Learn how to move the LXC container to a new VM. Our LXC/LXD Support team is here to help you with your questions and concerns.

How to move LXC container to new VM

Although moving an LXC container to a new VM can be a challenging task, with the right steps it can be done with ease.

Today, our experts are going to take you through the process:

1. To begin with, create a snapshot of the LXC container on the current VM. This snapshot will serve as a backup for the migration process. So, open the terminal and run this command:

   lxc snapshot container_name snapshot_name
2. Then, validate the snapshot was created successfully by checking the snapshots list with this command:

   lxc info container_name

   If we have not named the snapshot yet, look for the most recent creation date.
3. Now, it is time to create an image from it. This will be used to set up our container on the new VM.

   lxc publish container_name/snapshot_name --alias="image_alias" description="image_description"
4. At this point, we have to verify that the image was created by checking the image list with:

   lxc image info image_alias
5. Then, move the image to the new VM. We need to export it as an archive. This is done with this command:

   lxc image export image_alias image_archive_name
6. Before we import the image into the new VM, we have to make sure we can establish an SSH connection between the old VM and the new one. This is done via a VPN or Wireguard connection. So, use the `scp` command to copy the image to the new VM and replace `usera@host:/home/user` with the correct destination path:

   scp ./image_archive_name.tar.gz usera@host:/home/user
7. Furthermore, make sure both `lxc` and `lxd` are installed on the new VM. Then, import the image as seen here:

   lxc image import image_archive_name.tar.gz --alias image_alias_on_new_vm
8. Finally, confirm that the imported image appears in the list on our new VM:

   lxc image list

Finally, we can launch a new container from the imported image as seen below:
lxc launch image_alias_on_new_vm container_name

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Conclusion

In brief, our Support Experts demonstrated how to move the LXC container to a new VM.