Linux is fun with Multipass

Multipass is a tool developed by Canonical that allows you to create and manage Ubuntu virtual machines (VMs) with ease. It is a container designed to provide a cloud-like experience on your local machine, making it ideal for developers who need quick access to Ubuntu environments for testing and development12.

Key Features of Multipass:

• Cross-Platform: Available for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
• Quick Setup: Launches VMs with a single command, providing a fresh Ubuntu environment almost instantly.
• Cloud-Init Support: Allows you to configure VMs using cloud-init, similar to how you would in a public cloud.
• Minimal Overhead: Uses native hypervisors (KVM on Linux, Hyper-V on Windows, and QEMU on macOS) for efficient performance.
• File Sharing: Easily share files and folders between your host and VMs.

Common Uses:

• Development and Testing: Quickly spin up isolated environments to test applications or configurations.
• Learning and Experimentation: Ideal for learning Linux, trying out new software, or experimenting with different configurations without affecting your main system.
• Local Cloud Simulation: Create a mini-cloud on your local machine to simulate cloud deployments2.

This tutorial demonstrates how to download and deploy basic commands on multipass.

1. Downloading Multipass
   • Search for download multipass on google.

• Install now
  

• Select the operating system of your computer
  

• Launch multipass, select any of the options
  

1. Executing basic commands with Multipass

• Entering the Root environment. The command (sudo su) allows users into the root environment without asking for password. This environment grants administrative rights which permits administrative commands i.e create folders/files, deleting etc.
  

• Navigating the file system

  • pwd command. This is the printing work directory command. This enables you find your current location starting from the home. More like showing you direction to your current location starting from home on a google map.
  • mkdir name command. This is the create a directory command that creates the directory with unique name given. This is similar to create a cabinet/resource group that can be further partitioned used to store files or similar items. This has created 2 file - afeezspace1 and afeezspace2
  • cd command. This is the change directory command which enables a user to enter into a pre-existing directory and also to leave a directory. cd command with a name takes you to the named directory while cd without a name takes you out of the current location to home. notice we are now in afeezspace2
  • ls command. This is the list command that lists the items (files and directory) in a directory. Notice the ls command didn't list anything because the afeezspace2 directory is empty. The pwd command is showing us that we are in afeezspace2 located in the ubuntu-homepage.
  • exit command takes the user out of the whole environment, in this case out of the administrative/root environment to home. Notice we have been taken out of the whole root environment. sudo su takes us back into the homepage of the administrative environment. -using the ls command at this point will show us the 2 directories previously created.
  • Lets go back into afeezspace1. with the command cd afeezspace1
  • cd .. command - This takes you out of the space you are to the space just above, as against the cd that takes you back to home
  • Enter cd afeezspace1 to enter the afeezspace1 directory again.

• Creating text files: touch name of file is the commands that create an empty test file to host codes and tect documents.
  
  

Notice 3 files (World, Africa and Nigeria) have been created. Using the ls command lists out the files in the afeezspace1 directory

• Deleting - rm deletes a file. rm Nigeria will delete the Nigeria file. Enter ls command to see the files left in the directory.

Notice the file Nigeria is gone

• Writing in a text file - The commands vi name of text file or vim name of text file will open up the text file for content to be added/edited.
  

  • To write into the file, press i then go ahead to type
  • Exiting a text file - Press esc to exit to writting mode and shift :wq will save and exit the text file.

Notice we are back to the multipass window

• Viewing the content of a text file: The command cat name of text file will display the content of a text file. Enter cat world to see what we have just written in the world text file.

Notice the display

• The copy command: The command cp name destination copies the content of the text file named to the destination directory. cp world afeezspace2 will copy the text file world to afeezspace2.

• deleting a directory: the command rmdir name will delete the directory with the specified name, while rm name will delete a file with the specified name.
• Generating a report of all commands used: The command history will list out all the commands that have been used in the current shell

Thanks for reading this article which shows that Linux is fun, taking us through basic commands in multipass.

Drop comments and questions in the comment session.