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VIRSH(1) Virtualization Support VIRSH(1)

NAME
virsh - management user interface

SYNOPSIS
virsh [OPTION]... [COMMAND_STRING]

virsh [OPTION]... COMMAND [ARG]...

DESCRIPTION
The virsh program is the main interface for managing virsh guest domains.
The program can be used to create, pause, and shutdown domains. It can also
be used to list current domains. Libvirt is a C toolkit to interact with
the virtualization capabilities of recent versions of Linux (and other
OSes). It is free software available under the GNU Lesser General Public
License. Virtualization of the Linux Operating System means the ability to
run multiple instances of Operating Systems concurrently on a single hard-
ware system where the basic resources are driven by a Linux instance. The
library aims at providing a long term stable C API. It currently supports
Xen, QEMU, KVM, LXC, OpenVZ, VirtualBox and VMware ESX.

The basic structure of most virsh usage is:

virsh [OPTION]... <command> <domain> [ARG]...

Where command is one of the commands listed below; domain is the numeric
domain id, or the domain name, or the domain UUID; and ARGS are command
specific options. There are a few exceptions to this rule in the cases
where the command in question acts on all domains, the entire machine, or
directly on the xen hypervisor. Those exceptions will be clear for each of
those commands. Note: it is permissible to give numeric names to domains,
however, doing so will result in a domain that can only be identified by
domain id. In other words, if a numeric value is supplied it will be inter-
preted as a domain id, not as a name. Any command starting with # is
treated as a comment and silently ignored, all other unrecognized commands
are diagnosed.

The virsh program can be used either to run one COMMAND by giving the com-
mand and its arguments on the shell command line, or a COMMAND_STRING which
is a single shell argument consisting of multiple COMMAND actions and their
arguments joined with whitespace and separated by semicolons or newlines
between commands, where unquoted backslash-newline pairs are elided.
Within COMMAND_STRING, virsh understands the same single, double, and back-
slash escapes as the shell, although you must add another layer of shell
escaping in creating the single shell argument, and any word starting with
unquoted # begins a comment that ends at newline. If no command is given
in the command line, virsh will then start a minimal interpreter waiting
for your commands, and the quit command will then exit the program.

The virsh program understands the following OPTIONS.

-c, --connect URI

Connect to the specified URI, as if by the connect command, instead of the
default connection.

-d, --debug LEVEL

Enable debug messages at integer LEVEL and above. LEVEL can range from 0
to 4 (default). See the documentation of VIRSH_DEBUG environment variable
below for the description of each LEVEL.

* -e, --escape string

Set alternative escape sequence for console command. By default, telnet's
^] is used. Allowed characters when using hat notation are: alphabetic
character, @, [, ], , ^, _.

* -h, --help

Ignore all other arguments, and behave as if the help command were given
instead.

* -k, --keepalive-interval INTERVAL

Set an INTERVAL (in seconds) for sending keepalive messages to check
whether connection to the server is still alive. Setting the interval to 0
disables client keepalive mechanism.

* -K, --keepalive-count COUNT

Set a number of times keepalive message can be sent without getting an an-
swer from the server without marking the connection dead. There is no ef-
fect to this setting in case the INTERVAL is set to 0.

* -l, --log FILE

Output logging details to FILE.

* -q, --quiet

Avoid extra informational messages.

* -r, --readonly

Make the initial connection read-only, as if by the --readonly option of
the connect command.

* -t, --timing

Output elapsed time information for each command.

* --no-pkttyagent

Do not register pkttyagent as authentication agent with the polkit system
daemon, even if virsh has been started from a terminal.

* -v, --version[=short]

Ignore all other arguments, and prints the version of the libvirt library
virsh is coming from

* -V, --version=long

Ignore all other arguments, and prints the version of the libvirt library
virsh is coming from and which options and driver are compiled in.

NOTES
Most virsh operations rely upon the libvirt library being able to connect
to an already running libvirtd service. This can usually be done using the
command service libvirtd start.

Most virsh commands require root privileges to run due to the communica-
tions channels used to talk to the hypervisor. Running as non root will
return an error.

Most virsh commands act synchronously, except maybe shutdown, setvcpus and
setmem. In those cases the fact that the virsh program returned, may not
mean the action is complete and you must poll periodically to detect that
the guest completed the operation.

virsh strives for backward compatibility. Although the help command only
lists the preferred usage of a command, if an older version of virsh sup-
ported an alternate spelling of a command or option (such as --tunnelled
instead of --tunneled), then scripts using that older spelling will con-
tinue to work.

Several virsh commands take an optionally scaled integer; if no scale is
provided, then the default is listed in the command (for historical rea-
sons, some commands default to bytes, while other commands default to
kibibytes). The following case-insensitive suffixes can be used to select
a specific scale:

b, byte byte 1
KB kilobyte 1,000
k, KiB kibibyte 1,024
MB megabyte 1,000,000
M, MiB mebibyte 1,048,576
GB gigabyte 1,000,000,000
G, GiB gibibyte 1,073,741,824
TB terabyte 1,000,000,000,000
T, TiB tebibyte 1,099,511,627,776
PB petabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000
P, PiB pebibyte 1,125,899,906,842,624
EB exabyte 1,000,000,000,000,000,000
E, EiB exbibyte 1,152,921,504,606,846,976

GENERIC COMMANDS
The following commands are generic i.e. not specific to a domain.

help
Syntax:

help [command-or-group]

This lists each of the virsh commands. When used without options, all com-
mands are listed, one per line, grouped into related categories, displaying
the keyword for each group.

To display only commands for a specific group, give the keyword for that
group as an option. For example:

Example 1:

virsh # help host

Host and Hypervisor (help keyword 'host'):
capabilities capabilities
cpu-models show the CPU models for an architecture
connect (re)connect to hypervisor
freecell NUMA free memory
hostname print the hypervisor hostname
qemu-attach Attach to existing QEMU process
qemu-monitor-command QEMU Monitor Command
qemu-agent-command QEMU Guest Agent Command
sysinfo print the hypervisor sysinfo
uri print the hypervisor canonical URI

To display detailed information for a specific command, give its name as
the option instead. For example:

Example 2:

virsh # help list
NAME
list - list domains

SYNOPSIS
list [--inactive] [--all]

DESCRIPTION
Returns list of domains.

OPTIONS
--inactive list inactive domains
--all list inactive & active domains

quit, exit
Syntax:

quit
exit

quit this interactive terminal

version
Syntax:

version [--daemon]

Will print out the major version info about what this built from. If
--daemon is specified then the version of the libvirt daemon is included in
the output.

Example:

$ virsh version
Compiled against library: libvirt 1.2.3
Using library: libvirt 1.2.3
Using API: QEMU 1.2.3
Running hypervisor: QEMU 2.0.50

$ virsh version --daemon
Compiled against library: libvirt 1.2.3
Using library: libvirt 1.2.3
Using API: QEMU 1.2.3
Running hypervisor: QEMU 2.0.50
Running against daemon: 1.2.6

cd
Syntax:

cd [directory]

Will change current directory to directory. The default directory for the
cd command is the home directory or, if there is no HOME variable in the
environment, the root directory.

pwd
Syntax:

pwd

Will print the current directory.

connect
Syntax:

connect [URI] [--readonly]

(Re)-Connect to the hypervisor. When the shell is first started, this is
automatically run with the URI parameter requested by the -c option on the
command line. The URI parameter specifies how to connect to the hypervisor.
The URI docs
<https://libvirt.org/uri.html> list the values supported, but the most
common are:

* xen:///system

this is used to connect to the local Xen hypervisor

* qemu:///system

connect locally as root to the daemon supervising QEMU and KVM domains

* qemu:///session

connect locally as a normal user to his own set of QEMU and KVM domains

* lxc:///system

connect to a local linux container

To find the currently used URI, check the uri command documented below.

For remote access see the URI docs
<https://libvirt.org/uri.html> on how to make URIs. The --readonly option
allows for read-only connection

uri
Syntax:

uri

Prints the hypervisor canonical URI, can be useful in shell mode.

hostname
Syntax:

hostname

Print the hypervisor hostname.

sysinfo
Syntax:

sysinfo

Print the XML representation of the hypervisor sysinfo, if available.

nodeinfo
Syntax:

nodeinfo

Returns basic information about the node, like number and type of CPU, and
size of the physical memory.

Use of this command is strongly discouraged as the information provided is
not guaranteed to be accurate on all hardware platforms.

The CPU frequency value merely reflects the speed that the first CPU in the
machine is currently running at. This speed may vary across CPUs and
changes continually as the host OS throttles.

The data structure used to fetch the data is not extensible thus only sup-
ports global nodes/sockets/cores/threads (sockets/cores/threads is per NUMA
node) topology information. If the host CPU has any further groupings (e.g.
dies, clusters, etc) or the NUMA topology is non-symmetrical the data
structure can't faithfully represent the system. In such cases a fake
topology (nodes = 1, sockets = 1, cores = number of host cpus, threads = 1)
which only correctly represents the total host CPU count is reported.

Recommended replacement is to use the capabilities command which reports
the data (except frequency) under /capabilities/host/topology XPath.

nodecpumap
Syntax:

nodecpumap [--pretty]

Displays the node's total number of CPUs, the number of online CPUs and the
list of online CPUs.

With --pretty the online CPUs are printed as a range instead of a list.

nodecpustats
Syntax:

nodecpustats [cpu] [--percent]

Returns cpu stats of the node. If cpu is specified, this will print the
specified cpu statistics only. If --percent is specified, this will print
the percentage of each kind of cpu statistics during 1 second.

nodememstats
Syntax:

nodememstats [cell]

Returns memory stats of the node. If cell is specified, this will print
the specified cell statistics only.

nodesevinfo
Syntax:

nodesevinfo

Reports information about the AMD SEV launch security features for the
node, if any. Some of this information is also reported in the domain capa-
bilities XML document.

nodesuspend
Syntax:

nodesuspend [target] [duration]

Puts the node (host machine) into a system-wide sleep state and schedule
the node's Real-Time-Clock interrupt to resume the node after the time du-
ration specified by duration is out. target specifies the state to which
the host will be suspended to, it can be "mem" (suspend to RAM), "disk"
(suspend to disk), or "hybrid" (suspend to both RAM and disk). duration
specifies the time duration in seconds for which the host has to be sus-
pended, it should be at least 60 seconds.

node-memory-tune
Syntax:

node-memory-tune [shm-pages-to-scan] [shm-sleep-millisecs] [shm-merge-across-nodes]

Allows you to display or set the node memory parameters. shm-pages-to-scan
can be used to set the number of pages to scan before the shared memory
service goes to sleep; shm-sleep-millisecs can be used to set the number of
millisecs the shared memory service should sleep before next scan;
shm-merge-across-nodes specifies if pages from different numa nodes can be
merged. When set to 0, only pages which physically reside in the memory
area of same NUMA node can be merged. When set to 1, pages from all nodes
can be merged. Default to 1.

Note: Currently the "shared memory service" only means KSM (Kernel Samepage
Merging).

capabilities
Syntax:

capabilities [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap]

Print an XML document describing the capabilities of the hypervisor we are
currently connected to. This includes a section on the host capabilities in
terms of CPU and features, and a set of description for each kind of guest
which can be virtualized. For a more complete description see:

<https://libvirt.org/formatcaps.html>

The XML also show the NUMA topology information if available.

If the --xpath argument provides an XPath expression, it will be evaluated
against the output XML and only those matching nodes will be printed. The
default behaviour is to print each matching node as a standalone document,
however, for ease of additional processing, the --wrap argument will cause
the matching node to be wrapped in a common root node.

domcapabilities
Syntax:

domcapabilities [virttype] [emulatorbin] [arch] [machine]
[--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap]
[--disable-deprecated-features]
[--expand-cpu-features] [--supported-cpu-features]

Print an XML document describing the domain capabilities for the hypervisor
we are connected to using information either sourced from an existing do-
main or taken from the virsh capabilities output. This may be useful if you
intend to create a new domain and are curious if for instance it could make
use of VFIO by creating a domain for the hypervisor with a specific emula-
tor and architecture.

Each hypervisor will have different requirements regarding which options
are required and which are optional. A hypervisor can support providing a
default value for any of the options.

The virttype option specifies the virtualization type used. The value to be
used is either from the 'type' attribute of the <domain/> top level element
from the domain XML or the 'type' attribute found within each <guest/> ele-
ment from the virsh capabilities output. The emulatorbin option specifies
the path to the emulator. The value to be used is either the <emulator> el-
ement in the domain XML or the virsh capabilities output. The arch option
specifies the architecture to be used for the domain. The value to be used
is either the "arch" attribute from the domain's XML <os/> element and
<type/> subelement or the "name" attribute of an <arch/> element from the
virsh capabililites output. The machine specifies the machine type for the
emulator. The value to be used is either the "machine" attribute from the
domain's XML <os/> element and <type/> subelement or one from a list of ma-
chines from the virsh capabilities output for a specific architecture and
domain type.

For the QEMU hypervisor, a virttype of either 'qemu' or 'kvm' must be sup-
plied along with either the emulatorbin or arch in order to generate output
for the default machine. Supplying a machine value will generate output
for the specific machine.

The --disable-deprecated-features argument will modify the contents of
host-model CPU XML, updating the features list with any features flagged as
deprecated for the CPU model by the hypervisor. These features will be
paired with the "disable" policy.

The --expand-cpu-features option will cause the host-model CPU definition
to contain all required CPU features including those implicitly enabled by
the selected CPU model. Without this flag features that are part of the CPU
model itself will not be listed.

The --supported-cpu-features option will update the host-model CPU defini-
tion with features that are supported on the host, but will not be enabled
by default when starting a domain with host-model CPU. Using both --sup-
ported-cpu-features and --expand-cpu-features will provide a complete list
of features that can be enabled on the host.

pool-capabilities
Syntax:

pool-capabilities

Print an XML document describing the storage pool capabilities for the con-
nected storage driver. This may be useful if you intend to create a new
storage pool and need to know the available pool types and supported stor-
age pool source and target volume formats as well as the required source
elements to create the pool.

inject-nmi
Syntax:

inject-nmi domain

Inject NMI to the guest.

list
Syntax:

list [--inactive | --all]
[--managed-save] [--title]
{ [--table] | --name | --id } [--uuid]
[--persistent] [--transient]
[--with-managed-save] [--without-managed-save]
[--autostart] [--no-autostart]
[--with-snapshot] [--without-snapshot]
[--with-checkpoint] [--without-checkpoint]
[--state-running] [--state-paused]
[--state-shutoff] [--state-other]

Prints information about existing domains. If no options are specified it
prints out information about running domains.

Example 1:

An example format for the list is as follows:

``virsh`` list
Id Name State
----------------------------------------------------
0 Domain-0 running
2 fedora paused

Name is the name of the domain. ID the domain numeric id. State is the
run state (see below).

STATES

The State field lists what state each domain is currently in. A domain can
be in one of the following possible states:

* running

The domain is currently running on a CPU

* idle

The domain is idle, and not running or runnable. This can be caused be-
cause the domain is waiting on IO (a traditional wait state) or has gone
to sleep because there was nothing else for it to do.

* paused

The domain has been paused, usually occurring through the administrator
running virsh suspend. When in a paused state the domain will still con-
sume allocated resources like memory, but will not be eligible for sched-
uling by the hypervisor.

* in shutdown

The domain is in the process of shutting down, i.e. the guest operating
system has been notified and should be in the process of stopping its op-
erations gracefully.

* shut off

The domain is not running. Usually this indicates the domain has been
shut down completely, or has not been started.

* crashed

The domain has crashed, which is always a violent ending. Usually this
state can only occur if the domain has been configured not to restart on
crash.

* pmsuspended

The domain has been suspended by guest power management, e.g. entered
into s3 state.

Normally only active domains are listed. To list inactive domains specify
--inactive or --all to list both active and inactive domains.

Filtering

To further filter the list of domains you may specify one or more of fil-
tering flags supported by the list command. These flags are grouped by
function. Specifying one or more flags from a group enables the filter
group. Note that some combinations of flags may yield no results. Supported
filtering flags and groups:

Persistence
Flag --persistent is used to include persistent guests in the returned
list. To include transient guests specify --transient.

Existence of managed save image
To list domains having a managed save image specify flag --with-man-
aged-save. For domains that don't have a managed save image specify --with-
out-managed-save.

Domain state
The following filter flags select a domain by its state: --state-running
for running domains, --state-paused for paused domains, --state-shutoff
for turned off domains and --state-other for all other states as a fall-
back.

Autostarting domains
To list autostarting domains use the flag --autostart. To list domains with
this feature disabled use --no-autostart.

Snapshot existence
Domains that have snapshot images can be listed using flag --with-snapshot,
domains without a snapshot --without-snapshot.

Checkpoint existence
Domains that have checkpoints can be listed using flag --with-checkpoint,
domains without a checkpoint --without-checkpoint.

When talking to older servers, this command is forced to use a series of
API calls with an inherent race, where a domain might not be listed or
might appear more than once if it changed state between calls while the
list was being collected. Newer servers do not have this problem.

If --managed-save is specified, then domains that have managed save state
(only possible if they are in the shut off state, so you need to specify
--inactive or --all to actually list them) will instead show as saved in
the listing. This flag is usable only with the default --table output.
Note that this flag does not filter the list of domains.

If --name is specified, domain names are printed instead of the table for-
matted one per line. If --uuid is specified domain's UUID's are printed in-
stead of names. If --id is specified then domain's ID's are printed indead
of names. However, it is possible to combine --name, --uuid and --id to se-
lect only desired fields for printing. Flag --table specifies that the
legacy table-formatted output should be used, but it is mutually exclusive
with --name, and --id. This is the default and will be used if neither of
--name, --uuid or --id is specified. If neither --name nor --uuid is speci-
fied, but --id is, then only active domains are listed, even with the --all
parameter as otherwise the output would just contain bunch of lines with
just -1. If --table is combined with --uuid, then domain uuid is printed as
an extra column.

If --title is specified, then the short domain description (title) is
printed in an extra column. This flag is usable only with the default --ta-
ble output.

Example 2:

$ virsh list --title
Id Name State Title
-------------------------------------------
0 Domain-0 running Mailserver 1
2 fedora paused

freecell
Syntax:

freecell [{ [--cellno] cellno | --all }]

Prints the available amount of memory on the machine or within a NUMA cell.
The freecell command can provide one of three different displays of avail-
able memory on the machine depending on the options specified. With no op-
tions, it displays the total free memory on the machine. With the --all
option, it displays the free memory in each cell and the total free memory
on the machine. Finally, with a numeric argument or with --cellno plus a
cell number it will display the free memory for the specified cell only.

freepages
Syntax:

freepages [{ [--cellno] cellno [--pagesize] pagesize | --all }]

Prints the available amount of pages within a NUMA cell. cellno refers to
the NUMA cell you're interested in. pagesize is a scaled integer (see NOTES
above). Alternatively, if --all is used, info on each possible combination
of NUMA cell and page size is printed out.

allocpages
Syntax:

allocpages [--pagesize] pagesize [--pagecount] pagecount [[--cellno] cellno] [--add] [--all]

Change the size of pages pool of pagesize on the host. If --add is speci-
fied, then pagecount pages are added into the pool. However, if --add
wasn't specified, then the pagecount is taken as the new absolute size of
the pool (this may be used to free some pages and size the pool down). The
cellno modifier can be used to narrow the modification down to a single
host NUMA cell. On the other end of spectrum lies --all which executes the
modification on all NUMA cells.

cpu-baseline
Syntax:

cpu-baseline FILE [--features] [--migratable]

Compute baseline CPU which will be supported by all host CPUs given in
<file>. (See hypervisor-cpu-baseline command to get a CPU which can be
provided by a specific hypervisor.) The list of host CPUs is built by ex-
tracting all <cpu> elements from the <file>. Thus, the <file> can contain
either a set of <cpu> elements separated by new lines or even a set of com-
plete <capabilities> elements printed by capabilities command. If --fea-
tures is specified, then the resulting XML description will explicitly in-
clude all features that make up the CPU, without this option features that
are part of the CPU model will not be listed in the XML description. If
--migratable is specified, features that block migration will not be in-
cluded in the resulting CPU.

cpu-compare
Syntax:

cpu-compare FILE [--error] [--validate]

Compare CPU definition from XML <file> with host CPU. (See hypervi-
sor-cpu-compare command for comparing the CPU definition with the CPU which
a specific hypervisor is able to provide on the host.) The XML <file> may
contain either host or guest CPU definition. The host CPU definition is the
<cpu> element and its contents as printed by capabilities command. The
guest CPU definition is the <cpu> element and its contents from domain XML
definition or the CPU definition created from the host CPU model found in
domain capabilities XML (printed by domcapabilities command). In addition
to the <cpu> element itself, this command accepts full domain XML, capabil-
ities XML, or domain capabilities XML containing the CPU definition. For
more information on guest CPU definition see: https://libvirt.org/formatdo-
main.html#elementsCPU <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#cpu-model-and-
topology> . If --error is specified, the command will return an error when
the given CPU is incompatible with host CPU and a message providing more
details about the incompatibility will be printed out. If --validate is
specified, validates the format of the XML document against an internal RNG
schema.

cpu-models
Syntax:

cpu-models arch

Print the list of CPU models known by libvirt for the specified architec-
ture. Whether a specific hypervisor is able to create a domain which uses
any of the printed CPU models is a separate question which can be answered
by looking at the domain capabilities XML returned by domcapabilities com-
mand. Moreover, for some architectures libvirt does not know any CPU mod-
els and the usable CPU models are only limited by the hypervisor. This com-
mand will print that all CPU models are accepted for these architectures
and the actual list of supported CPU models can be checked in the domain
capabilities XML.

hypervisor-cpu-compare
Syntax:

hypervisor-cpu-compare FILE [virttype] [emulator] [arch] [machine] [--error] [--validate]

Compare CPU definition from XML <file> with the CPU the hypervisor is able
to provide on the host. (This is different from cpu-compare which compares
the CPU definition with the host CPU without considering any specific hy-
pervisor and its abilities.)

