`multipass info` command

The multipass info command shows properties of instances and snapshots.

For example, 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

or, in case of a snapshot, 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 add the --snapshots option to the command.

With no positional arguments, multipass info displays information on all the instances. If you add the --snapshots flag and no positional arguments, the command displays information on all the snapshots of all instances.

The --format option allows to choose how the output is formatted. The available options are a human-readable table, or machine-readable formats: json, yaml or csv.

For example, the command multipass info --format yaml calm-squirrel produces the following output:

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: ~

Details available for instances and snapshots

Here you can find a comprehensive list of the details that multipass info provides for instances and snapshots, respectively.

Instance details

Entry Description
Name Name of the instance that the information pertains to
State Current state of the instance (see also: Instance states)
Snapshots 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 in How to create an instance with multiple network interfaces.
Release Title of the release 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) 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 Amount of disk space used by the instance, 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 Amount of memory used by the instance, 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 List of directories on 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. See also: Mount.

Snapshot details

Entry Description
Snapshot 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 Name of the instance that snapshot belongs too
CPU(s) 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 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 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 List of directories on the host machine that were mounted inside the instance at the time that the snapshot was taken. See also: Mount.
Created 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:

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

Errors or typos? Topics missing? Hard to read? Let us know or open an issue on GitHub.

At least on Win10 I think the list command should display the local path to the virtual disk image file. I’d like to know where the file is located so I can move it to my RAID drive (I’m betting it is somewhere on my limited system C drive).

Hi @rockylhotka, there’s an issue about this in our GitHub, we’ll be working on making the data relocatable.