Infinibay LXD Deployment

LXD-based containerization for the Infinibay VDI management platform.

Status

✅ Production Ready - Automated provisioning with intelligent orchestration and multi-distro support

Quick Links

• INSTALL.md - ⭐ Complete installation and deployment guide
• Project Root: ../
• Installer Reference: ../installer/

Why LXD?

LXD provides native support for KVM/libvirt, making it ideal for running VMs inside containers without privileged mode or complex workarounds.

Key advantages:

• ✅ Native KVM device access - no --privileged mode needed
• ✅ Full systemd support inside containers
• ✅ Designed for nested virtualization
• ✅ YAML-based configuration (lxd-compose)
• ✅ Better security isolation for VM workloads
• ✅ Minimal performance overhead (~5%)

Supported Operating Systems

Infinibay's LXD deployment supports multiple Linux distributions with automatic package manager detection:

• Debian/Ubuntu - Uses apt-get (auto-detected)
• RHEL/CentOS/Fedora/Rocky/AlmaLinux - Uses dnf or yum (auto-detected)
• openSUSE/SLES - Uses zypper (auto-detected)
• Arch/Manjaro/EndeavourOS - Uses pacman (auto-detected)

The setup script automatically detects your distribution and uses the appropriate package manager. LXD installation path (snap vs native package) is also auto-detected.

Overview

This directory contains LXD-based containerization for Infinibay using lxd-compose.

Structure:

lxd/
├── run.sh                         # Main management script ⭐
├── .lxd-compose.yml               # Main lxd-compose config
├── envs/
│   └── infinibay.yml              # Infinibay project definition
├── profiles/
│   └── templates/                 # LXD profile templates
├── values.yml.example             # Configuration template
├── setup.sh                       # Automated installation
├── INSTALL.md                     # Complete guide
└── README.md                      # This file

Note: lxd-compose uses a different structure than docker-compose:

• Main config: .lxd-compose.yml
• Projects: envs/*.yml files
• Commands: apply infinibay, destroy infinibay, stop infinibay

Architecture

The deployment creates 4 LXD containers:

1. infinibay-postgres - PostgreSQL database
2. infinibay-redis - Redis cache
3. infinibay-backend - Node.js API + libvirt-node + infiniservice + KVM access
4. infinibay-frontend - Next.js web interface

Quick Start

# 1. Clone repository and navigate to lxd directory
cd infinibay/lxd

# 2. Run setup (installs LXD, lxd-compose, detects package manager)
sudo ./setup.sh

# 3. IMPORTANT: Activate lxd group (REQUIRED!)
newgrp lxd
# This activates the group in your current session
# You need to do this after setup.sh adds you to the lxd group

# 4. Configure environment variables
# Option A: Edit the auto-generated .env (RECOMMENDED)
nano .env
# setup.sh already created .env with secure auto-generated passwords
# IMPORTANT: Change ADMIN_PASSWORD from auto-generated to your own!

# Option B: If you prefer to start from .env.example before setup.sh
# cp .env.example .env && nano .env
# Then run setup.sh, which will detect and preserve your .env

# 5. Deploy and start Infinibay (smart default - does everything!)
./run.sh
# This one command:
# - Creates containers if they don't exist
# - Starts containers if they're stopped
# - Provisions if not already done (installs PostgreSQL, Redis, Node.js, Rust, libvirt)
# - Shows access URLs when ready
# Takes 5-10 minutes on first run

# 6. Access Infinibay
# URLs will be displayed after ./run.sh completes
# Frontend: http://<frontend-ip>:3000
# Backend API: http://<backend-ip>:4000

What happens:

• setup.sh - Installs LXD, lxd-compose, detects your distro and package manager, auto-detects LXD path, generates .env with secure passwords
• newgrp lxd - ⚠️ REQUIRED - Activates lxd group permissions
• .env configuration - ⚠️ IMPORTANT - Review and change ADMIN_PASSWORD (auto-generated passwords should be personalized!)
• ./run.sh - Intelligent orchestration: creates containers, provisions software, starts everything
  • Checks if environment exists → creates if not
  • Checks if containers are running → starts if stopped
  • Checks if provisioned → provisions if not (tracked via LXD metadata)
  • Skips already-completed steps automatically
• Containers have shared /opt/infinibay directory (your code)
• Data persists in /data directories even if containers are destroyed

Important: Group Membership

After running setup.sh, you may need to activate the lxd group:

Option 1 (Quick - current session only):

newgrp lxd

Option 2 (Permanent - requires re-login):

logout
# Then login again

How to check if you're in the group:

groups | grep lxd
# Should show 'lxd' in the output

Common Operations

Recommended Workflow (Smart Default)