The XML FILE should contain a guest CPU definition: either the <cpu> ele-
ment and its contents from a domain XML definition or a CPU definition cre-
ated from the host CPU model found in the <mode name="host-model"> element
in the domain capabilities XML (printed by the domcapabilities command).
The <mode name="host-model"> element itself or even its <cpu> parent ele-
ment found in domain capabilities XML is not accepted. The element has to
be transformed into an actual CPU definition. For more information on guest
CPU definition see: https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPU
<https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#cpu-model-and-topology> .

Alternatively this command will automatically extract the CPU definition
when provided with a full domain or domain capabilities XML.

For historical reasons the XML FILE may also contain a host CPU definition,
but such usage is strongly discouraged as it will most likely provide in-
correct results.

hypervisor-cpu-baseline
Syntax:

hypervisor-cpu-baseline [FILE] [virttype] [emulator] [arch] [machine]
[--features] [--migratable] [--ignore-host] [model]

Compute a baseline CPU which will be compatible with all CPUs defined in an
XML FILE. This command must be called on one of the hosts described in
FILE. Calling it on another host results in an undefined behavior as the
computed CPU model is influenced by the hypervisor (the result may use an
unexpected CPU model or some features may disabled even though they are
supported on all input CPUs). The undefined behavior can be avoided using
--ignore-host option (see below).

This is different from cpu-baseline which does not consider any hypervisor
abilities when computing the baseline CPU.

As an alternative for FILE in case the XML would only contain a CPU model
with no additional features the CPU model name itself can be passed as
model. Exactly one of FILE and model must be used.

The XML FILE should contain guest CPU definitions created from the host CPU
model found in the <mode name="host-model"> element domain capabilities
XMLs (printed by the domcapabilities command on each host). The <mode
name="host-model"> elements themselves or even their <cpu> parent elements
found in domain capabilities XMLs are not accepted. The elements have to be
transformed into actual CPU definitions.

Alternatively this command will automatically extract the CPU definitions
when provided with domain capabilities XMLs.

For historical reasons the XML FILE may also contain host CPU definitions,
but such usage is strongly discouraged as it will most likely provide in-
correct results.

When FILE contains only a single CPU definition, the command will print the
same CPU with restrictions imposed by the capabilities of the hypervisor.
Specifically, running the virsh hypervisor-cpu-baseline command with no ad-
ditional options on the result of virsh domcapabilities will transform the
host CPU model from domain capabilities XML to a form directly usable in
domain XML. Running the command with model (or FILE containing just a sin-
gle CPU definition with model and no feature elements) which is marked as
unusable in virsh domcapabilities will provide a list of features that
block this CPU model from being usable.

The virttype option specifies the virtualization type (usable in the 'type'
attribute of the <domain> top level element from the domain XML). emulator
specifies the path to the emulator, arch specifies the CPU architecture,
and machine specifies the machine type. If --features is specified, then
the resulting XML description will explicitly include all features that
make up the CPU, without this option features that are part of the CPU
model will not be listed in the XML description. If --migratable is speci-
fied, features that block migration will not be included in the resulting
CPU. If --ignore-host is specified and FILE contains more than one CPU, the
command will not consider hypervisor abilities when computing the baseline.
With this option baseline can be safely computed on any host (even those
not described in FILE).

hypervisor-cpu-models
Syntax:

hypervisor-cpu-models [--virttype virttype] [--emulator emulator]
[--arch arch] [--machine machine] [--all]

Print the list of CPU models known by the hypervisor for the specified ar-
chitecture. It is not guaranteed that a listed CPU will run on the host.
To determine CPU model compatibility with the host, see virsh hypervi-
sor-cpu-baseline and virsh hypervisor-cpu-compare.

By default, only the models that are claimed to be "usable" by the hypervi-
sor on the host are reported. The option --all will report every CPU model
known to the hypervisor, including ones that are not supported on the hy-
pervisor (e.g. newer generation models).

DOMAIN COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate domains directly, as stated previously
most commands take domain as the first parameter. The domain can be speci-
fied as a short integer, a name or a full UUID.

autostart
Syntax:

autostart [--disable] [--once] domain

Configure a domain to be automatically started at each boot of the host.
The --once option configures the domain to be started on the next boot of
the host.

The option --disable disables the corresponding autostarting.

Note that autostart configured via the --once option is independent from
the autostart configured without it. Enabling either of them will cause the
VM to be started on the next boot of the host.

blkdeviotune
Syntax:

blkdeviotune domain device [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]
[[total-bytes-sec] | [read-bytes-sec] [write-bytes-sec]]
[[total-iops-sec] | [read-iops-sec] [write-iops-sec]]
[[total-bytes-sec-max] | [read-bytes-sec-max] [write-bytes-sec-max]]
[[total-iops-sec-max] | [read-iops-sec-max] [write-iops-sec-max]]
[[total-bytes-sec-max-length] |
[read-bytes-sec-max-length] [write-bytes-sec-max-length]]
[[total-iops-sec-max-length] |
[read-iops-sec-max-length] [write-iops-sec-max-length]]
[size-iops-sec] [group-name]

Set or query the block disk io parameters for a block device of domain.
device specifies a unique target name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file
(<source file='name'/>) for one of the disk devices attached to domain (see
also domblklist for listing these names).

If no limit is specified, it will query current I/O limits setting. Other-
wise, alter the limits with these flags: --total-bytes-sec specifies total
throughput limit as a scaled integer, the default being bytes per second if
no suffix is specified. --read-bytes-sec specifies read throughput limit
as a scaled integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is
specified. --write-bytes-sec specifies write throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--total-iops-sec specifies total I/O operations limit per second.
--read-iops-sec specifies read I/O operations limit per second.
--write-iops-sec specifies write I/O operations limit per second. --to-
tal-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum total throughput limit as a scaled in-
teger, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified
--read-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum read throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--write-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum write throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--total-iops-sec-max specifies maximum total I/O operations limit per sec-
ond. --read-iops-sec-max specifies maximum read I/O operations limit per
second. --write-iops-sec-max specifies maximum write I/O operations limit
per second. --total-bytes-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to
allow maximum total throughput limit. --read-bytes-sec-max-length speci-
fies duration in seconds to allow maximum read throughput limit.
--write-bytes-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to allow maximum
write throughput limit. --total-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration in
seconds to allow maximum total I/O operations limit.
--read-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to allow maximum
read I/O operations limit. --write-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration
in seconds to allow maximum write I/O operations limit. --size-iops-sec
specifies size I/O operations limit per second. --group-name specifies
group name to share I/O quota between multiple drives. For a QEMU domain,
if no name is provided, then the default is to have a single group for each
device.

Older versions of virsh only accepted these options with underscore instead
of dash, as in --total_bytes_sec.

Bytes and iops values are independent, but setting only one value (such as
--read-bytes-sec) resets the other two in that category to unlimited. An
explicit 0 also clears any limit. A non-zero value for a given total can-
not be mixed with non-zero values for read or write.

It is up to the hypervisor to determine how to handle the length values.
For the QEMU hypervisor, if an I/O limit value or maximum value is set,
then the default value of 1 second will be displayed. Supplying a 0 will
reset the value back to the default.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. When setting the disk io parameters both --live and --config
flags may be given, but --current is exclusive. For querying only one of
--live, --config or --current can be specified. If no flag is specified,
behavior is different depending on hypervisor.

domthrottlegroupset
Syntax:

domthrottlegroupset domain group-name [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]
[[total-bytes-sec] | [read-bytes-sec] [write-bytes-sec]]
[[total-iops-sec] | [read-iops-sec] [write-iops-sec]]
[[total-bytes-sec-max] | [read-bytes-sec-max] [write-bytes-sec-max]]
[[total-iops-sec-max] | [read-iops-sec-max] [write-iops-sec-max]]
[[total-bytes-sec-max-length] |
[read-bytes-sec-max-length] [write-bytes-sec-max-length]]
[[total-iops-sec-max-length] |
[read-iops-sec-max-length] [write-iops-sec-max-length]]
[size-iops-sec]

Add or update a throttle group against specific domain. group-name speci-
fies a unique throttle group name, which defines limit, and will be refer-
enced by drives.

If no limit is specified, default them as all zeros, which will fail, Oth-
erwise, set limits with these flags: --total-bytes-sec specifies total
throughput limit as a scaled integer, the default being bytes per second if
no suffix is specified. --read-bytes-sec specifies read throughput limit
as a scaled integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is
specified. --write-bytes-sec specifies write throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--total-iops-sec specifies total I/O operations limit per second.
--read-iops-sec specifies read I/O operations limit per second.
--write-iops-sec specifies write I/O operations limit per second. --to-
tal-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum total throughput limit as a scaled in-
teger, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified
--read-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum read throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--write-bytes-sec-max specifies maximum write throughput limit as a scaled
integer, the default being bytes per second if no suffix is specified.
--total-iops-sec-max specifies maximum total I/O operations limit per sec-
ond. --read-iops-sec-max specifies maximum read I/O operations limit per
second. --write-iops-sec-max specifies maximum write I/O operations limit
per second. --total-bytes-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to
allow maximum total throughput limit. --read-bytes-sec-max-length speci-
fies duration in seconds to allow maximum read throughput limit.
--write-bytes-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to allow maximum
write throughput limit. --total-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration in
seconds to allow maximum total I/O operations limit.
--read-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration in seconds to allow maximum
read I/O operations limit. --write-iops-sec-max-length specifies duration
in seconds to allow maximum write I/O operations limit. --size-iops-sec
specifies size I/O operations limit per second.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. When setting the disk io parameters both --live and --config
are specified, both live configuration and config are updated while setting
the description, but --current is exclusive. If no flag is specified, be-
havior is different depending on hypervisor.

domthrottlegroupdel
Syntax:

domthrottlegroupdel domain group-name [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Delete a Throttlegroup from the domain using the specified group-name. If
an Throttlegroup is currently referenced by a disk resource, then the at-
tempt to remove the Throttlegroup will fail. If the group-name does not
exist an error will occur.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If the guest is not running
an error is returned. If --config is specified, affect the next start of a
persistent guest. If --current is specified, it is equivalent to either
--live or --config, depending on the current state of the guest.

domthrottlegroupinfo
Syntax:

domthrottlegroupinfo domain group-name [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Display domain Throttlegroup information including I/O limits setting.

If --live is specified, get the Throttlegroup data from the running guest.
If the guest is not running, an error is returned. If --config is speci-
fied, get the Throttlegroup data from the next start of a persistent guest.
If --current is specified or --live and --config are not specified, then
get the Throttlegroup data based on the current guest state, which can ei-
ther be live or offline. If both --live and --config are specified, the
--config option takes precedence on getting the current description.

domthrottlegrouplist
Syntax:

domthrottlegrouplist domain [--inactive]

Print a table showing names of all throttle groups associated with domain.
If --inactive is specified, query the Throttlegroup data that will be used
on the next boot, rather than those currently in use by a running domain.

blkiotune
Syntax:

blkiotune domain [--weight weight] [--device-weights device-weights]
[--device-read-iops-sec device-read-iops-sec]
[--device-write-iops-sec device-write-iops-sec]
[--device-read-bytes-sec device-read-bytes-sec]
[--device-write-bytes-sec device-write-bytes-sec]
[[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Display or set the blkio parameters. QEMU/KVM supports --weight. --weight
is in range [100, 1000]. After kernel 2.6.39, the value could be in the
range [10, 1000].

device-weights is a single string listing one or more device/weight pairs,
in the format of /path/to/device,weight,/path/to/device,weight. Each
weight is in the range [100, 1000], [10, 1000] after kernel 2.6.39, or the
value 0 to remove that device from per-device listings. Only the devices
listed in the string are modified; any existing per-device weights for
other devices remain unchanged.

device-read-iops-sec is a single string listing one or more de-
vice/read_iops_sec pairs, int the format of /path/to/de-
vice,read_iops_sec,/path/to/device,read_iops_sec. Each read_iops_sec is a
number which type is unsigned int, value 0 to remove that device from
per-device listing. Only the devices listed in the string are modified;
any existing per-device read_iops_sec for other devices remain unchanged.

device-write-iops-sec is a single string listing one or more de-
vice/write_iops_sec pairs, int the format of /path/to/de-
vice,write_iops_sec,/path/to/device,write_iops_sec. Each write_iops_sec is
a number which type is unsigned int, value 0 to remove that device from
per-device listing. Only the devices listed in the string are modified;
any existing per-device write_iops_sec for other devices remain unchanged.

device-read-bytes-sec is a single string listing one or more de-
vice/read_bytes_sec pairs, int the format of /path/to/de-
vice,read_bytes_sec,/path/to/device,read_bytes_sec. Each read_bytes_sec is
a number which type is unsigned long long, value 0 to remove that device
from per-device listing. Only the devices listed in the string are modi-
fied; any existing per-device read_bytes_sec for other devices remain un-
changed.

device-write-bytes-sec is a single string listing one or more de-
vice/write_bytes_sec pairs, int the format of /path/to/de-
vice,write_bytes_sec,/path/to/device,write_bytes_sec. Each write_bytes_sec
is a number which type is unsigned long long, value 0 to remove that device
from per-device listing. Only the devices listed in the string are modi-
fied; any existing per-device write_bytes_sec for other devices remain un-
changed.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current
is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on
hypervisor.

blockcommit
Syntax:

blockcommit domain path [bandwidth] [--bytes] [base]
[--shallow] [top] [--delete] [--keep-relative]
[--wait [--async] [--verbose]] [--timeout seconds]
[--active] [{--pivot | --keep-overlay}]

Reduce the length of a backing image chain, by committing changes at the
top of the chain (snapshot or delta files) into backing images. By de-
fault, this command attempts to flatten the entire chain. If base and/or
top are specified as files within the backing chain, then the operation is
constrained to committing just that portion of the chain; --shallow can be
used instead of base to specify the immediate backing file of the resulting
top image to be committed. The files being committed are rendered invalid,
possibly as soon as the operation starts; using the --delete flag will at-
tempt to remove these invalidated files at the successful completion of the
commit operation. When the --keep-relative flag is used, the backing file
paths will be kept relative.

When top is omitted or specified as the active image, it is also possible
to specify --active to trigger a two-phase active commit. In the first
phase, top is copied into base and the job can only be canceled, with top
still containing data not yet in base. In the second phase, top and base
remain identical until a call to blockjob with the --abort flag (keeping
top as the active image that tracks changes from that point in time) or the
--pivot flag (making base the new active image and invalidating top).

By default, this command returns as soon as possible, and data for the en-
tire disk is committed in the background; the progress of the operation can
be checked with blockjob. However, if --wait is specified, then this com-
mand will block until the operation completes (or for --active, enters the
second phase), or until the operation is canceled because the optional
timeout in seconds elapses or SIGINT is sent (usually with Ctrl-C). Using
--verbose along with --wait will produce periodic status updates. If job
cancellation is triggered, --async will return control to the user as fast
as possible, otherwise the command may continue to block a little while
longer until the job is done cleaning up. Using --pivot is shorthand for
combining --active --wait with an automatic blockjob --pivot; and using
--keep-overlay is shorthand for combining --active --wait with an automatic
blockjob --abort.

path specifies fully-qualified path of the disk; it corresponds to a unique
target name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file (<source file='name'/>)
for one of the disk devices attached to domain (see also domblklist for
listing these names). bandwidth specifies copying bandwidth limit in
MiB/s, although for QEMU, it may be non-zero only for an online domain. For
further information on the bandwidth argument see the corresponding section
for the blockjob command.

blockcopy
Syntax:

blockcopy domain path { dest [format] [--blockdev] | --xml file }
[--shallow] [--reuse-external] [bandwidth]
[--wait [--async] [--verbose]] [{--pivot | --finish}]
[--timeout seconds] [granularity] [buf-size] [--bytes]
[--transient-job] [--synchronous-writes] [--dest-is-zero] [--print-xml]

Copy a disk backing image chain to a destination. Either dest as the des-
tination file name, or --xml with the name of an XML file containing a
top-level <disk> element describing the destination, must be present. Ad-
ditionally, if dest is given, format should be specified to declare the
format of the destination (if format is omitted, then libvirt will reuse
the format of the source, or with --reuse-external will be forced to probe
the destination format, which could be a potential security hole). The
command supports --raw as a boolean flag synonym for --format=raw. When
using dest, the destination is treated as a regular file unless --blockdev
is used to signal that it is a block device. By default, this command flat-
tens the entire chain; but if --shallow is specified, the copy shares the
backing chain.

If --reuse-external is specified, then the destination must exist and have
sufficient space to hold the copy. If --shallow is used in conjunction with
--reuse-external then the pre-created image must have guest visible con-
tents identical to guest visible contents of the backing file of the origi-
nal image. This may be used to modify the backing file names on the desti-
nation.

By default, the copy job runs in the background, and consists of two
phases. Initially, the job must copy all data from the source, and during
this phase, the job can only be canceled to revert back to the source disk,
with no guarantees about the destination. After this phase completes, both
the source and the destination remain mirrored until a call to blockjob
with the --abort and --pivot flags pivots over to the copy, or a call with-
out --pivot leaves the destination as a faithful copy of that point in
time. However, if --wait is specified, then this command will block until
the mirroring phase begins, or cancel the operation if the optional timeout
in seconds elapses or SIGINT is sent (usually with Ctrl-C). Using --ver-
bose along with --wait will produce periodic status updates. Using --pivot
(similar to blockjob --pivot) or --finish (similar to blockjob --abort) im-
plies --wait, and will additionally end the job cleanly rather than leaving
things in the mirroring phase. If job cancellation is triggered by timeout
or by --finish, --async will return control to the user as fast as possi-
ble, otherwise the command may continue to block a little while longer un-
til the job has actually cancelled.

path specifies fully-qualified path of the disk. bandwidth specifies copy-
ing bandwidth limit in MiB/s. Specifying a negative value is interpreted as
an unsigned long long value that might be essentially unlimited, but more
likely would overflow; it is safer to use 0 for that purpose. For further
information on the bandwidth argument see the corresponding section for the
blockjob command. Specifying granularity allows fine-tuning of the granu-
larity that will be copied when a dirty region is detected; larger values
trigger less I/O overhead but may end up copying more data overall (the de-
fault value is usually correct); hypervisors may restrict this to be a
power of two or fall within a certain range. Specifying buf-size will con-
trol how much data can be simultaneously in-flight during the copy; larger
values use more memory but may allow faster completion (the default value
is usually correct).

--transient-job allows specifying that the user does not require the job to
be recovered if the VM crashes or is turned off before the job completes.
This flag removes the restriction of copy jobs to transient domains if that
restriction is applied by the hypervisor.

If --synchronous-writes is specified the block job will wait for guest
writes to be propagated both to the original image and to the destination
of the copy so that it's guaranteed that the job converges if the destina-
tion storage is slower. This may impact performance of writes while the
blockjob is running.

