`multipass info` command

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The multipass info command shows properties of instances and snapshots. Here is an example with an instance argument:

$ multipass info calm-squirrel
Name:           calm-squirrel
State:          RUNNING
Snapshots:      2
IPv4:           10.218.69.109
Release:        Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS
Image hash:     2461b36d86ac (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS)
CPU(s):         1
Load:           0.49, 0.70, 0.71
Disk usage:     849.4M out of 4.8G
Memory usage:   41.9M out of 992.0M
Mounts:         /home/user => Home
                    UID map: 1000:default
                    GID map: 1001:default
                /home/user/multipass => mp
                    UID map: 1000:default
                    GID map: 1001:default

And an example with a snapshot argument:

$ multipass info relative-lion.snapshot3
Snapshot:       snapshot3
Instance:       relative-lion
CPU(s):         1
Disk space:     5.0GiB
Memory size:    1.0GiB
Mounts:         --
Created:        2023-10-30T13:31:37.239Z
Parent:         snapshot1
Children:       --
Comment:        Before restoring snapshot2

To obtain information on all the snapshots of an instance, you can specify the name of the instance and pass the --snapshots option. Here is an example with an instance that has no snapshots:

$ multipass info --snapshots calm-squirrel
No snapshots found.

With no positional arguments, info will show information for all the instances. With the --snapshots flag and no positional arguments, info will show information for all the snapshots of all the instances.

The --format option allows choosing how the output is formatted. Possible choices are the human-readable table or one json, yaml, or csv, for the corresponding machine readable formats. For example:

$ multipass info --format yaml calm-squirrel
errors:
  - ~
calm-squirrel:
  - state: RUNNING
    snapshot_count: 2
    image_hash: 2461b36d86ac524e755c56e25cdc1537c92aec8bac6d3e1795fa92b105beba2f
    image_release: 22.04 LTS
    release: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
    cpu_count: 1
    load:
      - 0.00
      - 0.01
      - 0.00
    disks:
      - sda1:
          used: 905637888
          total: 5136297984
    memory:
      usage: 31199232
      total: 1040195584
    ipv4:
      - 10.218.69.109
    mounts: ~

Info details

The information that is displayed differs for instance and snapshot arguments.

Instance details

Info entries pertaining to instances have the following meanings:

  • Name: The name of the instance which the information pertains to.
  • State: The current state of the instance, as described here.
  • Snapshots: the number of snapshots of the instance
  • IPv4: A list of IPs through which a machine on the same network as the instance can reach the instance. Adding IP addresses besides the one automatically generated by Multipass is described here.
  • Release: The release title of the image installed on this instance.
  • Image hash: The SHA-256 hash of the aforementioned image. This can be used to verify the validity of the image.
  • CPU(s): The number of cores that the instance can use, as defined by the --cpus option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.cpus key of the set command. Depending on the used driver, this value can exceed the number of cpus on the host machine.
  • Load: A triplet of values describing the average number of processes running on the CPU or in queue waiting for CPU time, sampled over the last 1 minute, 5 minutes and 15 minutes respectively. The values are normalized to the number of CPU cores, so for a machine with N cores, a load average of N indicates that the CPU is utilized at maximum capacity over the respective time interval, while a value below or above N indicates that the CPU is either under-utilized or over-utilized.
  • Disk usage: The amount of disk used by the instance. The total amount is as defined by the --disk option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.disk key of the set command.
  • Memory usage: The amount of memory used by the instance. The total amount is as defined by the --memory option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.memory key of the set command. Depending on the used driver, the total value can exceed the amount of memory available on the host machine, but the used value cannot.
  • Mounts: A list of directories from the host machine that are accessible through their respective directories from inside the instance. Each directory mapping has a list of uid and gid mappings, representing how the ownership of their respective host directories is translated the ownership of their respective instance directories. More about mounts can be found here.

Snapshot details

Snapshot information is provided with the following details:

  • Snapshot: The name of the snapshot that the following details pertain to, as defined by the --name option of the snapshot command or by the local.<instance>.<snapshot>.name key on the set command.
  • Instance: The name of the instance that snapshot belongs too
  • CPU(s): The number of cores that were assigned to the instance when the snapshot was taken, as defined by the --cpus option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.cpus key of the set command
  • Disk space: The size of the instances disk when the snapshot was taken, as defined by the --disk option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.disk key of the set command.
  • Memory size: THe amount of memory that was assigned to the instance when the snapshot was taken, as defined by the --memory option of the launch command or as modified by the local.<instance-name>.memory key of the set command.
  • Mounts: A list of directories from the host machine that were mounted inside the instance at the time that the snapshot was taken. More about mounts can be found here
  • Created: A timestamp containing the date and time when the snapshot was created.
  • Parent: The snapshot that was last in effect when this snapshot was taken, relatively to which the current snapshot records changes.
  • Children: A list of snapshots that have this snapshot as a parent.
  • Comment: The comment that is associated with the snapshot, as defined by the --comment option of the snapshot command or by the local.<instance>.<snapshot>.comment key on the set command.

The full multipass help info output explains the available options:

$ multipass help info         
Usage: multipass info [options] <instance>[.snapshot] [<instance>[.snapshot] ...]
Display information about instances or snapshots

Options:
  -h, --help         Displays help on commandline options
  -v, --verbose      Increase logging verbosity. Repeat the 'v' in the short
                     option for more detail. Maximum verbosity is obtained with
                     4 (or more) v's, i.e. -vvvv.
  --snapshots        Display detailed information about the snapshots of
                     specified instances. This option has no effect on snapshot
                     arguments. Omit instance/snapshot arguments to obtain
                     detailed information on all the snapshots of all instances.
  --format <format>  Output info in the requested format.
                     Valid formats are: table (default), json, csv and yaml.

Arguments:
  instance/snapshot  Names of instances or snapshots to display information
                     about

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