print additional container information:

    

        
        
lxc info u1

    

Example output:

    

        
        Name: u1
Status: RUNNING
Type: container
Architecture: aarch64
PID: 24141
Created: 2025/08/07 04:46 EDT
Last Used: 2025/08/07 04:46 EDT

Resources:
  Processes: 120
  CPU usage:
    CPU usage (in seconds): 384
  Memory usage:
    Memory (current): 1.58GiB
    Memory (peak): 4.86GiB
  Network usage:
    eth0:
      Type: broadcast
      State: UP
      Host interface: veth7df9a2e6
      MAC address: 00:16:3e:18:59:08
      MTU: 1500
      Bytes received: 1.28GB
      Bytes sent: 6.11MB
      Packets received: 308930
      Packets sent: 83115
      IP addresses:
        inet:  100.115.92.202/28 (global)
        inet6: fe80::216:3eff:fe18:5908/64 (link)

        
    

Add the Google Debian container to your list of containers you can install:

    

        
        
lxc remote add google https://storage.googleapis.com/cros-containers --protocol=simplestreams

    

List the remote containers:

    

        
        
lxc remote list

    

Example output:

    

        
        +-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
|      NAME       |                      URL                       |   PROTOCOL    |  AUTH TYPE  | PUBLIC | STATIC | GLOBAL |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
| google          | https://storage.googleapis.com/cros-containers | simplestreams | none        | YES    | NO     | NO     |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
| images          | https://images.linuxcontainers.org             | simplestreams | none        | YES    | NO     | NO     |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
| local (current) | unix://                                        | lxd           | file access | NO     | YES    | NO     |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
| ubuntu          | https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases       | simplestreams | none        | YES    | YES    | NO     |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+
| ubuntu-daily    | https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/daily          | simplestreams | none        | YES    | YES    | NO     |
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+--------+--------+--------+

        
    

Using the images remote you can create a container with images from Linux Containers .

For example, to start Alpine Linux 3.22:

    

        
        
lxc launch images:alpine/3.22 a1

    

Configure container auto-start

From the Termina shell, configure the container to start automatically when you start the Linux development environment:

    

        
        
# Set the container to start automatically 
lxc config set u1 boot.autostart true

# Set the startup priority (lower number means higher priority)
lxc config set u1 boot.autostart.priority 1

    

Save and restore containers

Once you have a container configured with your preferences, you can save it and use the backup to create new containers.

Create a backup

First, stop the running container to ensure a consistent state:

    

        
        
lxc stop u1

    

Save the container to a compressed tar file using the export command:

    

        
        
lxc export u1 my-ubuntu.tar.gz

    

Save the backup file to your Google Drive or another easy-to-access location.

Create a new container from the backup

Import the backup file to create a new container:

    

        
        
lxc import my-ubuntu.tar.gz u2 

    

Now you have a fresh container named u2 at the same state you saved the backup.

Optimize container performance

For a smoother experience, especially on devices with limited resources, you can monitor and manage your container performance.

Set container resource limits

Configure resource limits for your container from the Termina shell. This can prevent the container from consuming too many system resources.

Limit the container to 4 CPU cores:

    

        
        
lxc config set u1 limits.cpu 4

    

You can confirm using the Linux lscpu command. On an 8-core system you will see four cores moved to offline.

Limit the container to 2 GB of RAM:

    

        
        
lxc config set u1 limits.memory 2GB