If --dest-is-zero is specified the hypervisor may assume that the target
image was already cleared (any offset reads 0x00 bytes) and thus may skip
clearing it.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML used to start the block copy job
is printed instead of starting the job.

blockjob
Syntax:

blockjob domain path { [--abort] [--async] [--pivot] |
[--info] [--raw] [--bytes] | [bandwidth] }

Manage active block operations. There are three mutually-exclusive modes:
--info, bandwidth, and --abort. --async and --pivot imply abort mode;
--raw implies info mode; and if no mode was given, --info mode is assumed.

In --abort mode, the active job on the specified disk will be aborted. If
--async is also specified, this command will return immediately, rather
than waiting for the cancellation to complete. If --pivot is specified,
this requests that an active copy or active commit job be pivoted over to
the new image.

In --info mode, the active job information on the specified disk will be
printed. By default, the output is a single human-readable summary line;
this format may change in future versions. Adding --raw lists each field
of the struct, in a stable format. If the --bytes flag is set, then the
command errors out if the server could not supply bytes/s resolution; when
omitting the flag, raw output is listed in MiB/s and human-readable output
automatically selects the best resolution supported by the server.

bandwidth can be used to set bandwidth limit for the active job in MiB/s.
If --bytes is specified then the bandwidth value is interpreted in bytes/s.
Specifying a negative value is interpreted as an unsigned long value or es-
sentially unlimited. The hypervisor can choose whether to reject the value
or convert it to the maximum value allowed. Optionally a scaled positive
number may be used as bandwidth (see NOTES above). Using --bytes with a
scaled value permits a finer granularity to be selected. A scaled value
used without --bytes will be rounded down to MiB/s. Note that the --bytes
may be unsupported by the hypervisor.

Note that the progress reported for blockjobs corresponding to a pull-mode
backup don't report progress of the backup but rather usage of temporary
space required for the backup.

blockpull
Syntax:

blockpull domain path [bandwidth] [--bytes] [base]
[--wait [--verbose] [--timeout seconds] [--async]]
[--keep-relative]

Populate a disk from its backing image chain. By default, this command
flattens the entire chain; but if base is specified, containing the name of
one of the backing files in the chain, then that file becomes the new back-
ing file and only the intermediate portion of the chain is pulled. Once
all requested data from the backing image chain has been pulled, the disk
no longer depends on that portion of the backing chain.

By default, this command returns as soon as possible, and data for the en-
tire disk is pulled in the background; the progress of the operation can be
checked with blockjob. However, if --wait is specified, then this command
will block until the operation completes, or cancel the operation if the
optional timeout in seconds elapses or SIGINT is sent (usually with
Ctrl-C). Using --verbose along with --wait will produce periodic status
updates. If job cancellation is triggered, --async will return control to
the user as fast as possible, otherwise the command may continue to block a
little while longer until the job is done cleaning up.

Using the --keep-relative flag will keep the backing chain names relative.

path specifies fully-qualified path of the disk; it corresponds to a unique
target name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file (<source file='name'/>)
for one of the disk devices attached to domain (see also domblklist for
listing these names). bandwidth specifies copying bandwidth limit in
MiB/s. For further information on the bandwidth argument see the corre-
sponding section for the blockjob command.

blockresize
Syntax:

blockresize domain path ([size] | [--capacity]) [--extend]

Resize a block device of domain while the domain is running, path specifies
the absolute path of the block device; it corresponds to a unique target
name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file (<source file='name'/>) for one
of the disk devices attached to domain (see also domblklist for listing
these names).

The --extend flag instructs the hypervisor to ensure that the new size
isn't smaller than the old size, thus prevents (accidental) shrinking of
the block device which may lead to data loss. Users are encouraged to al-
ways use this flag unless communicating with an older hypervisor.

For image formats without metadata (raw) stored inside fixed-size storage
(e.g. block devices) the --capacity flag can be used to resize the device
to the full size of the backing device.

size is a scaled integer (see NOTES above) which defaults to KiB (blocks of
1024 bytes) if there is no suffix. You must use a suffix of "B" to get
bytes (note that for historical reasons, this differs from vol-resize which
defaults to bytes without a suffix).

console
Syntax:

console domain [devname] [--safe] [--force] [--resume]

Connect the virtual serial console for the guest. The optional devname pa-
rameter refers to the device alias of an alternate console, serial or par-
allel device configured for the guest. If omitted, the primary console
will be opened.

If the flag --safe is specified, the connection is only attempted if the
driver supports safe console handling. This flag specifies that the server
has to ensure exclusive access to console devices. Optionally the --force
flag may be specified, requesting to disconnect any existing sessions, such
as in a case of a broken connection.

If the flag --resume is specified then the guest is resumed after connect-
ing to the console.

cpu-stats
Syntax:

cpu-stats domain [--total] [start] [count]

Provide cpu statistics information of a domain. The domain should be run-
ning. Default it shows stats for all CPUs, and a total. Use --total for
only the total stats, start for only the per-cpu stats of the CPUs from
start, count for only count CPUs' stats.

create
Syntax:

create FILE [--console] [--paused] [--autodestroy]
[--pass-fds N,M,...] [--validate] [--reset-nvram]

Create a domain from an XML <file>. Optionally, --validate option can be
passed to validate the format of the input XML file against an internal RNG
schema (identical to using virt-xml-validate(1) tool). Domains created us-
ing this command are going to be either transient (temporary ones that will
vanish once destroyed) or existing persistent guests that will run with
one-time use configuration, leaving the persistent XML untouched (this can
come handy during an automated testing of various configurations all based
on the original XML). See the example below for usage demonstration.

The domain will be paused if the --paused option is used and supported by
the driver; otherwise it will be running. If --console is requested, attach
to the console after creation. If --autodestroy is requested, then the
guest will be automatically destroyed when virsh closes its connection to
libvirt, or otherwise exits.

If --pass-fds is specified, the argument is a comma separated list of open
file descriptors which should be pass on into the guest. The file descrip-
tors will be re-numbered in the guest, starting from 3. This is only sup-
ported with container based virtualization.

If --reset-nvram is specified, any existing NVRAM/varstore file will be
deleted and re-initialized from its pristine template.

Example:

1. prepare a template from an existing domain (skip directly to 3a if writ-
ing one from scratch)

# virsh dumpxml <domain> > domain.xml

2. edit the template using an editor of your choice and:

a. DO CHANGE! <name> and <uuid> (<uuid> can also be removed), or

b. DON'T CHANGE! either <name> or <uuid>

# $EDITOR domain.xml

3. create a domain from domain.xml, depending on whether following 2a or 2b
respectively:

a. the domain is going to be transient

b. an existing persistent guest will run with a modified one-time con-
figuration

# virsh create domain.xml

define
Syntax:

define FILE [--validate]

Define a domain from an XML <file>. Optionally, the format of the input XML
file can be validated against an internal RNG schema with --validate (iden-
tical to using virt-xml-validate(1) tool). The domain definition is regis-
tered but not started. If domain is already running, the changes will take
effect on the next boot.

desc
Syntax:

desc domain [[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] [--title] [--edit] [--new-desc
New description or title message]

Show or modify description and title of a domain. These values are user
fields that allow storing arbitrary textual data to allow easy identifica-
tion of domains. Title should be short, although it's not enforced. (See
also metadata that works with XML based domain metadata.)

Flags --live or --config select whether this command works on live or per-
sistent definitions of the domain. If both --live and --config are speci-
fied, the --config option takes precedence on getting the current descrip-
tion and both live configuration and config are updated while setting the
description. --current is exclusive and implied if none of these was speci-
fied.

Flag --edit specifies that an editor with the contents of current descrip-
tion or title should be opened and the contents saved back afterwards.

Flag --title selects operation on the title field instead of description.

If neither of --edit and --new-desc are specified the note or description
is displayed instead of being modified.

destroy
Syntax:

destroy domain [--graceful] [--remove-logs]

Immediately terminate the domain domain. This doesn't give the domain OS
any chance to react, and it's the equivalent of ripping the power cord out
on a physical machine. In most cases you will want to use the shutdown
command instead. However, this does not delete any storage volumes used by
the guest, and if the domain is persistent, it can be restarted later.

If domain is transient, then the metadata of any snapshots will be lost
once the guest stops running, but the snapshot contents still exist, and a
new domain with the same name and UUID can restore the snapshot metadata
with snapshot-create. Similarly, the metadata of any checkpoints will be
lost, but can be restored with checkpoint-create.

If --graceful is specified, don't resort to extreme measures (e.g. SIGKILL)
when the guest doesn't stop after a reasonable timeout; return an error in-
stead.

If --remove-logs is specified, remove per domain log files. Not all deploy-
ment configuration can be supported.

In case of QEMU the flag is only supported if virlogd is used to handle
QEMU process output. Otherwise the flag is ignored.

domblkerror
Syntax:

domblkerror domain

Show errors on block devices. This command usually comes handy when dom-
state command says that a domain was paused due to I/O error. The domblk-
error command lists all block devices in error state and the error seen on
each of them.

domblkinfo
Syntax:

domblkinfo domain [block-device --all] [--human]

Get block device size info for a domain. A block-device corresponds to a
unique target name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file (<source
file='name'/>) for one of the disk devices attached to domain (see also
domblklist for listing these names). If --human is set, the output will
have a human readable output. If --all is set, the output will be a table
showing all block devices size info associated with domain. The --all op-
tion takes precedence of the others.

domblklist
Syntax:

domblklist domain [--inactive] [--details]

Print a table showing the brief information of all block devices associated
with domain. If --inactive is specified, query the block devices that will
be used on the next boot, rather than those currently in use by a running
domain. If --details is specified, disk type and device value will also be
printed. Other contexts that require a block device name (such as domblk-
info or snapshot-create for disk snapshots) will accept either target or
unique source names printed by this command.

domblkstat
Syntax:

domblkstat domain [block-device] [--human]

Get device block stats for a running domain. A block-device corresponds to
a unique target name (<target dev='name'/>) or source file (<source
file='name'/>) for one of the disk devices attached to domain (see also
domblklist for listing these names). On a LXC or QEMU domain, omitting the
block-device yields device block stats summarily for the entire domain.

Use --human for a more human readable output.

Availability of these fields depends on hypervisor. Unsupported fields are
missing from the output. Other fields may appear if communicating with a
newer version of libvirtd.

Explanation of fields (fields appear in the following order):

* rd_req - count of read operations

* rd_bytes - count of read bytes

* wr_req - count of write operations

* wr_bytes - count of written bytes

* errs - error count

* flush_operations - count of flush operations

* rd_total_times - total time read operations took (ns)

* wr_total_times - total time write operations took (ns)

* flush_total_times - total time flush operations took (ns)

* <-- other fields provided by hypervisor -->

domblkthreshold
Syntax:

domblkthreshold domain dev threshold

Set the threshold value for delivering the block-threshold event. dev spec-
ifies the disk device target or backing chain element of given device using
the 'target[1]' syntax. threshold is a scaled value of the offset. If the
block device should write beyond that offset the event will be delivered.

domcontrol
Syntax:

domcontrol domain

Returns state of an interface to VMM used to control a domain. For states
other than "ok" or "error" the command also prints number of seconds
elapsed since the control interface entered its current state.

domdirtyrate-calc
Syntax:

domdirtyrate-calc <domain> [--seconds <sec>]
--mode=[page-sampling | dirty-bitmap | dirty-ring]

Calculate an active domain's memory dirty rate which may be expected by
user in order to decide whether it's proper to be migrated out or not. The
seconds parameter can be used to calculate dirty rate in a specific time
which allows 60s at most now and would be default to 1s if missing. These
three page-sampling, dirty-bitmap, dirty-ring modes are mutually exclusive
and alternative when specify calculation mode, page-sampling is the default
mode if missing. The calculated dirty rate information is available by
calling 'domstats --dirtyrate'.

domdisplay
Syntax:

domdisplay domain [--include-password] [[--type] type] [--all]

Output a URI which can be used to connect to the graphical display of the
domain via VNC, SPICE or RDP. The particular graphical display type can be
selected using the type parameter (e.g. "vnc", "spice", "rdp"). If --in-
clude-password is specified, the SPICE channel password will be included in
the URI. If --all is specified, then all show all possible graphical dis-
plays, for a VM could have more than one graphical displays.

domdisplay-reload
Syntax:

domdisplay-reload <domain> [--type <type>]

Reload the domain's graphical display. This reloads its TLS certificates
without restarting the domain. type can be any constant from the virDomain-
GraphicsReloadType enum. By default any supported type is reloaded (so far
only VNC).

domfsfreeze
Syntax:

domfsfreeze domain [[--mountpoint] mountpoint...]

Freeze mounted filesystems within a running domain to prepare for consis-
tent snapshots.

The --mountpoint option takes a parameter mountpoint, which is a mount
point path of the filesystem to be frozen. This option can occur multiple
times. If this is not specified, every mounted filesystem is frozen.

Note: snapshot-create command has a --quiesce option to freeze and thaw the
filesystems automatically to keep snapshots consistent. domfsfreeze com-
mand is only needed when a user wants to utilize the native snapshot fea-
tures of storage devices not supported by libvirt.

domfsinfo
Syntax:

domfsinfo domain

Show a list of mounted filesystems within the running domain. The list con-
tains mountpoints, names of a mounted device in the guest, filesystem
types, and unique target names used in the domain XML (<target
dev='name'/>).

Note that this command requires a guest agent configured and running in the
domain's guest OS.

domfsthaw
Syntax:

domfsthaw domain [[--mountpoint] mountpoint...]

Thaw mounted filesystems within a running domain, which have been frozen by
domfsfreeze command.

The --mountpoint option takes a parameter mountpoint, which is a mount
point path of the filesystem to be thawed. This option can occur multiple
times. If this is not specified, every mounted filesystem is thawed.

domfstrim
Syntax:

domfstrim domain [--minimum bytes] [--mountpoint mountPoint]

Issue a fstrim command on all mounted filesystems within a running domain.
It discards blocks which are not in use by the filesystem. If --minimum
bytes is specified, it tells guest kernel length of contiguous free range.
Smaller than this may be ignored (this is a hint and the guest may not re-
spect it). By increasing this value, the fstrim operation will complete
more quickly for filesystems with badly fragmented free space, although not
all blocks will be discarded. The default value is zero, meaning "discard
every free block". Moreover, if a user wants to trim only one mount point,
it can be specified via optional --mountpoint parameter.

domhostname
Syntax:

domhostname domain [--source lease|agent]

Returns the hostname of a domain, if the hypervisor makes it available.

The --source argument specifies what data source to use for the hostnames,
currently 'lease' to read DHCP leases or 'agent' to query the guest OS via
an agent. If unspecified, driver returns the default method available (some
drivers support only one type of source).

domid
Syntax:

domid domain-name-or-uuid

Convert a domain name (or UUID) to a domain id

domif-getlink
Syntax:

domif-getlink domain interface-device [--config]

Query link state of the domain's virtual interface. If --config is speci-
fied, query the persistent configuration, for compatibility purposes,
--persistent is alias of --config.

interface-device can be the interface's target name or the MAC address.

domif-setlink
Syntax:

domif-setlink domain interface-device state [--config] [--print-xml]

Modify link state of the domain's virtual interface. Possible values for
state are "up" and "down". If --config is specified, only the persistent
configuration of the domain is modified, for compatibility purposes, --per-
sistent is alias of --config. interface-device can be the interface's tar-
get name or the MAC address.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML used to update the interface is
printed instead.

domifaddr
Syntax:

domifaddr domain [interface] [--full]
[--source lease|agent|arp]

Get a list of interfaces of a running domain along with their IP and MAC
addresses, or limited output just for one interface if interface is speci-
fied. Note that interface can be driver dependent, it can be the name
within guest OS or the name you would see in domain XML. Moreover, the
whole command may require a guest agent to be configured for the queried
domain under some hypervisors, notably QEMU.

If --full is specified, the interface name and MAC address is always dis-
played when the interface has multiple IP addresses or aliases; otherwise,
only the interface name and MAC address is displayed for the first name and
MAC address with "-" for the others using the same name and MAC address.

The --source argument specifies what data source to use for the addresses,
currently 'lease' to read DHCP leases, 'agent' to query the guest OS via an
agent, or 'arp' to get IP from host's arp tables. If unspecified, 'lease'
is the default.

backup-begin
Syntax:

backup-begin domain [backupxml] [checkpointxml] [--reuse-external]
[--preserve-domain-on-shutdown]

Begin a new backup job. If backupxml is omitted, this defaults to a full
backup using a push model to filenames generated by libvirt; supplying XML
allows fine-tuning such as requesting an incremental backup relative to an
earlier checkpoint, controlling which disks participate or which filenames
are involved, or requesting the use of a pull model backup. The
backup-dumpxml command shows any resulting values assigned by libvirt. For
more information on backup XML, see:
<https://libvirt.org/formatbackup.html>

If --reuse-external is used it instructs libvirt to reuse temporary and
output files provided by the user in backupxml.

When the --preserve-domain-on-shutdown flag is used libvirt will not termi-
nate the VM if the guest OS shuts down while the backup is running. The VM
will be instead kept in VIR_DOMAIN_PAUSED state until the backup job fin-
ishes. The vm can be also resumed in order to boot again.

If checkpointxml is specified, a second file with a top-level element of
domaincheckpoint is used to create a simultaneous checkpoint, for doing a
later incremental backup relative to the time the backup was created. See
checkpoint-create for more details on checkpoints.

This command returns as soon as possible, and the backup job runs in the
background; the progress of a push model backup can be checked with
domjobinfo or by waiting for an event with event (the progress of a pull
model backup is under the control of whatever third party connects to the
NBD export). The job is ended with domjobabort.

backup-dumpxml
Syntax:

backup-dumpxml [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] domain

Output XML describing the current backup job.

domiflist
Syntax:

domiflist domain [--inactive]

Print a table showing the brief information of all virtual interfaces asso-
ciated with domain. If --inactive is specified, query the virtual inter-
faces that will be used on the next boot, rather than those currently in
use by a running domain. Other contexts that require a MAC address of vir-
tual interface (such as detach-interface or domif-setlink) will accept the
MAC address printed by this command.

domifstat
Syntax:

domifstat domain interface-device

Get network interface stats for a running domain. The network interface
stats are only available for interfaces that have a physical source inter-
face. This does not include, for example, a 'user' interface type since it
is a virtual LAN with NAT to the outside world. interface-device can be the
interface target by name or MAC address. Please note, for an unmanaged eth-
ernet type returned stats might have RX/TX swapped.

domiftune
Syntax:

domiftune domain interface-device [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]
[*--inbound average,peak,burst,floor*]
[*--outbound average,peak,burst*]

Set or query the domain's network interface's bandwidth parameters. inter-
face-device can be the interface's target name (<target dev='name'/>), or
the MAC address.

If no --inbound or --outbound is specified, this command will query and
show the bandwidth settings. Otherwise, it will set the inbound or outbound
bandwidth. average,peak,burst,floor is the same as in command attach-inter-
face. Values for average, peak and floor are expressed in kiB per second,
while burst is expressed in kiB in a single burst at peak speed as de-
scribed in the Network XML documentation at
<https://libvirt.org/formatnetwork.html#quality-of-service> .

To clear inbound or outbound settings, use --inbound or --outbound respect-
fully with average value of zero.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current
is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on
hypervisor.

domifannounce
Syntax

domifannounce domain [interface-device] [parameters]

Request that a domain inject "gratuitous" ARP responses into the outbound
data stream of a specific network interface of the domain (or if no inter-
face-device is given, inject ARP responses on the outbound data stream of
all interfaces of the domain). This can be helpful to re-sync network
switches in the broadcast domain of said interfaces when the network topol-
ogy has changed. This is usually done automatically when a domain is
started, or after it has migrated (for example, that is the behavior of
QEMU), but a more complicated setup where the topology changes around an
already active domain (or possibly all the plumbing isn't yet connected and
passing traffic at the time the automatic announcement takes place) might
benefit from a manually triggered announce.

The optional parameters are:

* --initial n

initial delay before first announcement (milliseconds) default: 50

* --max n

maximum delay between announcements (milliseconds) default: 550

* --rounds n

total number of announcements default: 5

* --step n

increment added to delay (milliseconds) after each announcement default
50

dominfo
Syntax:

dominfo domain

Returns basic information about the domain.

domjobabort
Syntax:

domjobabort domain [--postcopy]

Abort the currently running domain job.

