How do I rename an LXD managed LXC container under a Linux operating system?
You can move or rename containers within or in between lxd instances. In this quick tutorial, I will show how to rename an LXD managed LXC container using lxc command line.
How to rename a local container
Let us say you want to rename a local container named file-server to debian-wheezy. The syntax is:
lxc move {old-lxc-name} {new-lxc-name}
Please note that renaming of running container not allowed. So first stop the container, enter:
$ lxc stop file-server
Now rename it:
$ lxc move file-server debian-wheezy
Start it:
$ lxc start debian-wheezy
Verify it:
$ lxc info debian-wheezy
Sample outputs:
Login to debian-wheezy LXD container:
$ lxc exec debian-wheezy bash
Change hostname and updated /etc/hosts if you want:
# echo 'debian-wheezy' > /etc/hostname
# sed -i 's/file-server/debian-wheezy/g' /etc/hosts
# exit
$ lxc restart debian-wheezy
Verify new changes:
$ lxc exec debian-wheezy bash
root@debian-wheezy:~# cat /etc/os-release
Sample outputs:
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 7 (wheezy)" NAME="Debian GNU/Linux" VERSION_ID="7" VERSION="7 (wheezy)" ID=debian ANSI_COLOR="1;31" HOME_URL="http://www.debian.org/" SUPPORT_URL="http://www.debian.org/support/" BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.debian.org/"
Also you can move a container between two hosts, renaming it if destination name differs. The syntax is:
$ lxc move [<remote>:]
$ lxc stop server1:foo
$ lxc move server1:foo server2:bar
1 comment
To my knowledge ‘lxc’ is a Debian/Ubunto only tool. You should stop using it if you want your scripts to be easily usable on CentOS/RHEL. Or provide a link to lxc so that someone can package it for CentOS/RHEL.