# One command does everything - creates, provisions, and starts
./run.sh              # Smart default - handles everything automatically

# Fresh start - destroy and recreate everything
./run.sh redo         # or: ./run.sh rd

# Quick status check
./run.sh status       # or: ./run.sh s

Using run.sh (All Commands)

# Smart default workflow (recommended)
./run.sh              # Does everything: create → provision → start

# Manual step-by-step (if you prefer explicit control)
./run.sh apply        # Shortcuts: a, ap - Create containers
./run.sh provision    # Shortcuts: p, pr - Install software

# Container management
./run.sh status       # Shortcuts: s, st - Check status
./run.sh destroy      # Shortcuts: d, de - Remove containers
./run.sh redo         # Shortcut: rd - Destroy and recreate (fresh start)
./run.sh restart      # Shortcuts: r, re - Legacy alias for redo

# Execute commands in containers
./run.sh exec backend bash      # Shortcuts: e, ex
./run.sh exec postgres psql -U infinibay
./run.sh exec frontend npm run dev

# Follow container logs
./run.sh logs backend           # Shortcuts: l, lo
./run.sh logs postgres

# Update profiles only (after modifying templates)
./run.sh setup-profiles         # Shortcut: sp

# Show help with all shortcuts
./run.sh help

Complete shortcut reference:

Command	Shortcuts	Description
apply	a, ap	Create and start containers
provision	p, pr	Install software in containers
redo	rd	Destroy and recreate everything
destroy	d, de	Stop and remove all containers
restart	r, re	Legacy alias for redo
status	s, st	Show container status
setup-profiles	sp	Update LXD profiles only
exec	e, ex	Execute command in container
logs	l, lo	Follow container logs

Direct LXC Commands

# View container status
sg lxd -c "lxc list"

# Execute commands
sg lxd -c "lxc exec infinibay-backend -- bash"

# Create snapshot
sg lxd -c "lxc snapshot infinibay-backend backup-$(date +%Y%m%d)"

# List snapshots
lxc info infinibay-backend

Current Status

Implemented and Working:

• ✅ Creates 4 Ubuntu containers with resource limits
• ✅ Mounts shared /opt/infinibay directory (your code)
• ✅ Persistent /data directories for each service
• ✅ Automated provisioning scripts for all containers
• ✅ PostgreSQL installation and configuration
• ✅ Redis installation and configuration
• ✅ Node.js 20.x LTS + npm
• ✅ Rust toolchain (for libvirt-node native modules)
• ✅ libvirt + KVM with /dev/kvm device access
• ✅ Systemd services ready for backend/frontend
• ✅ Network connectivity between containers
• ✅ Universal package manager support (apt/dnf/zypper/pacman)
• ✅ Automatic LXD path detection (snap vs native)
• ✅ Smart default orchestration with state tracking
• ✅ Provisioning state persistence via LXD metadata

Still Manual:

• ⏳ npm install in backend/frontend
• ⏳ Database migrations
• ⏳ Starting Infinibay services
• ⏳ Application configuration

After provisioning, you need to:

1. Install npm dependencies in backend/frontend
2. Run database migrations
3. Configure and start Infinibay services

See INSTALL.md for detailed instructions.

Troubleshooting

"No project selected" error

# Make sure you specify the project name
lxd-compose apply infinibay  # ✓ Correct
lxd-compose apply             # ✗ Wrong

"Unable to read the configuration file" error

# You need to be in the lxd group
newgrp lxd
# Or logout/login

"Permission denied" on LXD socket

# Check if you're in lxd group
groups | grep lxd

# If not, the setup script should have added you
# Just run:
newgrp lxd

Smart default fails at provisioning step

# Check individual container status
./run.sh status

# Use redo to start fresh (destroys and recreates everything)
./run.sh redo

Want to force re-provisioning

# Option 1: Use redo command (destroys and recreates everything)
./run.sh redo

# Option 2: Manually clear provisioning state for specific container
lxc config unset infinibay-backend user.provisioned
lxc config unset infinibay-frontend user.provisioned
lxc config unset infinibay-postgres user.provisioned
lxc config unset infinibay-redis user.provisioned
# Then run: ./run.sh

vs Native Installer

Aspect	LXD (Current)	Native Installer
Status	🚧 In Development	✅ Production Ready
Provisioning	Manual for now	✅ Fully automated
Isolation	✅ Full container isolation	❌ System-wide
Rollback	✅ Snapshots	❌ Manual
Complexity	Medium	Low

Recommendation: Use the native installer for production deployments until LXD provisioning is complete.

Contributing

See INSTALL.md for development workflows.

References

• LXD Documentation
• lxd-compose Documentation
• Infinibay Installer - Recommended for production

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Last Updated: 2025-11-21 Status: Production Ready