When the job to be aborted is a migration which entered post-copy mode, it
cannot be aborted as none of the hosts involved in migration has a complete
state of the domain. Optional --postcopy can be used to interrupt such mi-
gration although doing so may effectively suspend the domain until the mi-
gration is resumed (see also --postcopy-resume option of migrate).

domjobinfo
Syntax:

domjobinfo domain [--completed [--keep-completed]] [--anystats] [--rawstats]

Returns information about jobs running on a domain. --completed tells virsh
to return information about a recently finished job. Statistics of a com-
pleted job are automatically destroyed once read (unless --keep-completed
is used) or when libvirtd is restarted.

Normally only statistics for running and successful completed jobs are
printed. --anystats can be used to also display statistics for failed
jobs.

In case --rawstats is used, all fields are printed as received from the
server without any attempts to interpret the data. The "Job type:" field is
special, since it's reported by the API and not part of stats.

Note that time information returned for completed migrations may be com-
pletely irrelevant unless both source and destination hosts have synchro-
nized time (i.e., NTP daemon is running on both of them).

domlaunchsecinfo
Syntax:

domlaunchsecinfo domain

Returns information about the launch security parameters associated with a
running domain.

The set of parameters reported will vary depending on which type of launch
security protection is active. If none is active, no parameters will be re-
ported.

domsetlaunchsecstate
Syntax:

domsetlaunchsecstate domain --secrethdr hdr-filename
--secret secret-filename [--set-address address]

Set a launch security secret in the guest's memory. The guest must have a
launchSecurity type enabled in its configuration and be in a paused state.
On success, the guest can be transitioned to a running state. On failure,
the guest should be destroyed.

--secrethdr specifies a filename containing the base64-encoded secret
header. The header includes artifacts needed by the hypervisor firmware to
recover the plain text of the launch secret. --secret specifies the file-
name containing the base64-encoded encrypted launch secret.

The --set-address option can be used to specify a physical address within
the guest's memory to set the secret. If not specified, the address will be
determined by the hypervisor.

dommemstat
Syntax:

dommemstat domain [--period seconds] [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Get memory stats for a running domain.

Availability of these fields depends on hypervisor. Unsupported fields are
missing from the output. Other fields may appear if communicating with a
newer version of libvirtd.

Explanation of fields:

* swap_in - The amount of data read from swap space (in KiB)

* swap_out - The amount of memory written out to swap space (in
KiB)

* major_fault - The number of page faults where disk IO was required

* minor_fault - The number of other page faults

* unused - The amount of memory left unused by the system (in
KiB)

* available - The amount of usable memory as seen by the domain (in
KiB)

* actual - Current balloon value (in KiB)

* rss - Resident Set Size of the running domain's process (in
KiB)

* usable - The amount of memory which can be reclaimed by bal-
loon without causing host swapping (in KiB)

* last-update - Timestamp of the last update of statistics (in sec-
onds)

* disk_caches - The amount of memory that can be reclaimed without
additional I/O, typically disk caches (in KiB)

* hugetlb_pgalloc - The number of successful huge page allocations initi-
ated from within the domain

* hugetlb_pgfail - The number of failed huge page allocations initiated
from within the domain

For QEMU/KVM with a memory balloon, setting the optional --period to a
value larger than 0 in seconds will allow the balloon driver to return ad-
ditional statistics which will be displayed by subsequent dommemstat com-
mands. Setting the --period to 0 will stop the balloon driver collection,
but does not clear the statistics in the balloon driver. Requires at least
QEMU/KVM 1.5 to be running on the host.

The --live, --config, and --current flags are only valid when using the
--period option in order to set the collection period for the balloon dri-
ver. If --live is specified, only the running guest collection period is
affected. If --config is specified, affect the next start of a persistent
guest. If --current is specified, it is equivalent to either --live or
--config, depending on the current state of the guest.

Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current is exclusive. If
no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on the guest state.

domname
Syntax:

domname domain-id-or-uuid

Convert a domain Id (or UUID) to domain name

dompmsuspend
Syntax:

dompmsuspend domain target [--duration]

Suspend a running domain into one of these states (possible target values):

* mem - equivalent of S3 ACPI state

* disk - equivalent of S4 ACPI state

* hybrid - RAM is saved to disk but not powered off

The --duration argument specifies number of seconds before the domain is
woken up after it was suspended (see also dompmwakeup). Default is 0 for
unlimited suspend time. (This feature isn't currently supported by any hy-
pervisor driver and 0 should be used.).

Note that this command requires a guest agent configured and running in the
domain's guest OS.

Beware that at least for QEMU, the domain's process will be terminated when
target disk is used and a new process will be launched when libvirt is
asked to wake up the domain. As a result of this, any runtime changes, such
as device hotplug or memory settings, are lost unless such changes were
made with --config flag.

dompmwakeup
Syntax:

dompmwakeup domain

Wakeup a domain from pmsuspended state (either suspended by dompmsuspend or
from the guest itself). Injects a wakeup into the guest that is in pmsus-
pended state, rather than waiting for the previously requested duration (if
any) to elapse. This operation does not necessarily fail if the domain is
running.

domrename
Syntax:

domrename domain new-name

Rename a domain. This command changes current domain name to the new name
specified in the second argument.

Note: Domain must be inactive.

domstate
Syntax:

domstate domain [--reason]

Returns state about a domain. --reason tells virsh to also print reason
for the state.

domstats
Syntax:

domstats [--raw] [--enforce] [--backing] [--nowait] [--state]
[--cpu-total] [--balloon] [--vcpu] [--interface]
[--block] [--perf] [--iothread] [--memory] [--dirtyrate] [--vm]
[[--list-active] [--list-inactive]
[--list-persistent] [--list-transient] [--list-running]y
[--list-paused] [--list-shutoff] [--list-other]] | [domain ...]

Get statistics for multiple or all domains. Without any argument this com-
mand prints all available statistics for all domains.

The list of domains to gather stats for can be either limited by listing
the domains as a space separated list, or by specifying one of the filter-
ing flags --list-NNN. (The approaches can't be combined.)

By default some of the returned fields may be converted to more human
friendly values by a set of pretty-printers. To suppress this behavior use
the --raw flag.

The individual statistics groups are selectable via specific flags. By de-
fault all supported statistics groups are returned. Supported statistics
groups flags are: --state, --cpu-total, --balloon, --vcpu, --interface,
--block, --perf, --iothread, --memory, --dirtyrate, --vm.

Note that - depending on the hypervisor type and version or the domain
state - not all of the following statistics may be returned.

When selecting the --state group the following fields are returned:

* state.state - state of the VM, returned as number from virDomainState
enum

* state.reason - reason for entering given state, returned as int from vir-
Domain*Reason enum corresponding to given state

--cpu-total returns:

* cpu.time - total cpu time spent for this domain in nanoseconds

* cpu.user - user cpu time spent in nanoseconds

* cpu.system - system cpu time spent in nanoseconds

* cpu.haltpoll.success.time - cpu halt polling success time spent in
nanoseconds

* cpu.haltpoll.fail.time - cpu halt polling fail time spent in nanoseconds

* cpu.cache.monitor.count - the number of cache monitors for this domain

* cpu.cache.monitor.<num>.name - the name of cache monitor <num>

* cpu.cache.monitor.<num>.vcpus - vcpu list of cache monitor <num>

* cpu.cache.monitor.<num>.bank.count - the number of cache banks in cache
monitor <num>

* cpu.cache.monitor.<num>.bank.<index>.id - host allocated cache id for
bank <index> in cache monitor <num>

* cpu.cache.monitor.<num>.bank.<index>.bytes - the number of bytes of last
level cache that the domain is using on cache bank <index>

--balloon returns:

* balloon.current - the memory in KiB currently used

* balloon.maximum - the maximum memory in KiB allowed

* balloon.swap_in - the amount of data read from swap space (in KiB)

* balloon.swap_out - the amount of memory written out to swap space (in
KiB)

* balloon.major_fault - the number of page faults when disk IO was required

* balloon.minor_fault - the number of other page faults

* balloon.unused - the amount of memory left unused by the system (in KiB)

* balloon.available - the amount of usable memory as seen by the domain (in
KiB)

* balloon.rss - Resident Set Size of running domain's process (in KiB)

* balloon.usable - the amount of memory which can be reclaimed by balloon
without causing host swapping (in KiB)

* balloon.last-update - timestamp of the last update of statistics (in sec-
onds)

* balloon.disk_caches - the amount of memory that can be reclaimed without
additional I/O, typically disk (in KiB)

* balloon.hugetlb_pgalloc - the number of successful huge page allocations
from inside the domain via virtio balloon

* balloon.hugetlb_pgfail - the number of failed huge page allocations from
inside the domain via virtio balloon

--vcpu returns:

* vcpu.current - current number of online virtual CPUs

* vcpu.maximum - maximum number of online virtual CPUs

* vcpu.<num>.state - state of the virtual CPU <num>, as number from virVc-
puState enum

* vcpu.<num>.time - virtual cpu time spent by virtual CPU <num> (in
nanoseconds)

* vcpu.<num>.wait - time the vCPU <num> thread was waiting in the runqueue
as the scheduler has something else running ahead of it (in nanoseconds),
requires CONFIG_SCHED_INFO on Linux

* vcpu.<num>.halted - virtual CPU <num> is halted: yes or no (may indicate
the processor is idle or even disabled, depending on the architecture)

* vcpu.<num>.delay - time the vCPU <num> thread was waiting in the runqueue
as the scheduler has something else running ahead of it (in nanoseconds).
Exposed to the VM as a steal time.

This group of statistics also reports additional hypervisor-originating
per-vCPU stats. The hypervisor-specific statistics in this group have the
following naming scheme:
vcpu.<num>.$NAME.$TYPE

$NAME name of the statistics field provided by the hypervisor

$TYPE Type of the value. The following types are returned:

cur current instant value

sum aggregate value

max peak value

The returned value may be either an unsigned long long or a boolean.
Meaning is hypervisor specific. Please see the disclaimer for the --vm
group which also consists of hypervisor-specific stats.

--interface returns:

* net.count - number of network interfaces on this domain

* net.<num>.name - name of the interface <num>

* net.<num>.rx.bytes - number of bytes received

* net.<num>.rx.pkts - number of packets received

* net.<num>.rx.errs - number of receive errors

* net.<num>.rx.drop - number of receive packets dropped

* net.<num>.tx.bytes - number of bytes transmitted

* net.<num>.tx.pkts - number of packets transmitted

* net.<num>.tx.errs - number of transmission errors

* net.<num>.tx.drop - number of transmit packets dropped

--perf returns the statistics of all enabled perf events:

* perf.cmt - the cache usage in Byte currently used

* perf.mbmt - total system bandwidth from one level of cache

* perf.mbml - bandwidth of memory traffic for a memory controller

* perf.cpu_cycles - the count of cpu cycles (total/elapsed)

* perf.instructions - the count of instructions

* perf.cache_references - the count of cache hits

* perf.cache_misses - the count of caches misses

* perf.branch_instructions - the count of branch instructions

* perf.branch_misses - the count of branch misses

* perf.bus_cycles - the count of bus cycles

* perf.stalled_cycles_frontend - the count of stalled frontend cpu cycles

* perf.stalled_cycles_backend - the count of stalled backend cpu cycles

* perf.ref_cpu_cycles - the count of ref cpu cycles

* perf.cpu_clock - the count of cpu clock time

* perf.task_clock - the count of task clock time

* perf.page_faults - the count of page faults

* perf.context_switches - the count of context switches

* perf.cpu_migrations - the count of cpu migrations

* perf.page_faults_min - the count of minor page faults

* perf.page_faults_maj - the count of major page faults

* perf.alignment_faults - the count of alignment faults

* perf.emulation_faults - the count of emulation faults

See the perf command for more details about each event.

--block returns information about disks associated with each domain. Using
the --backing flag extends this information to cover all resources in the
backing chain, rather than the default of limiting information to the ac-
tive layer for each guest disk. Information listed includes:

* block.count - number of block devices being listed

* block.<num>.name - name of the target of the block device <num> (the same
name for multiple entries if --backing is present)

* block.<num>.backingIndex - when --backing is present, matches up with the
<backingStore> index listed in domain XML for backing files

* block.<num>.path - file source of block device <num>, if it is a local
file or block device

* block.<num>.rd.reqs - number of read requests

* block.<num>.rd.bytes - number of read bytes

* block.<num>.rd.times - total time (ns) spent on reads

* block.<num>.wr.reqs - number of write requests

* block.<num>.wr.bytes - number of written bytes

* block.<num>.wr.times - total time (ns) spent on writes

* block.<num>.fl.reqs - total flush requests

* block.<num>.fl.times - total time (ns) spent on cache flushing

* block.<num>.errors - Xen only: the 'oo_req' value

* block.<num>.allocation - offset of highest written sector in bytes

* block.<num>.capacity - logical size of source file in bytes

* block.<num>.physical - physical size of source file in bytes

* block.<num>.threshold - threshold (in bytes) for delivering the VIR_DO-
MAIN_EVENT_ID_BLOCK_THRESHOLD event. See domblkthreshold.

* block.<num>.limits.request_alignment - Alignment requirement for requests
in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.discard_max - Maximum number of bytes that can be dis-
carded at once

* block.<num>.limits.discard_alignment - Optimal alignment for discard re-
quests in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.write_zeroes_max - Maximum number of bytes that can be
zeroed out at once

* block.<num>.limits.write_zeroes_alignment - Optimal alignment for
write_zeroes requests in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.transfer_optimal - Optimal transfer length in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.transfer_max - Maximal transfer length in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.transfer_hw_max - Maximal hardware transfer length of
requests bypassing kernel IO scheduler in bytes

* block.<num>.limits.iov_max - Maximum number of scatter/gather elements

* block.<num>.limits.iov_hw_max - Maximal number of scatter/gather elements
of requests bypassing kernel IO scheduler

* block.<num>.limits.memory_alignment_minimal - memory alignment in bytes
so that no bounce buffer is needed

* block.<num>.limits.memory_alignment_optimal - memory alignment in bytes
that is used for bounce buffers

* block.<num>.timed_group.count - number of blocks of timed group statis-
tics

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.interval_length - The time interval in sec-
onds for which the statistics in this group were collected.

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.rd_latency_min - minimum latency of read
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.rd_latency_max - maximum latency of read
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.rd_latency_avg - average latency of read
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.wr_latency_min - minimum latency of write
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.wr_latency_max - maximum latency of write
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.wr_latency_avg - average latency of write
operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.zone_append_latency_min - minimum latency
of zone append operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.zone_append_latency_max - maximum latency
of zone append operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.zone_append_latency_avg - average latency
of zone append operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.flush_latency_min - minimum latency of
flush operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.flush_latency_max - maximum latency of
flush operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.flush_latency_avg - average latency of
flush operations in the defined interval in nanoseconds

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.rd_queue_depth_avg - average number of
pending read operations in the defined interval

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.wr_queue_depth_avg - average number of
pending write operations in the defined interval

* block.<num>.timed_group.<num>.zone_append_queue_depth_avg - average num-
ber of pending zone append operations in the defined interval

* block.<num>.latency_histogram.<type>.bin.count - number of bins in la-
tency histogram. <type> is one of read, write, zone_append, or flush

* block.<num>.latency_histogram.<type>.bin.<num>.start start boundary of a
latency histogram bin in nanoseconds of given operation duration

* block.<num>.latency_histogram.<type>.bin.<num>.value current number of
events corresponding to the given bin and type

--iothread returns information about IOThreads on the running guest if sup-
ported by the hypervisor.

The "poll-max-ns" for each thread is the maximum nanoseconds to allow each
polling interval to occur. A polling interval is a period of time allowed
for a thread to process data before being the guest gives up its CPU quan-
tum back to the host. A value set too small will not allow the IOThread to
run long enough on a CPU to process data. A value set too high will consume
too much CPU time per IOThread failing to allow other threads running on
the CPU to get time. The polling interval is not available for statistical
purposes.

iothread.count - maximum number of IOThreads in the subsequent list
as unsigned int. Each IOThread in the list will will use it's io-
thread_id value as the <id>. There may be fewer <id> entries than
the iothread.count value if the polling values are not supported.

* iothread.<id>.poll-max-ns - maximum polling time in nanoseconds used by
the <id> IOThread. A value of 0 (zero) indicates polling is disabled.

* iothread.<id>.poll-grow - polling time grow value. A value of 0 (zero)
growth is managed by the hypervisor.

* iothread.<id>.poll-shrink - polling time shrink value. A value of (zero)
indicates shrink is managed by hypervisor.

--memory returns:

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.count - the number of memory bandwidth monitors
for this domain

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.name - the name of monitor <num>

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.vcpus - the vcpu list of monitor <num>

memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.node.count - the number of memory
controller in monitor <num>

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.node.<index>.id - host allocated memory
controller id for controller <index> of monitor <num>

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.node.<index>.bytes.local - the accumula-
tive bytes consumed by @vcpus that passing through the memory controller
in the same processor that the scheduled host CPU belongs to.

* memory.bandwidth.monitor.<num>.node.<index>.bytes.total - the total bytes
consumed by @vcpus that passing through all memory controllers, either
local or remote controller.

--dirtyrate returns:

* dirtyrate.calc_status - the status of last memory dirty rate calculation,
returned as number from virDomainDirtyRateStatus enum.

* dirtyrate.calc_start_time - the start time of last memory dirty rate cal-
culation.

* dirtyrate.calc_period - the period of last memory dirty rate calculation.

* dirtyrate.megabytes_per_second - the calculated memory dirty rate in
MiB/s.

* dirtyrate.calc_mode - the calculation mode used last measurement
(page-sampling/dirty-bitmap/dirty-ring)

* dirtyrate.vcpu.<num>.megabytes_per_second - the calculated memory dirty
rate for a virtual cpu in MiB/s

--vm returns:

The --vm option enables reporting of hypervisor-specific statistics. Naming
and meaning of the fields is entirely hypervisor dependent.

The statistics in this group have the following naming scheme:
vm.$NAME.$TYPE

$NAME name of the statistics field provided by the hypervisor

$TYPE Type of the value. The following types are returned:

cur current instant value

sum aggregate value

max peak value

The returned value may be either an unsigned long long or a boolean.

WARNING: The stats reported in this group are runtime-collected and hy-
pervisor originated, thus fall outside of the usual stable API policies
of libvirt.

Libvirt can't guarantee that the statistics reported from the outside
source will be present in further versions of the hypervisor, or that
naming or meaning will stay consistent. Changes to existing fields, how-
ever, are expected to be rare.

Selecting a specific statistics groups doesn't guarantee that the daemon
supports the selected group of stats. Flag --enforce forces the command to
fail if the daemon doesn't support the selected group.

When collecting stats libvirtd may wait for some time if there's already
another job running on given domain for it to finish. This may cause un-
necessary delay in delivering stats. Using --nowait suppresses this behav-
iour. On the other hand some statistics might be missing for such domain.

domtime
Syntax:

domtime domain { [--now] [--pretty] [--sync] [--time time] }

Gets or sets the domain's system time. When run without any arguments (but
domain), the current domain's system time is printed out. The --pretty mod-
ifier can be used to print the time in more human readable form.

