Image Management

The VyOS image-based installation is implemented by creating a directory for each image on the storage device selected during the install process.

The directory structure of the boot device:

/
/boot
/boot/grub
/boot/1.2.0-rolling+201810021347

The image directory contains the system kernel, a compressed image of the root filesystem for the OS, and a directory for persistent storage, such as configuration. On boot, the system will extract the OS image into memory and mount the appropriate live-rw sub-directories to provide persistent storage system configuration.

This process allows for a system to always boot to a known working state, as the OS image is fixed and non-persistent. It also allows for multiple releases of VyOS to be installed on the same storage device. The image can be selected manually at boot if needed, but the system will otherwise boot the image configured to be the default.

show system image

List all available system images which can be booted on the current system.

vyos@vyos:~$ show system image
The system currently has the following image(s) installed:

   1: 1.2.0-rolling+201810021347 (default boot)
   2: 1.2.0-rolling+201810021217
   3: 1.2.0-rolling+201809252218

delete system image [image-name]

Delete no longer needed images from the system. You can specify an optional image name to delete, the image name can be retrieved via a list of available images using the command show system image.

vyos@vyos:~$ delete system image
The following image(s) can be deleted:

   1: 1.3-rolling-201912181733 (default boot) (running image)
   2: 1.3-rolling-201912180242
   3: 1.2.2
   4: 1.2.1

Select the image to delete: 2

Are you sure you want to delete the
"1.3-rolling-201912180242" image? (Yes/No) [No]: y
Deleting the "1.3-rolling-201912180242" image...
Done

show version

Show current system image version.

vyos@vyos:~$ show version
Version:          VyOS 1.3-rolling-201912181733
Built by:         [email protected]
Built on:         Wed 18 Dec 2019 17:33 UTC
Build UUID:       bccde2c3-261c-49cc-b421-9b257204e06c
Build Commit ID:  f7ce0d8a692f2d

Architecture:     x86_64
Boot via:         installed image
System type:      bare metal

Hardware vendor:  VMware, Inc.
Hardware model:   VMware Virtual Platform
Hardware S/N:     VMware-42 1d 83 b9 fe c1 bd b2-7d 3d 49 db 94 18 f5 c9
Hardware UUID:    b9831d42-c1fe-b2bd-7d3d-49db9418f5c9

Copyright:        VyOS maintainers and contributors

System rollback

If you need to rollback to a previous image, you can easily do so. First check the available images through the show system image command and then select your image with the following command:

set system image default-boot [image-name]

Select the default boot image which will be started on the next boot of the system.

Then reboot the system.

Note

VyOS automatically associates the configuration to the image, so you don’t need to worry about that. Each image has a unique copy of its configuration.

If you have access to the console, there is an another way to select your booting image: reboot and use the GRUB menu at startup.