Where Does Incus Store Data and Config?
Incus keeps its database, storage pools and socket under /var/lib/incus, the unit to back up.
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Incus centers server state on /var/lib/incus. The database subdirectory holds the distributed config store, storage-pools holds dir driver data, and unix.socket is the local API endpoint. Everything the daemon needs at runtime hangs off this one tree.
Backups target the same directory. The official full backup is a tarball of /var/lib/incus with Incus stopped, because database records and on disk files only make sense together. External storage pools and the subuid maps sit outside it and need their own copies.
Where Incus stores this, by platform
/var/lib/incus
Requires root to browse. Key children: database for the config store, storage-pools for dir driver volumes, backups and images directories, and unix.socket for local CLI access. Never edit database files by hand. Use incus admin sql for dumps.
Frequently asked questions
how do i back up an incus server
Tarball /var/lib/incus with the daemon stopped, plus /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid. External LVM or ZFS pools need separate backups, since the tarball only covers what lives inside the directory.
how do i dump the incus database
Run incus admin sql against local and global targets and redirect to files. The docs recommend both dumps as part of regular backups, since rebuilding networks and profiles from a dump beats recreating them by hand.
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