When --time time is specified, the domain's time is not gotten but set in-
stead. The --now modifier acts like if it was an alias for --time $now,
which means it sets the time that is currently on the host virsh is running
at. In both cases (setting and getting), time is in seconds relative to
Epoch of 1970-01-01 in UTC. The --sync modifies the set behavior a bit:
The time passed is ignored, but the time to set is read from domain's RTC
instead. Please note, that some hypervisors may require a guest agent to be
configured in order to get or set the guest time.

domuuid
Syntax:

domuuid domain-name-or-id

Convert a domain name or id to domain UUID

domxml-from-native
Syntax:

domxml-from-native format config

Convert the file config in the native guest configuration format named by
format to a domain XML format. For QEMU/KVM hypervisor, the format argument
must be qemu-argv. For Xen hypervisor, the format argument may be xen-xm,
xen-xl, or xen-sxpr. For LXC hypervisor, the format argument must be
lxc-tools. For VMware/ESX hypervisor, the format argument must be
vmware-vmx. For the Bhyve hypervisor, the format argument must be
bhyve-argv.

domxml-to-native
Syntax:

domxml-to-native format { [--xml] xml | --domain domain-name-or-id-or-uuid }

Convert the file xml into domain XML format or convert an existing --domain
to the native guest configuration format named by format. The xml and
--domain arguments are mutually exclusive. For the types of format argu-
ment, refer to domxml-from-native.

dump
Syntax:

dump domain corefilepath [--bypass-cache]
{ [--live] | [--crash] | [--reset] }
[--verbose] [--memory-only] [--format string]

Dumps the core of a domain to a file for analysis. If --live is specified,
the domain continues to run until the core dump is complete, rather than
pausing up front. If --crash is specified, the domain is halted with a
crashed status, rather than merely left in a paused state. If --reset is
specified, the domain is reset after successful dump. Note, these three
switches are mutually exclusive. If --bypass-cache is specified, the save
will avoid the file system cache, although this may slow down the opera-
tion. If --memory-only is specified, the file is elf file, and will only
include domain's memory and cpu common register value. It is very useful if
the domain uses host devices directly. --format string is used to specify
the format of 'memory-only' dump, and string can be one of: elf,
kdump-zlib(kdump-compressed format with zlib-compressed),
kdump-lzo(kdump-compressed format with lzo-compressed),
kdump-snappy(kdump-compressed format with snappy-compressed), win-dmp(Win-
dows full crashdump format).

The progress may be monitored using domjobinfo virsh command and canceled
with domjobabort command (sent by another virsh instance). Another option
is to send SIGINT (usually with Ctrl-C) to the virsh process running dump
command. --verbose displays the progress of dump.

NOTE: Some hypervisors may require the user to manually ensure proper per-
missions on file and path specified by argument corefilepath.

NOTE: Crash dump in a old kvmdump format is being obsolete and cannot be
loaded and processed by crash utility since its version 6.1.0. A --mem-
ory-only option is required in order to produce valid ELF file which can be
later processed by the crash utility.

dumpxml
Syntax:

dumpxml [--inactive] [--security-info] [--update-cpu] [--migratable]
[--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] domain

Output the domain information as an XML dump to stdout, this format can be
used by the create command. Additional options affecting the XML dump may
be used. --inactive tells virsh to dump domain configuration that will be
used on next start of the domain as opposed to the current domain configu-
ration. Using --security-info will also include security sensitive infor-
mation in the XML dump. --update-cpu updates domain CPU requirements ac-
cording to host CPU. With --migratable one can request an XML that is suit-
able for migrations, i.e., compatible with older libvirt releases and pos-
sibly amended with internal run-time options. This option may automatically
enable other options (--update-cpu, --security-info, ...) as necessary.

edit
Syntax:

edit domain

Edit the XML configuration file for a domain, which will affect the next
boot of the guest.

This is equivalent to:

virsh dumpxml --inactive --security-info domain > domain.xml
vi domain.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh define domain.xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

emulatorpin
Syntax:

emulatorpin domain [cpulist] [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Query or change the pinning of domain's emulator threads to host physical
CPUs.

See vcpupin for cpulist.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given if cpulist is
present, but --current is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is
different depending on hypervisor.

event
Syntax:

event {[domain] { event | --all } [--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--timestamp] | --list}

Wait for a class of domain events to occur, and print appropriate details
of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by domain.
Using --list as the only argument will provide a list of possible event
values known by this client, although the connection might not allow regis-
tering for all these events. It is also possible to use --all instead of
event to register for all possible event types at once.

By default, this command is one-shot, and returns success once an event oc-
curs; you can send SIGINT (usually via Ctrl-C) to quit immediately. If
--timeout is specified, the command gives up waiting for events after sec-
onds have elapsed. With --loop, the command prints all events until a
timeout or interrupt key.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event.

await
Syntax:

await <domain> --condition <string> [--timeout seconds]

Wait until the --condition for <domain> is satisfied. Uses events for effi-
cient state updates.

Supported conditions:
domain-inactive
domain is or becomes inactive

guest-agent-available
the guest agent inside the guest connects and becomes available for
commands (usually means that the guest has booted)

If --timeout is specified, the command gives up waiting for the condition
to satisfy after seconds have elapsed. If SIGINT is delivered to virsh
(usually via Ctrl-C) the wait is given up immediately. In non-interactive
mode virsh will return '2' if either of those cases instead of '1' which
means an error happened.

get-user-sshkeys
Syntax:

get-user-sshkeys domain user

Print SSH authorized keys for given user in the guest domain. Please note,
that an entry in the file has internal structure as defined by sshd(8) and
virsh/libvirt does handle keys as opaque strings, i.e. does not interpret
them.

guest-agent-timeout
Syntax:

guest-agent-timeout domain [--timeout value]

Set how long to wait for a response from guest agent commands. By default,
agent commands block forever waiting for a response. value must be a posi-
tive value (wait for given amount of seconds) or one of the following val-
ues:

* -2 - block forever waiting for a result (used when --timeout is omitted),

* -1 - reset timeout to the default value (currently defined as 5 seconds
in libvirt daemon),

* 0 - do not wait at all,

In all guest-agent based APIs when a timeout happens if an actual command
was send to the guest agent the returned error code will be
VIR_ERR_AGENT_COMMAND_TIMEOUT.

guestinfo
Syntax:

guestinfo domain [--user] [--os] [--timezone] [--hostname] [--filesystem]
[--disk] [--interface]

Print information about the guest from the point of view of the guest
agent. Note that this command requires a guest agent to be configured and
running in the domain's guest OS.

When run without any arguments, this command prints all information types
that are supported by the guest agent at that point, omitting unavailable
ones. Success is always reported in this case.

You can limit the types of information that are returned by specifying one
or more flags. Available information types flags are --user, --os, --time-
zone, --hostname, --filesystem, --disk, --interface and --load. If an ex-
plicitly requested information type is not supported by the guest agent at
that point, the processes will provide an exit code of 1.

Note that depending on the hypervisor type and the version of the guest
agent running within the domain, not all of the following information may
be returned.

When selecting the --user information type, the following fields may be re-
turned:

* user.count - the number of active users on this domain

* user.<num>.name - username of user <num>

* user.<num>.domain - domain of the user <num> (may only be present on cer-
tain guets types)

* user.<num>.login-time - the login time of user <num> in milliseconds
since the epoch

--os returns:

* os.id - a string identifying the operating system

* os.name - the name of the operating system

* os.pretty-name - a pretty name for the operating system

* os.version - the version of the operating system

* os.version-id - the version id of the operating system

* os.kernel-release - the release of the operating system kernel

* os.kernel-version - the version of the operating system kernel

* os.machine - the machine hardware name

* os.variant - a specific variant or edition of the operating system

* os.variant-id - the id for a specific variant or edition of the operating
system

--timezone returns:

* timezone.name - the name of the timezone

* timezone.offset - the offset to UTC in seconds

--hostname returns:

* hostname - the hostname of the domain

--filesystem returns:

* fs.count - the number of filesystems defined on this domain

* fs.<num>.mountpoint - the path to the mount point for filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.name - device name in the guest (e.g. sda1) for filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.fstype - the type of filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.total-bytes - the total size of filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.used-bytes - the number of bytes used in filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.disk.count - the number of disks targeted by filesystem <num>

* fs.<num>.disk.<num>.alias - the device alias of disk <num> (e.g. sda)

* fs.<num>.disk.<num>.serial - the serial number of disk <num>

* fs.<num>.disk.<num>.device - the device node of disk <num>

--disk returns:

* disk.count - the number of disks defined on this domain

* disk.<num>.name - device node (Linux) or device UNC (Windows)

* disk.<num>.partition - whether this is a partition or disk

* disk.<num>.dependency.count - the number of device dependencies

* disk.<num>.dependency.<num>.name - a dependency name

* disk.<num>.serial - optional disk serial number

* disk.<num>.alias - the device alias of the disk (e.g. sda)

* disk.<num>.guest_alias - optional alias assigned to the disk

* disk.<num>.guest_bus - bus type as reported by the guest

--interface returns: * if.count - the number of interfaces defined on this
domain * if.<num>.name - name in the guest (e.g. eth0) for interface <num>
* if.<num>.hwaddr - hardware address in the guest for interface <num> *
if.<num>.addr.count - the number of IP addresses of interface <num> *
if.<num>.addr.<num1>.type - the IP address type of addr <num1> (e.g. ipv4)
* if.<num>.addr.<num1>.addr - the IP address of addr <num1> *
if.<num>.addr.<num1>.prefix - the prefix of IP address of addr <num1>

--load returns: * load.1m - average load in guest for last 1 minute *
load.5m - average load in guest for last 5 minutes * load.15m - average
load in guest for last 15 minutes

guestvcpus
Syntax:

guestvcpus domain [[--enable] | [--disable]] [cpulist]

Query or change state of vCPUs from guest's point of view using the guest
agent. When invoked without cpulist the guest is queried for available
guest vCPUs, their state and possibility to be offlined.

If cpulist is provided then one of --enable or --disable must be provided
too. The desired operation is then executed on the domain.

See vcpupin for information on cpulist.

iothreadadd
Syntax:

iothreadadd domain iothread_id [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Add a new IOThread to the domain using the specified iothread_id. If the
iothread_id already exists, the command will fail. The iothread_id must be
greater than zero.

iothreaddel
Syntax:

iothreaddel domain iothread_id [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Delete an IOThread from the domain using the specified iothread_id. If an
IOThread is currently assigned to a disk resource such as via the at-
tach-disk command, then the attempt to remove the IOThread will fail. If
the iothread_id does not exist an error will occur.

iothreadinfo
Syntax:

iothreadinfo domain [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Display basic domain IOThreads information including the IOThread ID and
the CPU Affinity for each IOThread.

If --live is specified, get the IOThreads data from the running guest. If
the guest is not running, an error is returned. If --config is specified,
get the IOThreads data from the next start of a persistent guest. If
--current is specified or --live and --config are not specified, then get
the IOThread data based on the current guest state, which can either be
live or offline.

iothreadpin
Syntax:

iothreadpin domain iothread cpulist [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Change the pinning of a domain IOThread to host physical CPUs. In order to
retrieve a list of all IOThreads, use iothreadinfo. To pin an iothread
specify the cpulist desired for the IOThread ID as listed in the iothread-
info output.

cpulist is a list of physical CPU numbers. Its syntax is a comma separated
list and a special markup using '-' and '^' (ex. '0-4', '0-3,^2') can also
be allowed. The '-' denotes the range and the '^' denotes exclusive. If
you want to reset iothreadpin setting, that is, to pin an iothread to all
physical cpus, simply specify 'r' as a cpulist.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If the guest is not run-
ning, an error is returned. If --config is specified, affect the next
start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it is equivalent
to either --live or --config, depending on the current state of the guest.
Both --live and --config flags may be given if cpulist is present, but
--current is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different de-
pending on hypervisor.

Note: The expression is sequentially evaluated, so "0-15,^8" is identical
to "9-14,0-7,15" but not identical to "^8,0-15".

iothreadset
Syntax:

iothreadset domain iothread_id [[--poll-max-ns ns] [--poll-grow factor]
[--poll-shrink divisor] [--thread-pool-min value]
[--thread-pool-max value]]
[[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Modifies an existing iothread of the domain using the specified io-
thread_id. The --poll-max-ns provides the maximum polling interval to be
allowed for an IOThread in ns. If a 0 (zero) is provided, then polling for
the IOThread is disabled. The --poll-grow is the factor by which the cur-
rent polling time will be adjusted in order to reach the maximum polling
time. If a 0 (zero) is provided, then the default factor will be used. The
--poll-shrink is the quotient by which the current polling time will be re-
duced in order to get below the maximum polling interval. If a 0 (zero) is
provided, then the default quotient will be used. The polling values are
purely dynamic for a running guest. Saving, destroying, stopping, etc. the
guest will result in the polling values returning to hypervisor defaults at
the next start, restore, etc.

The --thread-pool-min and --thread-pool-max options then set lower and up-
per bound, respectively of number of threads in worker pool of given io-
thread. For changes to an inactive configuration -1 can be specified to re-
move corresponding boundary from the domain configuration. For changes to a
running guest it's recommended to set the upper boundary first
(--thread-pool-max) and only after that set the lower boundary
(--thread-pool-min). It is allowed for the lower boundary to be the same as
the upper boundary, however it's not allowed for the upper boundary to be
value of zero.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If the guest is not running
an error is returned. If --current is specified or --live is not speci-
fied, then handle as if --live was specified. (Where "current" here means
whatever the present guest state is: live or offline.)

managedsave
Syntax:

managedsave domain [--bypass-cache] [{--running | --paused}] [--verbose]

Save and destroy (stop) a running domain, so it can be restarted from the
same state at a later time. When the virsh start command is next run for
the domain, it will automatically be started from this saved state. If
--bypass-cache is specified, the save will avoid the file system cache, al-
though this may slow down the operation.

The progress may be monitored using domjobinfo virsh command and canceled
with domjobabort command (sent by another virsh instance). Another option
is to send SIGINT (usually with Ctrl-C) to the virsh process running man-
agedsave command. --verbose displays the progress of save.

Normally, starting a managed save will decide between running or paused
based on the state the domain was in when the save was done; passing either
the --running or --paused flag will allow overriding which state the start
should use.

The dominfo command can be used to query whether a domain currently has any
managed save image.

managedsave-define
Syntax:

managedsave-define domain xml [{--running | --paused}]

Update the domain XML that will be used when domain is later started. The
xml argument must be a file name containing the alternative XML, with
changes only in the host-specific portions of the domain XML. For example,
it can be used to change disk file paths.

The managed save image records whether the domain should be started to a
running or paused state. Normally, this command does not alter the
recorded state; passing either the --running or --paused flag will allow
overriding which state the start should use.

managedsave-dumpxml
Syntax:

managedsave-dumpxml [--security-info] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] domain

Extract the domain XML that was in effect at the time the saved state file
file was created with the managedsave command. Using --security-info will
also include security sensitive information.

managedsave-edit
Syntax:

managedsave-edit domain [{--running | --paused}]

Edit the XML configuration associated with a saved state file of a domain
was created by the managedsave command.

This is equivalent to:

virsh managedsave-dumpxml domain-name > state-file.xml
vi state-file.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh managedsave-define domain-name state-file-xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

managedsave-remove
Syntax:

managedsave-remove domain

Remove the managedsave state file for a domain, if it exists. This ensures
the domain will do a full boot the next time it is started.

maxvcpus
Syntax:

maxvcpus [type]

Provide the maximum number of virtual CPUs supported for a guest VM on this
connection. If provided, the type parameter must be a valid type attribute
for the <domain> element of XML.

memtune
Syntax:

memtune domain [--hard-limit size] [--soft-limit size] [--swap-hard-limit size]
[--min-guarantee size] [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Allows you to display or set the domain memory parameters. Without flags,
the current settings are displayed; with a flag, the appropriate limit is
adjusted if supported by the hypervisor. LXC and QEMU/KVM support
--hard-limit, --soft-limit, and --swap-hard-limit. --min-guarantee is sup-
ported only by ESX hypervisor. Each of these limits are scaled integers
(see NOTES above), with a default of kibibytes (blocks of 1024 bytes) if no
suffix is present. Libvirt rounds up to the nearest kibibyte. Some hyper-
visors require a larger granularity than KiB, and requests that are not an
even multiple will be rounded up. For example, vSphere/ESX rounds the pa-
rameter up to mebibytes (1024 kibibytes).

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current
is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on
hypervisor.

For QEMU/KVM, the parameters are applied to the QEMU process as a whole.
Thus, when counting them, one needs to add up guest RAM, guest video RAM,
and some memory overhead of QEMU itself. The last piece is hard to deter-
mine so one needs guess and try.

For LXC, the displayed hard_limit value is the current memory setting from
the XML or the results from a virsh setmem command.

* --hard-limit

The maximum memory the guest can use.

* --soft-limit

The memory limit to enforce during memory contention.

* --swap-hard-limit

The maximum memory plus swap the guest can use. This has to be more than
hard-limit value provided.

* --min-guarantee

The guaranteed minimum memory allocation for the guest.

Specifying -1 as a value for these limits is interpreted as unlimited.

metadata
Syntax:

metadata domain [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]
[--edit] [uri] [key] [set] [--remove]

Show or modify custom XML metadata of a domain. The metadata is a user de-
fined XML that allows storing arbitrary XML data in the domain definition.
Multiple separate custom metadata pieces can be stored in the domain XML.
The pieces are identified by a private XML namespace provided via the uri
argument. (See also desc that works with textual metadata of a domain.)

Flag --remove specifies that the metadata element specified by the uri ar-
gument should be removed rather than updated.

Flag --edit specifies that an editor with the metadata identified by the
uri argument should be opened and the contents saved back afterwards. Oth-
erwise the new contents can be provided via the set argument.

When setting metadata via --edit or set the key argument must be specified
and is used to prefix the custom elements to bind them to the private name-
space.

If neither of --edit and set are specified the XML metadata corresponding
to the uri namespace is displayed instead of being modified.

migrate
Syntax:

migrate [--live] [--offline] [--direct] [--p2p [--tunnelled]]
[--persistent] [--undefinesource] [--suspend] [--copy-storage-all]
[--copy-storage-inc] [--change-protection] [--unsafe] [--verbose]
[--rdma-pin-all] [--abort-on-error] [--postcopy]
[--postcopy-after-precopy] [--postcopy-resume] [--zerocopy]
domain desturi [migrateuri] [graphicsuri] [listen-address] [dname]
[--timeout seconds [--timeout-suspend | --timeout-postcopy]]
[--xml file]
[--migrate-disks disk-list] [--migrate-disks-detect-zeroes disk-list]
[--migrate-disks-target-zero disk-list]
[--disks-port port]
[--compressed] [--comp-methods method-list]
[--comp-mt-level] [--comp-mt-threads] [--comp-mt-dthreads]
[--comp-xbzrle-cache] [--comp-zlib-level] [--comp-zstd-level]
[--auto-converge] [auto-converge-initial]
[auto-converge-increment] [--persistent-xml file] [--tls]
[--postcopy-bandwidth bandwidth]
[--parallel [--parallel-connections connections]]
[--bandwidth bandwidth] [--tls-destination hostname]
[--disks-uri URI] [--copy-storage-synchronous-writes]
[--available-switchover-bandwidth bandwidth]

Migrate domain to another host. Add --live for live migration; <--p2p> for
peer-2-peer migration; --direct for direct migration; or --tunnelled for
tunnelled migration. --offline migrates domain definition without starting
the domain on destination and without stopping it on source host. Offline
migration may be used with inactive domains and it must be used with --per-
sistent option.

--persistent leaves the domain persistent on destination host (See below
for quirks when used together with --xml), --undefinesource undefines the
domain on the source host, and --suspend leaves the domain paused on the
destination host.

--copy-storage-all indicates migration with non-shared storage with full
disk copy, --copy-storage-inc indicates migration with non-shared storage
with incremental copy (same base image shared between source and destina-
tion). In both cases the disk images have to exist on destination host,
the --copy-storage-... options only tell libvirt to transfer data from the
images on source host to the images found at the same place on the destina-
tion host. By default only non-shared non-readonly images are transferred.
Use --migrate-disks to explicitly specify a list of disk targets to trans-
fer via the comma separated disk-list argument. The --migrate-disks-de-
tect-zeroes option which takes a comma separated list of disk target names
enables zeroed block detection for the listed migrated disks. These blocks
are not transferred or allocated (requires that 'discard' option on given
disk is set to 'unmap') on destination, effectively sparsifying the disk at
the cost of CPU overhead. The --migrate-disks-target-zero option which
takes a comma separated list of disk target names specifies disk images
where the target was zeroed out prior to the migration and thus hypervisor
will not attempt to zero them. With --copy-storage-synchronous-writes flag
used the disk data migration will synchronously handle guest disk writes to
both the original source and the destination to ensure that the disk migra-
tion converges at the price of possibly decreased burst performance.

--change-protection enforces that no incompatible configuration changes
will be made to the domain while the migration is underway; this flag is
implicitly enabled when supported by the hypervisor, but can be explicitly
used to reject the migration if the hypervisor lacks change protection sup-
port.

--verbose displays the progress of migration.

--abort-on-error cancels the migration if a soft error (for example I/O er-
ror) happens during the migration.

