apptainer instance start
Start a named instance of the given container image
Synopsis
The instance start command allows you to create a new named instance from an existing container image that will begin running in the background. If a startscript is defined in the container metadata the commands in that script will be executed with the instance start command as well. You can optionally pass arguments to startscript
apptainer instance start accepts the following container formats
- *.sif Singularity Image Format (SIF). Native to Singularity
(3.0+) and Apptainer (v1.0.0+)
*.sqsh SquashFS format. Native to Singularity 2.4+
*.img ext3 format. Native to Singularity versions < 2.4.
- directory/ sandbox format. Directory containing a valid root file
system and optionally Apptainer meta-data.
- instance://* A local running instance of a container. (See the instance
command group.)
library://* A SIF container hosted on a Library (no default)
- docker://* A Docker/OCI container hosted on Docker Hub or another
OCI registry.
shub://* A container hosted on Singularity Hub.
- oras://* A SIF container hosted on an OCI registry that supports
the OCI Registry As Storage (ORAS) specification.
apptainer instance start [start options...] <container path> <instance name> [startscript args...]
Examples
$ apptainer instance start /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
$ apptainer shell instance://mysql
Apptainer my-sql.sif> pwd
/home/mibauer/mysql
Apptainer my-sql.sif> ps
PID TTY TIME CMD
1 pts/0 00:00:00 appinit
2 pts/0 00:00:00 bash
3 pts/0 00:00:00 ps
Apptainer my-sql.sif>
$ apptainer instance stop /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
Stopping /tmp/my-sql.sif mysql
Options
--add-caps string a comma separated capability list to add
--allow-setuid allow setuid binaries in container (root only)
--apply-cgroups string apply cgroups from file for container processes (root only)
-B, --bind stringArray a user-bind path specification. spec has the format src[:dest[:opts]], where src and dest are outside and inside paths. If dest is not given, it is set equal to src. Mount options ('opts') may be specified as 'ro' (read-only) or 'rw' (read/write, which is the default). Multiple bind paths can be given by a comma separated list.
--blkio-weight int Block IO relative weight in range 10-1000, 0 to disable
--blkio-weight-device strings Device specific block IO relative weight
--boot execute /sbin/init to boot container (root only)
-e, --cleanenv clean environment before running container
--compat apply settings for increased OCI/Docker compatibility. Infers --containall, --no-init, --no-umask, --no-eval, --writable-tmpfs.
-c, --contain use minimal /dev and empty other directories (e.g. /tmp and $HOME) instead of sharing filesystems from your host
-C, --containall contain not only file systems, but also PID, IPC, and environment
--cpu-shares int CPU shares for container (default -1)
--cpus string Number of CPUs available to container
--cpuset-cpus string List of host CPUs available to container
--cpuset-mems string List of host memory nodes available to container
--disable-cache do not use or create cache
--dmtcp-launch string checkpoint for dmtcp to save container process state to (experimental)
--dmtcp-restart string checkpoint for dmtcp to use to restart container process (experimental)
--dns string list of DNS server separated by commas to add in resolv.conf
--docker-login login to a Docker Repository interactively
--drop-caps string a comma separated capability list to drop
--env stringToString pass environment variable to contained process (default [])
--env-file string pass environment variables from file to contained process
-f, --fakeroot run container with the appearance of running as root
--fusemount strings A FUSE filesystem mount specification of the form '<type>:<fuse command> <mountpoint>' - where <type> is 'container' or 'host', specifying where the mount will be performed ('container-daemon' or 'host-daemon' will run the FUSE process detached). <fuse command> is the path to the FUSE executable, plus options for the mount. <mountpoint> is the location in the container to which the FUSE mount will be attached. E.g. 'container:sshfs 10.0.0.1:/ /sshfs'. Implies --pid.
-h, --help help for start
-H, --home string a home directory specification. spec can either be a src path or src:dest pair. src is the source path of the home directory outside the container and dest overrides the home directory within the container. (default "/home/runner")
--hostname string set container hostname
-i, --ipc run container in a new IPC namespace
--keep-privs let root user keep privileges in container (root only)
--memory string Memory limit in bytes
--memory-reservation string Memory soft limit in bytes
--memory-swap string Swap limit, use -1 for unlimited swap
--mount stringArray a mount specification e.g. 'type=bind,source=/opt,destination=/hostopt'.
-n, --net run container in a new network namespace (sets up a bridge network interface by default)
--network string specify desired network type separated by commas, each network will bring up a dedicated interface inside container
--network-args strings specify network arguments to pass to CNI plugins
--no-eval do not shell evaluate env vars or OCI container CMD/ENTRYPOINT/ARGS
--no-home do NOT mount users home directory if /home is not the current working directory
--no-https use http instead of https for docker:// oras:// and library://<hostname>/... URIs
--no-init do NOT start shim process with --pid
--no-mount strings disable one or more 'mount xxx' options set in apptainer.conf and/or specify absolute destination path to disable a 'bind path' entry
--no-privs drop all privileges from root user in container)
--no-umask do not propagate umask to the container, set default 0022 umask
--nv enable Nvidia support
--nvccli use nvidia-container-cli for GPU setup (experimental)
--oom-kill-disable Disable OOM killer
-o, --overlay strings use an overlayFS image for persistent data storage or as read-only layer of container
--passphrase prompt for an encryption passphrase
--pem-path string enter an path to a PEM formatted RSA key for an encrypted container
--pid-file string write instance PID to the file with the given name
--pids-limit int Limit number of container PIDs, use -1 for unlimited
--rocm enable experimental Rocm support
-S, --scratch strings include a scratch directory within the container that is linked to a temporary dir (use -W to force location)
--security strings enable security features (SELinux, Apparmor, Seccomp)
--unsquash Convert SIF file to temporary sandbox before running
-u, --userns run container in a new user namespace
--uts run container in a new UTS namespace
-W, --workdir string working directory to be used for /tmp, /var/tmp and $HOME (if -c/--contain was also used)
-w, --writable by default all Apptainer containers are available as read only. This option makes the file system accessible as read/write.
--writable-tmpfs makes the file system accessible as read-write with non persistent data (with overlay support only)
SEE ALSO
apptainer instance - Manage containers running as services
Auto generated by spf13/cobra on 7-Jun-2023