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] [-K, --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]
                [-K, --keepdata] [-M, --keepmac] [-L, --fssize size [unit]] [-- 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. It replaces lxc-clone and lxc-start-ephemeral.

       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 aufs, 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.  aufs  or
       overlayfs 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.

       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 three types of mounts are supported: aufs, bind, and overlay. Mount
       types  are  specified  as  suboptions  to  the -m flag and can be specified multiple times
       separated by commas. aufs and 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 aufs, btrfs, lvm, overlay, and zfs.

       -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
              {aufs,  bind,  overlay}. For example -m bind=/src:/dest:ro,overlay=/src:/dest (This
              option can currently only be specified in conjunction with -e.).

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

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

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

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

       -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 container 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, CRIT, WARN, ERROR, NOTICE, INFO, DEBUG.

              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)

AUTHOR

       Christian Brauner <christian.brauner@mailbox.org>

                                            2019-04-09                                lxc-copy(1)