--postcopy enables post-copy logic in migration, but does not actually
start post-copy, i.e., migration is started in pre-copy mode. Once migra-
tion is running, the user may switch to post-copy using the migrate-post-
copy command sent from another virsh instance or use --postcopy-after-pre-
copy along with --postcopy to let libvirt automatically switch to post-copy
after the first pass of pre-copy is finished. The maximum bandwidth con-
sumed during the post-copy phase may be limited using --postcopy-bandwidth.
The maximum bandwidth consumed during the pre-copy phase may be limited us-
ing --bandwidth. In case connection between the hosts breaks while migra-
tion is in post-copy mode, the domain cannot be resumed on either source or
destination host and the migrate command will report an error leaving the
domain active on both hosts. To recover from such situation repeat the
original migrate command with an additional --postcopy-resume flag.

--auto-converge forces convergence during live migration. The initial guest
CPU throttling rate can be set with auto-converge-initial. If the initial
throttling rate is not enough to ensure convergence, the rate is periodi-
cally increased by auto-converge-increment.

--rdma-pin-all can be used with RDMA migration (i.e., when migrateuri
starts with rdma://) to tell the hypervisor to pin all domain's memory at
once before migration starts rather than letting it pin memory pages as
needed. For QEMU/KVM this requires hard_limit memory tuning element (in the
domain XML) to be used and set to the maximum memory configured for the do-
main plus any memory consumed by the QEMU process itself. Beware of setting
the memory limit too high (and thus allowing the domain to lock most of the
host's memory). Doing so may be dangerous to both the domain and the host
itself since the host's kernel may run out of memory.

--zerocopy requests zero-copy mechanism to be used for migrating memory
pages. For QEMU/KVM this means QEMU will be temporarily allowed to lock
all guest pages in host's memory, although only those that are queued for
transfer will be locked at the same time.

Note: Individual hypervisors usually do not support all possible types of
migration. For example, QEMU does not support direct migration.

In some cases libvirt may refuse to migrate the domain because doing so may
lead to potential problems such as data corruption, and thus the migration
is considered unsafe. For QEMU domain, this may happen if the domain uses
disks without explicitly setting cache mode to "none". Migrating such do-
mains is unsafe unless the disk images are stored on coherent clustered
filesystem, such as GFS2 or GPFS. If you are sure the migration is safe or
you just do not care, use --unsafe to force the migration.

dname is used for renaming the domain to new name during migration, which
also usually can be omitted.

--xml file, while usually not required, can be used to supply an alterna-
tive XML file for use on the destination to supply a larger set of changes
to any host-specific portions of the domain XML, such as accounting for
naming differences between source and destination in accessing underlying
storage. If --xml is used together with --persistent it's usually required
to provide a persistent XML definition via --persistent-xml (see below)
which is fixed the same way as the XML passed to --file was.

If --persistent is enabled, --persistent-xml file can be used to supply an
alternative XML file which will be used as the persistent guest definition
on the destination host.

--timeout seconds tells virsh to run a specified action when live migration
exceeds that many seconds. It can only be used with --live. If --time-
out-suspend is specified, the domain will be suspended after the timeout
and the migration will complete offline; this is the default if no --time-
out-\`` option is specified on the command line. When *--timeout-postcopy
is used, virsh will switch migration from pre-copy to post-copy upon time-
out; migration has to be started with --postcopy option for this to work.

--compressed activates compression, the compression method is chosen with
--comp-methods. Supported methods are "mt", "xbzrle", "zlib", and "zstd".
The supported set of methods and their combinations depend on a hypervisor
and migration options. QEMU only supports "zlib" and "zstd" methods when
--parallel is used and they cannot be used at once. When no methods are
specified, a hypervisor default methods will be used. QEMU defaults to
"xbzrle" as long as --parallel is not used. For --parallel migrations QEMU
does not provide any default compression method and thus it has to be spec-
ified explicitly using --comp-method. Compression methods can be tuned
further. --comp-mt-level sets compression level for "mt" method. Values are
in range from 0 to 9, where 1 is maximum speed and 9 is maximum compres-
sion. --comp-mt-threads and --comp-mt-dthreads set the number of compress
threads on source and the number of decompress threads on target respec-
tively. --comp-xbzrle-cache sets size of page cache in bytes.
--comp-zlib-level sets the compression level when using "zlib" method. Val-
ues are in range from 0 to 9 and defaults to 1, where 0 is no compression,
1 is maximum speed and 9 is maximum compression. --comp-zstd-level sets the
compression level when using "zstd" method. Values are in range from 0 to
20 and defaults to 1, where 0 is no compression, 1 is maximum speed and 20
is maximum compression.

Providing --tls causes the migration to use the host configured TLS setup
(see migrate_tls_x509_cert_dir in /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf) in order to per-
form the migration of the domain. Usage requires proper TLS setup for both
source and target. Normally the TLS certificate from the destination host
must match the host's name for TLS verification to succeed. When the cer-
tificate does not match the destination hostname and the expected certifi-
cate's hostname is known, --tls-destination can be used to pass the ex-
pected hostname when starting the migration.

--parallel option will cause migration data to be sent over multiple paral-
lel connections. The number of such connections can be set using --paral-
lel-connections. Parallel connections may help with saturating the network
link between the source and the target and thus speeding up the migration.

Running migration can be canceled by interrupting virsh (usually using
Ctrl-C) or by domjobabort command sent from another virsh instance.

The desturi and migrateuri parameters can be used to control which destina-
tion the migration uses. desturi is important for managed migration, but
unused for direct migration; migrateuri is required for direct migration,
but can usually be automatically determined for managed migration.

Note: The desturi parameter for normal migration and peer2peer migration
has different semantics:

* normal migration: the desturi is an address of the target host as seen
from the client machine.

* peer2peer migration: the desturi is an address of the target host as seen
from the source machine.

In a special circumstance where you require a complete control of the con-
nection and/or libvirt does not have network access to the remote side you
can use a UNIX transport in the URI and specify a socket path in the query,
for example with the qemu driver you could use this:

qemu+unix:///system?socket=/path/to/socket

When migrateuri is not specified, libvirt will automatically determine the
hypervisor specific URI. Some hypervisors, including QEMU, have an op-
tional "migration_host" configuration parameter (useful when the host has
multiple network interfaces). If this is unspecified, libvirt determines a
name by looking up the target host's configured hostname.

There are a few scenarios where specifying migrateuri may help:

* The configured hostname is incorrect, or DNS is broken. If a host has a
hostname which will not resolve to match one of its public IP addresses,
then libvirt will generate an incorrect URI. In this case migrateuri
should be explicitly specified, using an IP address, or a correct host-
name.

* The host has multiple network interfaces. If a host has multiple network
interfaces, it might be desirable for the migration data stream to be
sent over a specific interface for either security or performance rea-
sons. In this case migrateuri should be explicitly specified, using an
IP address associated with the network to be used.

* The firewall restricts what ports are available. When libvirt generates
a migration URI, it will pick a port number using hypervisor specific
rules. Some hypervisors only require a single port to be open in the
firewalls, while others require a whole range of port numbers. In the
latter case migrateuri might be specified to choose a specific port num-
ber outside the default range in order to comply with local firewall
policies.

* The desturi uses UNIX transport method. In this advanced case libvirt
should not guess a migrateuri and it should be specified using UNIX
socket path URI:

unix:///path/to/socket

See <https://libvirt.org/migration.html#uris> for more details on migra-
tion URIs.

Optional graphicsuri overrides connection parameters used for automatically
reconnecting a graphical clients at the end of migration. If omitted, lib-
virt will compute the parameters based on target host IP address. In case
the client does not have a direct access to the network virtualization
hosts are connected to and needs to connect through a proxy, graphicsuri
may be used to specify the address the client should connect to. The URI is
formed as follows:

protocol://hostname[:port]/[?parameters]

where protocol is either "spice" or "vnc" and parameters is a list of pro-
tocol specific parameters separated by '&'. Currently recognized parameters
are "tlsPort" and "tlsSubject". For example,

spice://target.host.com:1234/?tlsPort=4567

Optional listen-address sets the listen address that hypervisor on the des-
tination side should bind to for incoming migration. Both IPv4 and IPv6 ad-
dresses are accepted as well as hostnames (the resolving is done on desti-
nation). Some hypervisors do not support specifying the listen address and
will return an error if this parameter is used. This parameter cannot be
used if desturi uses UNIX transport method.

Optional disks-port sets the port that hypervisor on destination side
should bind to for incoming disks traffic. Currently it is supported only
by QEMU.

Optional disks-uri can also be specified (mutually exclusive with
disks-port) to specify what the remote hypervisor should bind/connect to
when migrating disks. This can be tcp://address:port to specify a listen
address (which overrides --migrate-uri and --listen-address for the disk
migration) and a port or unix:///path/to/socket in case you need the disk
migration to happen over a UNIX socket with that specified path. In this
case you need to make sure the same socket path is accessible to both
source and destination hypervisors and connecting to the socket on the
source (after hypervisor creates it on the destination) will actually con-
nect to the destination. If you are using SELinux (at least on the source
host) you need to make sure the socket on the source is accessible to lib-
virtd/QEMU for connection. Libvirt cannot change the context of the exist-
ing socket because it is different from the file representation of the
socket and the context is chosen by its creator (usually by using setsock-
createcon{,_raw}() functions).

Optional --available-switchover-bandwidth overrides the automatically com-
puted bandwidth (in MiB/s) available for the final phase of (pre-copy) mi-
gration during which CPUs are stopped and all the remaining memory and de-
vice state is transferred. Knowing this bandwidth is important for accurate
estimation of the domain downtime and deciding the right moment for switch-
ing over. Normally this would be estimated based on the bandwidth used by
migration, but this could be lower than the actual available bandwidth. Us-
ing this option may help with migration convergence when the migration
would keep iterating over and over thinking there's not enough bandwidth to
comply with the configured maximum downtime.

migrate-compcache
Syntax:

migrate-compcache domain [--size bytes]

Sets and/or gets size of the cache (in bytes) used for compressing repeat-
edly transferred memory pages during live migration. When called without
size, the command just prints current size of the compression cache. When
size is specified, the hypervisor is asked to change compression cache to
size bytes and then the current size is printed (the result may differ from
the requested size due to rounding done by the hypervisor). The size option
is supposed to be used while the domain is being live-migrated as a reac-
tion to migration progress and increasing number of compression cache
misses obtained from domjobinfo.

migrate-getmaxdowntime
Syntax:

migrate-getmaxdowntime domain

Get the maximum tolerable downtime for a domain which is being live-mi-
grated to another host. This is the number of milliseconds the guest is
allowed to be down at the end of live migration.

migrate-getspeed
Syntax:

migrate-getspeed domain [--postcopy]

Get the maximum migration bandwidth (in MiB/s) for a domain. If the --post-
copy option is specified, the command will get the maximum bandwidth al-
lowed during a post-copy migration phase.

migrate-postcopy
Syntax:

migrate-postcopy domain

Switch the current migration from pre-copy to post-copy. This is only sup-
ported for a migration started with --postcopy option.

migrate-setmaxdowntime
Syntax:

migrate-setmaxdowntime domain downtime

Set maximum tolerable downtime for a domain which is being live-migrated to
another host. The downtime is a number of milliseconds the guest is al-
lowed to be down at the end of live migration.

migrate-setspeed
Syntax:

migrate-setspeed domain bandwidth [--postcopy]

Set the maximum migration bandwidth (in MiB/s) for a domain which is being
migrated to another host. bandwidth is interpreted as an unsigned long long
value. Specifying a negative value results in an essentially unlimited
value being provided to the hypervisor. The hypervisor can choose whether
to reject the value or convert it to the maximum value allowed. If the
--postcopy option is specified, the command will set the maximum bandwidth
allowed during a post-copy migration phase.

numatune
Syntax:

numatune domain [--mode mode] [--nodeset nodeset]
[[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Set or get a domain's numa parameters, corresponding to the <numatune> ele-
ment of domain XML. Without flags, the current settings are displayed.

mode can be one of `strict', `interleave', `preferred' and 'restrictive' or
any valid number from the virDomainNumatuneMemMode enum in case the daemon
supports it. For a running domain, the mode can't be changed, and the
nodeset can be changed only if the domain was started with `restrictive'
mode.

nodeset is a list of numa nodes used by the host for running the domain.
Its syntax is a comma separated list, with '-' for ranges and '^' for ex-
cluding a node.

If --live is specified, set scheduler information of a running guest. If
--config is specified, affect the next start of a persistent guest. If
--current is specified, it is equivalent to either --live or --config, de-
pending on the current state of the guest.

For running guests in Linux hosts, the changes made in the domain's numa
parameters does not imply that the guest memory will be moved to a differ-
ent nodeset immediately. The memory migration depends on the guest activ-
ity, and the memory of an idle guest will remain in its previous nodeset
for longer. The presence of VFIO devices will also lock parts of the guest
memory in the same nodeset used to start the guest, regardless of nodeset
changes.

perf
Syntax:

perf domain [--enable eventSpec] [--disable eventSpec]
[[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Get the current perf events setting or enable/disable specific perf events
for a guest domain.

Perf is a performance analyzing tool in Linux, and it can instrument CPU
performance counters, tracepoints, kprobes, and uprobes (dynamic tracing).
Perf supports a list of measurable events, and can measure events coming
from different sources. For instance, some event are pure kernel counters,
in this case they are called software events, including context-switches,
minor-faults, etc.. Now dozens of events from different sources can be sup-
ported by perf.

Currently only QEMU/KVM supports this command. The --enable and --disable
option combined with eventSpec can be used to enable or disable specific
performance event. eventSpec is a string list of one or more events sepa-
rated by commas. Valid event names are as follows:

Valid perf event names

* cmt - A PQos (Platform Qos) feature to monitor the usage of cache by ap-
plications running on the platform.

* mbmt - Provides a way to monitor the total system memory bandwidth be-
tween one level of cache and another.

* mbml - Provides a way to limit the amount of data (bytes/s) send through
the memory controller on the socket.

* cache_misses - Provides the count of cache misses by applications running
on the platform.

* cache_references - Provides the count of cache hits by applications run-
ning on th e platform.

* instructions - Provides the count of instructions executed by applica-
tions running on the platform.

* cpu_cycles - Provides the count of cpu cycles (total/elapsed). May be
used with instructions in order to get a cycles per instruction.

* branch_instructions - Provides the count of branch instructions executed
by applications running on the platform.

* branch_misses - Provides the count of branch misses executed by applica-
tions running on the platform.

* bus_cycles - Provides the count of bus cycles executed by applications
running on the platform.

* stalled_cycles_frontend - Provides the count of stalled cpu cycles in the
frontend of the instruction processor pipeline by applications running on
the platform.

* stalled_cycles_backend - Provides the count of stalled cpu cycles in the
backend of the instruction processor pipeline by applications running on
the platform.

* ref_cpu_cycles - Provides the count of total cpu cycles not affected by
CPU frequency scaling by applications running on the platform.

* cpu_clock - Provides the cpu clock time consumed by applications running
on the platform.

* task_clock - Provides the task clock time consumed by applications run-
ning on the platform.

* page_faults - Provides the count of page faults by applications running
on the platform.

* context_switches - Provides the count of context switches by applications
running on the platform.

* cpu_migrations - Provides the count cpu migrations by applications run-
ning on the platform.

* page_faults_min - Provides the count minor page faults by applications
running on the platform.

* page_faults_maj - Provides the count major page faults by applications
running on the platform.

* alignment_faults - Provides the count alignment faults by applications
running on the platform.

* emulation_faults - Provides the count emulation faults by applications
running on the platform.

Note: The statistics can be retrieved using the domstats command using the
--perf flag.

If --live is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified,
affect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current
is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on
hypervisor.

reboot
Syntax:

reboot domain [--mode MODE-LIST]

Reboot a domain. This acts just as if the domain had the reboot command
run from the console. The command returns as soon as it has executed the
reboot action, which may be significantly before the domain actually re-
boots.

The exact behavior of a domain when it reboots is set by the on_reboot pa-
rameter in the domain's XML definition.

By default the hypervisor will try to pick a suitable shutdown method. To
specify an alternative method, the --mode parameter can specify a comma
separated list which includes acpi, agent, initctl, signal and paravirt.
The order in which drivers will try each mode is undefined, and not related
to the order specified to virsh. For strict control over ordering, use a
single mode at a time and repeat the command.

reset
Syntax:

reset domain

Reset a domain immediately without any guest shutdown. reset emulates the
power reset button on a machine, where all guest hardware sees the RST line
set and reinitializes internal state.

Note: Reset without any guest OS shutdown risks data loss.

restore
Syntax:

restore state-file [--bypass-cache] [--xml file]
[{--running | --paused}] [--reset-nvram] [--parallel-channels]

Restores a domain from a virsh save state file. See save for more info.

If --bypass-cache is specified, the restore will avoid the file system
cache. Depending on the specific scenario this may slow down or speed up
the operation.

--xml file is usually omitted, but can be used to supply an alternative XML
file for use on the restored guest with changes only in the host-specific
portions of the domain XML. For example, it can be used to account for
file naming differences in underlying storage due to disk snapshots taken
after the guest was saved.

Normally, restoring a saved image will use the state recorded in the save
image to decide between running or paused; passing either the --running or
--paused flag will allow overriding which state the domain should be
started in.

If --reset-nvram is specified, any existing NVRAM/varstore file will be
deleted and re-initialized from its pristine template.

--parallel-channels option can specify number of parallel IO channels to be
used when loading memory from file. Parallel save may significantly reduce
the time required to save large memory domains.

Note: To avoid corrupting file system contents within the domain, you
should not reuse the saved state file for a second restore unless you have
also reverted all storage volumes back to the same contents as when the
state file was created.

resume
Syntax:

resume domain

Moves a domain out of the suspended state. This will allow a previously
suspended domain to now be eligible for scheduling by the underlying hyper-
visor.

save
Syntax:

save domain state-file [--bypass-cache] [--xml file]
[--image-format format]
[--parallel-channels channels]
[{--running | --paused}] [--verbose]

Saves a running domain (RAM, but not disk state) to a state file so that it
can be restored later. Once saved, the domain will no longer be running on
the system, thus the memory allocated for the domain will be free for other
domains to use. virsh restore restores from this state file.

If --bypass-cache is specified, the save will avoid the file system cache.
Depending on the specific scenario this may slow down or speed up the oper-
ation.

The progress may be monitored using domjobinfo virsh command and canceled
with domjobabort command (sent by another virsh instance). Another option
is to send SIGINT (usually with Ctrl-C) to the virsh process running save
command. --verbose displays the progress of save.

This is roughly equivalent to doing a hibernate on a running computer, with
all the same limitations. Open network connections may be severed upon re-
store, as TCP timeouts may have expired.

--xml file is usually omitted, but can be used to supply an alternative XML
file for use on the restored guest with changes only in the host-specific
portions of the domain XML. For example, it can be used to account for
file naming differences that are planned to be made via disk snapshots of
underlying storage after the guest is saved.

Normally, restoring a saved image will decide between running or paused
based on the state the domain was in when the save was done; passing either
the --running or --paused flag will allow overriding which state the re-
store should use.

--image-format option can change the default image format used to save data
into file. For more details consult the qemu.conf configuration file.

--parallel-channels option can specify number of parallel IO channels to be
used when saving memory to file. Using parallel IO channels requires the
use of sparse image save format. Parallel save may significantly reduce the
time required to save large memory domains.

Domain saved state files assume that disk images will be unchanged between
the creation and restore point. For a more complete system restore point,
where the disk state is saved alongside the memory state, see the snapshot
family of commands.

save-image-define
Syntax:

save-image-define file xml [{--running | --paused}]

Update the domain XML that will be used when file is later used in the re-
store command. The xml argument must be a file name containing the alter-
native XML, with changes only in the host-specific portions of the domain
XML. For example, it can be used to account for file naming differences
resulting from creating disk snapshots of underlying storage after the
guest was saved.

The save image records whether the domain should be restored to a running
or paused state. Normally, this command does not alter the recorded state;
passing either the --running or --paused flag will allow overriding which
state the restore should use.

save-image-dumpxml
Syntax:

save-image-dumpxml [--security-info] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] file

Extract the domain XML that was in effect at the time the saved state file
file was created with the save command. Using --security-info will also
include security sensitive information.

save-image-edit
Syntax:

save-image-edit file [{--running | --paused}]

Edit the XML configuration associated with a saved state file file created
by the save command.

