The Incus team has just announced the release of version 6.17 of its container & virtual machine manager, a community-driven fork of LXD, created after Canonical changed LXD’s governance and moved it under its umbrella.
One of the key changes is the introduction of an early command-line interface for IncusOS management. Available under incus admin os, the new commands allow users to configure remote IncusOS systems for tasks such as networking, storage, and system services. While still an early-stage tool, it already covers common configuration steps.
Incus 6.17 also extends OVN networking capabilities by enabling GRE and VXLAN tunnels, a feature previously only available on traditional bridge networks. This update makes it easier to connect and expand networks across servers.
Additionally, OVN uplink networks now support parent=none, allowing clusters where not every server is physically connected to the uplink. In such cases, traffic can be tunneled through other servers, offering greater deployment flexibility.
For container and VM management, the release introduces a new OOM priority option. Using limits.memory.oom_priority, administrators can control how the kernel selects processes during out-of-memory events, adding another layer of fine-grained resource management.
Backup handling also gets a boost. It’s now possible to override configurations and devices during backup imports, similar to how overrides work when copying instances. This simplifies the restoration and adaptation of workloads across environments.
Finally, on the clustering side, Incus 6.17 introduces a database-client role, ensuring that certain servers—particularly those running as virtual machines—never host a database copy. This prevents quorum risks when physical servers go offline.
Additionally, the preseed configuration system now supports defining cluster groups during initialization. This allows administrators to streamline group management during deployment.
For more information about the Incus 6.16 container and virtual machine manager changes, visit the release announcement or check out the full changelog.
Users are encouraged to try out these new features by visiting the Incus online platform, which provides a hands-on experience with the latest version.
