Cloud-Config

Cloud-config (cloud-init) is a tool that handles the early initialization of cloud instances. Combined with LXD or Incus profiles, it is a powerful way to provision and configure machines automatically.

You can read the full cloud-init documentation here.

Creating a Cloud-Config File in LXDMosaic

LXDMosaic maintains a history of your cloud-config files. Each entry stores:

  • A namespace for organizing configs
  • Details about the target image this config is designed for
  • A full copy of the config content as entered in the editor

This is not a version control system — it simply preserves previous versions of your configs.

Namespace

Cloud-configs support one level of namespacing to help organize them logically. For example:

  • webservers/My_Clients_Site
  • webservers/My_Personal_Site
  • database/My_Clients_Site
  • database/My_Personal_Site

Namespacing makes it easier to browse configs and allows CLI tools to interpret different categories.

Target Image

Cloud-config files can target various operating systems, so LXDMosaic associates each config with a specific image. At present, only Ubuntu images include cloud-init by default.

Linking a config to an image has two benefits:

  • Reduces form fields when deploying the config or using it in deployments.
  • Future CLI tools can infer the correct image automatically.

Config Content

The official cloud-init documentation covers the full range of available directives. Below is an example cloud-config shipped with LXDMosaic:

yaml 
#cloud-config

# Apply system updates
package_update: true
package_upgrade: true

# Install packages
packages:
  - nodejs
  - npm

runcmd:
  - git clone https://github.com/turtle0x1/nodeExample /root/nodeExample
  - cd /root/nodeExample && npm install
  - npm -g install pm2
  - pm2 start /root/nodeExample/index.js
  - pm2 startup
  - pm2 save