This is equivalent to:

virsh save-image-dumpxml state-file > state-file.xml
vi state-file.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh save-image-define state-file state-file-xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

schedinfo
Syntax:

schedinfo domain [[--config] [--live] | [--current]] [[--set] parameter=value]...
schedinfo [--weight number] [--cap number] domain

Allows you to show (and set) the domain scheduler parameters. The parame-
ters available for each hypervisor are:

LXC (posix scheduler) : cpu_shares, vcpu_period, vcpu_quota

QEMU/KVM (posix scheduler): cpu_shares, vcpu_period, vcpu_quota, emula-
tor_period, emulator_quota, global_period, global_quota, iothread_period,
iothread_quota

Xen (credit scheduler): weight, cap

ESX (allocation scheduler): reservation, limit, shares

Note: The cpu_shares parameter has a valid value range of 2-262144 with
cgroups v1, 1-10000 with cgroups v2.

Note: The weight and cap parameters are defined only for the XEN_CREDIT
scheduler.

Note: The vcpu_period, emulator_period, and iothread_period parameters have
a valid value range of 1000-1000000 or 0, and the vcpu_quota, emula-
tor_quota, and iothread_quota parameters have a valid value range of
1000-17592186044415 or less than 0. The value 0 for either parameter is the
same as not specifying that parameter.

screenshot
Syntax:

screenshot domain [imagefilepath] [--screen screenID]

Takes a screenshot of a current domain console and stores it into a file.
Optionally, if the hypervisor supports more displays for a domain, screenID
allows specifying which screen will be captured. It is the sequential num-
ber of screen. In case of multiple graphics cards, heads are enumerated be-
fore devices, e.g. having two graphics cards, both with four heads, screen
ID 5 addresses the second head on the second card.

send-key
Syntax:

send-key domain [--codeset codeset] [--holdtime holdtime] keycode...

Parse the keycode sequence as keystrokes to send to domain. Each keycode
can either be a numeric value or a symbolic name from the corresponding
codeset. If --holdtime is given, each keystroke will be held for that many
milliseconds. The default codeset is linux, but use of the --codeset op-
tion allows other codesets to be chosen.

If multiple keycodes are specified, they are all sent simultaneously to the
guest, and they may be received in random order. If you need distinct key-
presses, you must use multiple send-key invocations.

* linux

The numeric values are those defined by the Linux generic input event
subsystem. The symbolic names match the corresponding Linux key constant
macro names.

See virkeycode-linux(7) and virkeyname-linux(7)

* xt

The numeric values are those defined by the original XT keyboard con-
troller. No symbolic names are provided

See virkeycode-xt(7)

* atset1

The numeric values are those defined by the AT keyboard controller, set 1
(aka XT compatible set). Extended keycoes from atset1 may differ from ex-
tended keycodes in the xt codeset. No symbolic names are provided

See virkeycode-atset1(7)

* atset2

The numeric values are those defined by the AT keyboard controller, set
2. No symbolic names are provided

See virkeycode-atset2(7)

* atset3

The numeric values are those defined by the AT keyboard controller, set 3
(aka PS/2 compatible set). No symbolic names are provided

See virkeycode-atset3(7)

* os_x

The numeric values are those defined by the macOS keyboard input subsys-
tem. The symbolic names match the corresponding macOS key constant macro
names

See virkeycode-osx(7) and virkeyname-osx(7)

* xt_kbd

The numeric values are those defined by the Linux KBD device. These are
a variant on the original XT codeset, but often with different encoding
for extended keycodes. No symbolic names are provided.

See virkeycode-xtkbd(7)

* win32

The numeric values are those defined by the Win32 keyboard input subsys-
tem. The symbolic names match the corresponding Win32 key constant macro
names

See virkeycode-win32(7) and virkeyname-win32(7)

* usb

The numeric values are those defined by the USB HID specification for
keyboard input. No symbolic names are provided

See virkeycode-usb(7)

* qnum

The numeric values are those defined by the QNUM extension for sending
raw keycodes. These are a variant on the XT codeset, but extended key-
codes have the low bit of the second byte set, instead of the high bit of
the first byte. No symbolic names are provided.

See virkeycode-qnum(7)

Examples:

# send three strokes 'k', 'e', 'y', using xt codeset. these
# are all pressed simultaneously and may be received by the guest
# in random order
virsh send-key dom --codeset xt 37 18 21

# send one stroke 'right-ctrl+C'
virsh send-key dom KEY_RIGHTCTRL KEY_C

# send a tab, held for 1 second
virsh send-key --holdtime 1000 0xf

send-process-signal
Syntax:

send-process-signal domain-id pid signame

Send a signal signame to the process identified by pid running in the vir-
tual domain domain-id. The pid is a process ID in the virtual domain name-
space.

The signame argument may be either an integer signal constant number, or
one of the symbolic names:

"nop", "hup", "int", "quit", "ill",
"trap", "abrt", "bus", "fpe", "kill",
"usr1", "segv", "usr2", "pipe", "alrm",
"term", "stkflt", "chld", "cont", "stop",
"tstp", "ttin", "ttou", "urg", "xcpu",
"xfsz", "vtalrm", "prof", "winch", "poll",
"pwr", "sys", "rt0", "rt1", "rt2", "rt3",
"rt4", "rt5", "rt6", "rt7", "rt8", "rt9",
"rt10", "rt11", "rt12", "rt13", "rt14", "rt15",
"rt16", "rt17", "rt18", "rt19", "rt20", "rt21",
"rt22", "rt23", "rt24", "rt25", "rt26", "rt27",
"rt28", "rt29", "rt30", "rt31", "rt32"

The symbol name may optionally be prefixed with sig or sig_ and may be in
uppercase or lowercase.

Examples:

virsh send-process-signal myguest 1 15
virsh send-process-signal myguest 1 term
virsh send-process-signal myguest 1 sigterm
virsh send-process-signal myguest 1 SIG_HUP

set-lifecycle-action
Syntax:

set-lifecycle-action domain type action
[[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Set the lifecycle action for specified lifecycle type. The valid types are
"poweroff", "reboot" and "crash", and for each of them valid action is one
of "destroy", "restart", "rename-restart", "preserve". For type "crash",
additional actions "coredump-destroy" and "coredump-restart" are supported.

set-user-password
Syntax:

set-user-password domain user password [--encrypted]

Set the password for the user account in the guest domain.

If --encrypted is specified, the password is assumed to be already en-
crypted by the method required by the guest OS.

For QEMU/KVM, this requires the guest agent to be configured and running.

set-user-sshkeys
Syntax:

set-user-sshkeys domain user [--file FILE] [{--reset | --remove}]

Append keys read from FILE into user's SSH authorized keys file in the
guest domain. In the FILE keys must be on separate lines and each line
must follow authorized keys format as defined by sshd(8).

If --reset is specified, then the guest authorized keys file content is re-
moved before appending new keys. As a special case, if --reset is provided
and no FILE was provided then no new keys are added and the authorized keys
file is cleared out.

If --remove is specified, then instead of adding any new keys then keys
read from FILE are removed from the authorized keys file. It is not consid-
ered an error if the key does not exist in the file.

setmaxmem
Syntax:

setmaxmem domain size [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Change the maximum memory allocation limit for a guest domain. If --live
is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified, affect the
next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it is equiva-
lent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state of the
guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current is ex-
clusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on hyper-
visor.

Some hypervisors such as QEMU/KVM don't support live changes (especially
increasing) of the maximum memory limit. Even persistent configuration
changes might not be performed with some hypervisors/configuration (e.g. on
NUMA enabled domains on QEMU). For complex configuration changes use com-
mand edit instead).

size is a scaled integer (see NOTES above); it defaults to kibibytes
(blocks of 1024 bytes) unless you provide a suffix (and the older option
name --kilobytes is available as a deprecated synonym) . Libvirt rounds up
to the nearest kibibyte. Some hypervisors require a larger granularity
than KiB, and requests that are not an even multiple will be rounded up.
For example, vSphere/ESX rounds the parameter up to mebibytes (1024
kibibytes).

setmem
Syntax:

setmem domain size [[--config] [--live] | [--current]]

Change the memory allocation for a guest domain. If --live is specified,
perform a memory balloon of a running guest. If --config is specified, af-
fect the next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it
is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state
of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current
is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on
hypervisor.

For Xen, you can only adjust the memory of a running domain if the domain
is paravirtualized or running the PV balloon driver.

For LXC, the value being set is the cgroups value for limit_in_bytes or the
maximum amount of user memory (including file cache). When viewing memory
inside the container, this is the /proc/meminfo "MemTotal" value. When
viewing the value from the host, use the virsh memtune command. In order to
view the current memory in use and the maximum value allowed to set memory,
use the virsh dominfo command.

setvcpus
Syntax:

setvcpus domain count [--maximum] [[--config] [--live] | [--current]] [--guest] [--hotpluggable] [--async]

Change the number of virtual CPUs active in a guest domain. By default,
this command works on active guest domains. To change the settings for an
inactive guest domain, use the --config flag.

The count value may be limited by host, hypervisor, or a limit coming from
the original description of the guest domain. For Xen, you can only adjust
the virtual CPUs of a running domain if the domain is paravirtualized.

If the --config flag is specified, the change is made to the stored XML
configuration for the guest domain, and will only take effect when the
guest domain is next started.

If --live is specified, the guest domain must be active, and the change
takes place immediately. Both the --config and --live flags may be speci-
fied together if supported by the hypervisor. If this command is run be-
fore the guest has finished booting, the guest may fail to process the
change.

If --current is specified, it is equivalent to either --live or --config,
depending on the current state of the guest.

When no flags are given, the --live flag is assumed and the guest domain
must be active. In this situation it is up to the hypervisor whether the
--config flag is also assumed, and therefore whether the XML configuration
is adjusted to make the change persistent.

If --async is specified, live vCPU unplug requests are fired without wait-
ing for the guest to comply. Final completion is reported by the vcpu-re-
moved domain event, while rejected unplug requests continue to be reported
by device-removal-failed. This flag cannot be combined with --guest.

If --guest is specified, then the count of cpus is modified in the guest
instead of the hypervisor. This flag is usable only for live domains and
may require guest agent to be configured in the guest.

To allow adding vcpus to persistent definitions that can be later hotun-
plugged after the domain is booted it is necessary to specify the --hot-
pluggable flag. Vcpus added to live domains supporting vcpu unplug are au-
tomatically marked as hotpluggable.

The --maximum flag controls the maximum number of virtual cpus that can be
hot-plugged the next time the domain is booted. As such, it must only be
used with the --config flag, and not with the --live or the --current flag.
Note that it may not be possible to change the maximum vcpu count if the
processor topology is specified for the guest.

setvcpu
Syntax:

setvcpu domain vcpulist [--enable] | [--disable] [--async]
[[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Change state of individual vCPUs using hot(un)plug mechanism.

See vcpupin for information on format of vcpulist. Hypervisor drivers may
require that vcpulist contains exactly vCPUs belonging to one hotpluggable
entity. This is usually just a single vCPU but certain architectures such
as ppc64 require a full core to be specified at once.

Note that hypervisors may refuse to disable certain vcpus such as vcpu 0 or
others.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. This is the default. Both --live and --config flags
may be given, but --current is exclusive.

If --async is specified with --disable, live vCPU unplug requests are fired
without waiting for the guest to comply. Final completion of this operation
is reported by the vcpu-removed domain event, while rejected unplug re-
quests continue to be reported by device-removal-failed.

shutdown
Syntax:

shutdown domain [--mode MODE-LIST]

Gracefully shuts down a domain. This coordinates with the domain OS to
perform graceful shutdown, so there is no guarantee that it will succeed,
and may take a variable length of time depending on what services must be
shutdown in the domain.

The exact behavior of a domain when it shuts down is set by the on_poweroff
parameter in the domain's XML definition.

If domain is transient, then the metadata of any snapshots and checkpoints
will be lost once the guest stops running, but the underlying contents
still exist, and a new domain with the same name and UUID can restore the
snapshot metadata with snapshot-create, and the checkpoint metadata with
checkpoint-create.

start
Syntax:

start domain-name-or-uuid [--console] [--paused]
[--autodestroy] [--bypass-cache] [--force-boot]
[--pass-fds N,M,...] [--reset-nvram]

Start a (previously defined) inactive domain, either from the last managed-
save state, or via a fresh boot if no managedsave state is present. The
domain will be paused if the --paused option is used and supported by the
driver; otherwise it will be running. If --console is requested, attach to
the console after creation. If --autodestroy is requested, then the guest
will be automatically destroyed when virsh closes its connection to lib-
virt, or otherwise exits. If --bypass-cache is specified, and managedsave
state exists, the restore will avoid the file system cache, although this
may slow down the operation. If --force-boot is specified, then any man-
agedsave state is discarded and a fresh boot occurs.

If --reset-nvram is specified, any existing NVRAM/varstore file will be
deleted and re-initialized from its pristine template.

suspend
Syntax:

suspend domain

Suspend a running domain. It is kept in memory but won't be scheduled any-
more.

ttyconsole
Syntax:

ttyconsole domain

Output the device used for the TTY console of the domain. If the informa-
tion is not available the processes will provide an exit code of 1.

undefine
Syntax:

undefine domain [--managed-save] [--snapshots-metadata]
[--checkpoints-metadata] [--nvram] [--keep-nvram]
[ {--storage volumes | --remove-all-storage
[--delete-storage-volume-snapshots]} --wipe-storage]
[--tpm] [--keep-tpm]

Undefine a domain. If the domain is running, this converts it to a tran-
sient domain, without stopping it. If the domain is inactive, the domain
configuration is removed.

The --managed-save flag guarantees that any managed save image (see the
managedsave command) is also cleaned up. Without the flag, attempts to un-
define a domain with a managed save image will fail.

The --snapshots-metadata flag guarantees that any snapshots (see the snap-
shot-list command) are also cleaned up when undefining an inactive domain.
Without the flag, attempts to undefine an inactive domain with snapshot
metadata will fail. If the domain is active, this flag is ignored.

The --checkpoints-metadata flag guarantees that any checkpoints (see the
checkpoint-list command) are also cleaned up when undefining an inactive
domain. Without the flag, attempts to undefine an inactive domain with
checkpoint metadata will fail. If the domain is active, this flag is ig-
nored.

The --nvram and --keep-nvram flags specify whether to delete or keep the
NVRAM (/domain/os/nvram/) or varstore (/domain/os/varstore) file respec-
tively. If the domain has an NVRAM/varstore file and the flags are omit-
ted, the undefine operation will fail.

The --storage flag takes a parameter volumes, which is a comma separated
list of volume target names or source paths of storage volumes to be re-
moved along with the undefined domain. Volumes can be undefined and thus
removed only on inactive domains. Volume deletion is only attempted after
the domain is undefined; if not all of the requested volumes could be
deleted, the error message indicates what still remains behind. If a volume
path is not found in the domain definition, it's treated as if the volume
was successfully deleted. Only volumes managed by libvirt in storage pools
can be removed this way. Note that this also removes only the top level im-
age of a backing chain, any backing stores of the image are kept as they
may be shared. (See domblklist for list of target names associated to a
domain). Example: --storage vda,/path/to/storage.img

The --remove-all-storage flag specifies that all of the domain's storage
volumes should be deleted as if they were specified via --storage.

The --delete-storage-volume-snapshots (previously --delete-snapshots) flag
specifies that any snapshots associated with the storage volume should be
deleted as well. Requires the --remove-all-storage flag to be provided. Not
all storage drivers support this option, presently only rbd. Using this
when also removing volumes handled by a storage driver which does not sup-
port the flag will result in failure.

The flag --wipe-storage specifies that the storage volumes should be wiped
before removal.

--tpm and --keep-tpm specify accordingly to delete or keep a TPM's persis-
tent state directory structure and files. If the flags are omitted then the
persistent_state attribute in the TPM emulator definition in the domain XML
determines whether the TPM state is kept.

NOTE: For an inactive domain, the domain name or UUID must be used as the
domain.

vcpucount
Syntax:

vcpucount domain [{--maximum | --active}
{--config | --live | --current}] [--guest]

Print information about the virtual cpu counts of the given domain. If no
flags are specified, all possible counts are listed in a table; otherwise,
the output is limited to just the numeric value requested. For historical
reasons, the table lists the label "current" on the rows that can be
queried in isolation via the --active flag, rather than relating to the
--current flag.

--maximum requests information on the maximum cap of vcpus that a domain
can add via setvcpus, while --active shows the current usage; these two
flags cannot both be specified. --config requires a persistent guest and
requests information regarding the next time the domain will be booted,
--live requires a running domain and lists current values, and --current
queries according to the current state of the domain (corresponding to
--live if running, or --config if inactive); these three flags are mutually
exclusive.

If --guest is specified, then the count of cpus is reported from the per-
spective of the guest. This flag is usable only for live domains and may
require guest agent to be configured in the guest.

vcpuinfo
Syntax:

vcpuinfo domain [--pretty]

Returns basic information about the domain virtual CPUs, like the number of
vCPUs, the running time, the affinity to physical processors.

With --pretty, cpu affinities are shown as ranges.

Example:

$ virsh vcpuinfo fedora
VCPU: 0
CPU: 0
State: running
CPU time: 7,0s
CPU Affinity: yyyy

VCPU: 1
CPU: 1
State: running
CPU time: 0,7s
CPU Affinity: yyyy

STATES

The State field displays the current operating state of a virtual CPU

* offline

The virtual CPU is offline and not usable by the domain. This state is
not supported by all hypervisors.

* running

The virtual CPU is available to the domain and is operating.

* blocked

The virtual CPU is available to the domain but is waiting for a resource.
This state is not supported by all hypervisors, in which case running may
be reported instead.

* no state

The virtual CPU state could not be determined. This could happen if the
hypervisor is newer than virsh.

* N/A

There's no information about the virtual CPU state available. This can be
the case if the domain is not running or the hypervisor does not report
the virtual CPU state.

vcpupin
Syntax:

vcpupin domain [vcpu] [cpulist] [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Query or change the pinning of domain VCPUs to host physical CPUs. To pin
a single vcpu, specify cpulist; otherwise, you can query one vcpu or omit
vcpu to list all at once.

cpulist is a list of physical CPU numbers. Its syntax is a comma separated
list and a special markup using '-' and '^' (ex. '0-4', '0-3,^2') can also
be allowed. The '-' denotes the range and the '^' denotes exclusive. For
pinning the vcpu to all physical cpus specify 'r' as a cpulist. If --live
is specified, affect a running guest. If --config is specified, affect the
next start of a persistent guest. If --current is specified, it is equiva-
lent to either --live or --config, depending on the current state of the
guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given if cpulist is present,
but --current is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different
depending on hypervisor.

Note: The expression is sequentially evaluated, so "0-15,^8" is identical
to "9-14,0-7,15" but not identical to "^8,0-15".

vncdisplay
Syntax:

vncdisplay domain

Output the IP address and port number for the VNC display. If the informa-
tion is not available the processes will provide an exit code of 1.

DEVICE COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate devices associated to domains. The do-
main can be specified as a short integer, a name or a full UUID. To better
understand the values allowed as options for the command reading the docu-
mentation at <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html> on the format of the
device sections to get the most accurate set of accepted values.

attach-device
Syntax:

attach-device domain FILE [[[--live] [--config] | [--current]] | [--persistent]]

Attach a device to the domain, using a device definition in an XML file us-
ing a device definition element such as <disk> or <interface> as the
top-level element. See the documentation at https://libvirt.org/formatdo-
main.html#elementsDevices <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#devices>
to learn about libvirt XML format for a device. If --config is specified
the command alters the persistent guest configuration with the device at-
tach taking effect the next time libvirt starts the domain. For cdrom and
floppy devices, this command only replaces the media within an existing de-
vice; consider using update-device for this usage. For passthrough host
devices, see also nodedev-detach, needed if the PCI device does not use
managed mode.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. When no flag is specified legacy API is used whose
behavior depends on the hypervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note: using of partial device definition XML files may lead to unexpected
results as some fields may be autogenerated and thus match devices other
than expected.

attach-disk
Syntax:

attach-disk domain source target [[[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] | [--persistent]] [--targetbus bus]
[--driver driver] [--subdriver subdriver] [--iothread iothread]
[--cache cache] [--io io] [--type type] [--alias alias]
[--mode mode] [--sourcetype sourcetype]
[--source-protocol protocol] [--source-host-name hostname:port]
[--source-host-transport transport] [--source-host-socket socket]
[--serial serial] [--wwn wwn] [--rawio] [--address address]
[--multifunction] [--print-xml] [--throttle-groups groups]

Attach a new disk device to the domain. source is path for the files and
devices unless --source-protocol is specified, in which case source is the
name of a network disk. target controls the bus or device under which the
disk is exposed to the guest OS. It indicates the "logical" device name;
the optional targetbus attribute specifies the type of disk device to emu-
late; possible values are driver specific, with typical values being ide,
scsi, virtio, xen, usb, sata, or sd, if omitted, the bus type is inferred
from the style of the device name (e.g. a device named 'sda' will typi-
cally be exported using a SCSI bus). driver can be file, tap or phy for
the Xen hypervisor depending on the kind of access; or qemu for the QEMU
emulator. Further details to the driver can be passed using subdriver. For
Xen subdriver can be aio, while for QEMU subdriver should match the format
of the disk source, such as raw or qcow2. Hypervisor default will be used
if subdriver is not specified. However, the default may not be correct,
esp. for QEMU as for security reasons it is configured not to detect disk
formats. type can indicate lun, cdrom or floppy as alternative to the disk
default, although this use only replaces the media within the existing vir-
tual cdrom or floppy device; consider using update-device for this usage
instead. alias can set user supplied alias. mode can specify the two spe-
cific mode readonly or shareable. sourcetype can indicate the type of
source (block|file|network) cache can be one of "default", "none",
"writethrough", "writeback", "directsync" or "unsafe". io controls spe-
cific policies on I/O; QEMU guests support "threads", "native" and "io_ur-
ing". iothread is the number within the range of domain IOThreads to which
this disk may be attached (QEMU only). serial is the serial of disk de-
vice. wwn is the wwn of disk device. rawio indicates the disk needs rawio
capability. address is the address of disk device in the form of pci:do-
main.bus.slot.function, scsi:controller.bus.unit, ide:controller.bus.unit,
usb:bus.port, sata:controller.bus.unit or ccw:cssid.ssid.devno. Virtio-ccw
devices must have their cssid set to 0xfe. multifunction indicates speci-
fied pci address is a multifunction pci device address. throttle-groups is
comma separated list of throttle groups to be applied.

There is also support for using a network disk. As specified, the user can
provide a --source-protocol in which case the source parameter will be in-
terpreted as the source name. --source-protocol must be provided if the
user intends to provide a network disk or host information. Host informa-
tion can be provided using the tags --source-host-name,
--source-host-transport, and --source-host-socket, which respectively de-
note the name of the host, the host's transport method, and the socket that
the host uses. --source-host-socket and --source-host-name cannot both be
provided, and the user must provide a --source-host-transport if they want
to provide a --source-host-socket. The --source-host-name parameter sup-
ports host:port syntax if the user wants to provide a port as well.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML of the disk that would be at-
tached is printed instead.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. When no flag is specified legacy API is used whose
behavior depends on the hypervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain. Likewise,
--shareable is an alias for --mode shareable.

attach-interface
Syntax:

attach-interface domain type source [[[--live]
[--config] | [--current]] | [--persistent]]
[--target target] [--mac mac] [--script script] [--model model]
[--inbound average,peak,burst,floor] [--outbound average,peak,burst]
[--alias alias] [--managed] [--print-xml]
[--source-mode mode]

Attach a new network interface to the domain.

type can be one of the:

network to indicate connection via a libvirt virtual network,

bridge to indicate connection via a bridge device on the host,

direct to indicate connection directly to one of the host's network inter-
faces or bridges,

hostdev to indicate connection using a passthrough of PCI device on the
host,

vhostuser to indicate connection using a virtio transport protocol.

source indicates the source of the connection. The source depends on the
type of the interface:

network name of the virtual network,

bridge the name of the bridge device,

direct the name of the host's interface or bridge,

hostdev the PCI address of the host's interface formatted as do-
main:bus:slot.function.

vhostuser the path to UNIX socket (control plane)

--target is used to specify the tap/macvtap device to be used to connect
the domain to the source. Names starting with 'vnet' are considered as
auto-generated and are blanked out/regenerated each time the interface is
attached.

--mac specifies the MAC address of the network interface; if a MAC address
is not given, a new address will be automatically generated (and stored in
the persistent configuration if "--config" is given on the command line).

--script is used to specify a path to a custom script to be called while
attaching to a bridge - this will be called instead of the default script
not in addition to it. This is valid only for interfaces of bridge type
and only for Xen domains.

--model specifies the network device model to be presented to the domain.

alias can set user supplied alias.

--inbound and --outbound control the bandwidth of the interface. At least
one from the average, floor pair must be specified. The other two peak and
burst are optional, so "average,peak", "average,,burst", "average,,,floor",
"average" and ",,,floor" are also legal. Values for average, floor and
peak are expressed in kiB per second, while burst is expressed in kiB in a
single burst at peak speed as described in the Network XML documentation at
<https://libvirt.org/formatnetwork.html#quality-of-service> .

--managed is usable only for hostdev type and tells libvirt that the inter-
face should be managed, which means detached and reattached from/to the
host by libvirt.

--source-mode is mandatory for vhostuser interface and accepts values
server and client that control whether hypervisor waits for the other
process to connect, or initiates connection, respectively.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML of the interface that would be
attached is printed instead.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
affect the current domain state, which can either be live or offline. Both
--live and --config flags may be given, but --current is exclusive. When
no flag is specified legacy API is used whose behavior depends on the hy-
pervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note: the optional target value is the name of a device to be created as
the back-end on the node. If not provided a device named "vnetN" or "vifN"
will be created automatically.

detach-device
Syntax:

detach-device domain FILE [[[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] | [--persistent]]

Detach a device from the domain, takes the same kind of XML descriptions as
command attach-device. For passthrough host devices, see also nod-
edev-reattach, needed if the device does not use managed mode.

Note: The supplied XML description of the device should be as specific as
its definition in the domain XML. The set of attributes used to match the
device are internal to the drivers. Using a partial definition, or attempt-
ing to detach a device that is not present in the domain XML, but shares
some specific attributes with one that is present, may lead to unexpected
results.

Quirk: Device unplug is asynchronous in most cases and requires guest coop-
eration. This means that it's up to the discretion of the guest to disallow
or delay the unplug arbitrarily. As the libvirt API used in this command
was designed as synchronous it returns success after some timeout even if
the device was not unplugged yet to allow further interactions with the do-
main e.g. if the guest is unresponsive. Callers which need to make sure
that the device was unplugged can use libvirt events (see virsh event) to
be notified when the device is removed. Note that the event may arrive be-
fore the command returns.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. When no flag is specified legacy API is used whose
behavior depends on the hypervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note that older versions of virsh used --config as an alias for --persis-
tent.

detach-device-alias
Syntax:

detach-device-alias domain alias [[[--live] [--config] | [--current]]]]

Detach a device with given alias from the domain. This command returns suc-
cessfully after the unplug request was sent to the hypervisor. The actual
removal of the device is notified asynchronously via libvirt events (see
virsh event).

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive.

detach-disk
Syntax:

detach-disk domain target [[[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] | [--persistent]] [--print-xml]

Detach a disk device from a domain. The target is the device as seen from
the domain.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. When no flag is specified legacy API is used whose
behavior depends on the hypervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note that older versions of virsh used --config as an alias for --persis-
tent.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML which would be used to detach the
disk is printed instead.

Please see documentation for detach-device for known quirks.

detach-interface
Syntax:

detach-interface domain [type] [--mac mac]
[[[--live] [--config] | [--current]] | [--persistent]] [--print-xml]

Detach a network interface from a domain.

In case when multiple interfaces are present in the type and/or --mac must
be used to narrow down the selection to 1 interface.

type can be either network to indicate a physical network device bridge to
indicate a bridge to a device.

--mac can select the interface based on the configured MAC address.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. When no flag is specified legacy API is used whose
behavior depends on the hypervisor driver.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note that older versions of virsh used --config as an alias for --persis-
tent.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML used to detach the interface is
printed instead.

Please see documentation for detach-device for known quirks.

update-device
Syntax:

update-device domain file [--force] [[[--live]
[--config] | [--current]] | [--persistent]]

Update the characteristics of a device associated with domain, based on the
device definition in an XML file. The --force option can be used to force
device update, e.g., to eject a CD-ROM even if it is locked/mounted in the
domain. See the documentation at https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#ele-
mentsDevices <https://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#devices>
to learn about libvirt XML format for a device.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. Not specifying any flag is the same as specifying
--current.

For compatibility purposes, --persistent behaves like --config for an of-
fline domain, and like --live --config for a running domain.

Note that older versions of virsh used --config as an alias for --persis-
tent.

Note: using of partial device definition XML files may lead to unexpected
results as some fields may be autogenerated and thus match devices other
than expected.

update-memory-device
Syntax:

update-memory-device domain [--print-xml] [[--alias alias] | [--node node]]
[[--live] [--config] | [--current]]
[--requested-size size]

This command finds <memory/> device inside given domain, changes requested
values and passes updated device XML to daemon. If --print-xml is specified
then the device is not changed, but the updated device XML is printed to
stdout. If there are more than one <memory/> devices in domain use --alias
or --node to select the desired one.

If --live is specified, affect a running domain. If --config is specified,
affect the next startup of a persistent guest. If --current is specified,
it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the current
state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but
--current is exclusive. Not specifying any flag is the same as specifying
--current.

If --requested-size is specified then <requested/> under memory target is
changed to requested size (as scaled integer, see NOTES above). It defaults
to kibibytes if no suffix is provided. The option is valid only for vir-
tio-mem memory device model.

change-media
Syntax:

change-media domain path [--eject] [--insert]
[--update] [source] [--force] [[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] [--print-xml] [--block]

Change media of CDROM or floppy drive. path can be the fully-qualified path
or the unique target name (<target dev='hdc'>) of the disk device. source
specifies the path of the media to be inserted or updated. The --block flag
allows setting the backing type in case a block device is used as media for
the CDROM or floppy drive instead of a file.

--eject indicates the media will be ejected. --insert indicates the media
will be inserted. source must be specified. If the device has source (e.g.
<source file='media'>), and source is not specified, --update is equal to
--eject. If the device has no source, and source is specified, --update is
equal to --insert. If the device has source, and source is specified, --up-
date behaves like combination of --eject and --insert. If none of --eject,
--insert, and --update is specified, --update is used by default. The
--force option can be used to force media changing. If --live is speci-
fied, alter live configuration of running guest. If --config is specified,
alter persistent configuration, effect observed on next startup of the
guest. --current can be either or both of live and config, depends on the
hypervisor's implementation. Both --live and --config flags may be given,
but --current is exclusive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different
depending on hypervisor. If --print-xml is specified, the XML that would
be used to change media is printed instead of changing the media.

dom-fd-associate
Syntax:

dom-fd-associate domain --name FDGROUPNAME --pass-fds M,N,....
[--seclabel-writable] [--seclabel-restore]

Associate one or more fds described via --pass-fds argument to domain as
--name. The lifetime of the passed fd group is the same as the connection,
thus exiting virsh un-registers them afterwards.

By default security labels are applied if needed but they are not restored
after use to avoid keeping them open unnecessarily. Best-effort security
label restore may be requested by using the --seclabel-restore flag.

NODEDEV COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate host devices that are intended to be
passed through to guest domains via <hostdev> elements in a domain's <de-
vices> section. A node device key is generally specified by the bus name
followed by its address, using underscores between all components, such as
pci_0000_00_02_1, usb_1_5_3, or net_eth1_00_27_13_6a_fe_00. The nod-
edev-list gives the full list of host devices that are known to libvirt,
although this includes devices that cannot be assigned to a guest (for ex-
ample, attempting to detach the PCI device that controls the host's hard
disk controller where the guest's disk images live could cause the host
system to lock up or reboot).

For more information on node device definition see:
<https://libvirt.org/formatnode.html> .

Passthrough devices cannot be simultaneously used by the host and its guest
domains, nor by multiple active guests at once. If the <hostdev> descrip-
tion of a PCI device includes the attribute managed='yes', and the hypervi-
sor driver supports it, then the device is in managed mode, and attempts to
use that passthrough device in an active guest will automatically behave as
if nodedev-detach (guest start, device hot-plug) and nodedev-reattach
(guest stop, device hot-unplug) were called at the right points. If a PCI
device is not marked as managed, then it must manually be detached before
guests can use it, and manually reattached to be returned to the host.
Also, if a device is manually detached, then the host does not regain con-
trol of the device without a matching reattach, even if the guests use the
device in managed mode.

nodedev-create
Syntax:

nodedev-create FILE [--validate]

Create a device on the host node that can then be assigned to virtual ma-
chines. Normally, libvirt is able to automatically determine which host
nodes are available for use, but this allows registration of host hardware
that libvirt did not automatically detect. file contains xml for a
top-level <device> description of a node device.

If --validate is specified, validates the format of the XML document
against an internal RNG schema.

nodedev-update
Syntax:

nodedev-update device FILE [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Update a device on the host. device can be either device name or wwn pair
in "wwnn,wwpn" format (only works for vHBA currently). file contains xml
for a top-level <device> description of the node device. --current can be
either or both of live and config, depends on the hypervisor's implementa-
tion. Both --live and --config flags may be given, but --current is exclu-
sive. If no flag is specified, behavior is different depending on hypervi-
sor.

nodedev-destroy
Syntax:

nodedev-destroy device

Destroy (stop) a device on the host. device can be either device name or
wwn pair in "wwnn,wwpn" format (only works for vHBA currently). Note that
this makes libvirt quit managing a host device, and may even make that de-
vice unusable by the rest of the physical host until a reboot.

nodedev-define
Syntax:

nodedev-define FILE [--validate]

Define an inactive persistent device or modify an existing persistent one
from the XML FILE.

If --validate is specified, validates the format of the XML document
against an internal RNG schema.

nodedev-undefine
Syntax:

nodedev-undefine device

Undefine the configuration for a persistent device. If the device is ac-
tive, make it transient.

nodedev-start
Syntax:

nodedev-start device

Start a (previously defined) inactive device.

nodedev-detach
Syntax:

nodedev-detach nodedev [--driver backend_driver]

Detach nodedev from the host driver and bind it to a special driver that
provides the API needed by the hypervisor for assigning the device to a
virtual machine (using <hostdev> in the domain XML definition). This is
reversed with nodedev-reattach, and is done automatically by the hypervisor
driver for managed devices (those devices with "managed='yes'" in their XML
definition).

Different hypervisors expect the device being assigned to be bound to dif-
ferent drivers. For example, QEMU's "vfio" backend requires the device to
be bound to the driver "vfio-pci" or to a "VFIO variant" driver (this is a
driver that supports the full API provided by vfio-pci, plus some other
APIs to support things like live migration). The --driver parameter can be
used to specify a particular driver (e.g. a device-specific VFIO variant
driver) the device should be bound to. When --driver is omitted, the de-
fault driver for the hypervisor is used ("vfio-pci" for QEMU, "pciback" for
Xen).

nodedev-dumpxml
Syntax:

nodedev-dumpxml [--inactive] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] device

Dump a <device> XML representation for the given node device, including
such information as the device name, which bus owns the device, the vendor
and product id, and any capabilities of the device usable by libvirt (such
as whether device reset is supported). device can be either device name or
wwn pair in "wwnn,wwpn" format (only works for HBA). An additional option
affecting the XML dump may be used. --inactive tells virsh to dump the node
device configuration that will be used on next start of the node device as
opposed to the current node device configuration.

nodedev-info
Syntax:

nodedev-info device

Returns basic information about the device object.

nodedev-list
Syntax:

nodedev-list [--cap capability] [--tree] [--inactive | --all] [--persistent | --transient]

List all of the devices available on the node that are known by libvirt.
cap is used to filter the list by capability types, the types must be sepa-
rated by comma, e.g. --cap pci,scsi. Valid capability types include 'sys-
tem', 'pci', 'usb_device', 'usb', 'net', 'scsi_host', 'scsi_target',
'scsi', 'storage', 'fc_host', 'vports', 'scsi_generic', 'drm', 'mdev',
'mdev_types', 'ccw', 'ccwgroup', 'ccwgroup_member', 'css', 'ap_card',
'ap_queue', 'ap_matrix'. By default, only active devices are listed. --in-
active is used to list only inactive devices, and --all is used to list
both active and inactive devices. --persistent is used to list only persis-
tent devices, and --transient is used to list only transient devices. Not
providing --persistent or --transient will list all devices unless filtered
otherwise. --transient is mutually exclusive with --persistent and --inac-
tive. If --tree is used, the output is formatted in a tree representing
parents of each node. --tree is mutually exclusive with all other options
but --all.

nodedev-reattach
Syntax:

nodedev-reattach nodedev

Declare that nodedev is no longer in use by any guests, and that the host
can resume normal use of the device. This is done automatically for PCI
devices in managed mode and USB devices, but must be done explicitly to
match any explicit nodedev-detach.

nodedev-reset
Syntax:

nodedev-reset nodedev

Trigger a device reset for nodedev, useful prior to transferring a node de-
vice between guest passthrough or the host. Libvirt will often do this ac-
tion implicitly when required, but this command allows an explicit reset
when needed.

nodedev-event
Syntax:

nodedev-event {[nodedev] event [--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--timestamp] | --list}

Wait for a class of node device events to occur, and print appropriate de-
tails of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by
nodedev. Using --list as the only argument will provide a list of possible
event values known by this client, although the connection might not allow
registering for all these events.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event.

nodedev-autostart
Syntax:

nodedev-autostart [--disable] device

Configure a device to be automatically started when the host machine boots
or the parent device becomes available. With --disable, the device will be
set to manual mode and will no longer be automatically started by the host.
This command is only supported for persistently-defined mediated devices.

VIRTUAL NETWORK COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate networks. Libvirt has the capability to
define virtual networks which can then be used by domains and linked to ac-
tual network devices. For more detailed information about this feature see
the documentation at <https://libvirt.org/formatnetwork.html> . Many of
the commands for virtual networks are similar to the ones used for domains,
but the way to name a virtual network is either by its name or UUID.

net-autostart
Syntax:

net-autostart network [--disable]

Configure a virtual network to be automatically started at boot. The
--disable option disable autostarting.

net-create
Syntax:

net-create file [--validate]

Create a transient (temporary) virtual network from an XML file and instan-
tiate (start) the network. See the documentation at <https://lib-
virt.org/formatnetwork.html> to get a description of the XML network format
used by libvirt.

Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be validated against an
internal RNG schema with --validate.

net-define
Syntax:

net-define file [--validate]

Define an inactive persistent virtual network or modify an existing persis-
tent one from the XML file. Optionally, the format of the input XML file
can be validated against an internal RNG schema with --validate.

net-desc
Syntax:

net-desc network [[--live] [--config] |
[--current]] [--title] [--edit] [--new-desc
New description or title message]

Show or modify description and title of a network. These values are user
fields that allow storing arbitrary textual data to allow easy identifica-
tion of networks. Title should be short, although it's not enforced. (See
also net-metadata that works with XML based network metadata.)

Flags --live or --config select whether this command works on live or per-
sistent definitions of the network. If both --live and --config are speci-
fied, the --config option takes precedence on getting the current descrip-
tion and both live configuration and config are updated while setting the
description. --current is exclusive and implied if none of these was speci-
fied.

Flag --edit specifies that an editor with the contents of current descrip-
tion or title should be opened and the contents saved back afterwards.

Flag --title selects operation on the title field instead of description.

If neither of --edit and --new-desc are specified the note or description
is displayed instead of being modified.

net-destroy
Syntax:

net-destroy network

Destroy (stop) a given transient or persistent virtual network specified by
its name or UUID. This takes effect immediately.

net-dumpxml
Syntax:

net-dumpxml [--inactive] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] network

Output the virtual network information as an XML dump to stdout. If --in-
active is specified, then physical functions are not expanded into their
associated virtual functions.

net-edit
Syntax:

net-edit network

Edit the XML configuration file for a network.

This is equivalent to:

virsh net-dumpxml --inactive network > network.xml
vi network.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh net-define network.xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

net-event
Syntax:

net-event {[network] event [--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--timestamp] | --list}

Wait for a class of network events to occur, and print appropriate details
of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by net-
work. Using --list as the only argument will provide a list of possible
event values known by this client, although the connection might not allow
registering for all these events.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event.

net-info
Syntax:

net-info network

Returns basic information about the network object.

net-list
Syntax:

net-list [--inactive | --all]
{ [--table] | --name | --uuid }
[--persistent] [<--transient>]
[--autostart] [<--no-autostart>]
[--title]

Returns the list of active networks, if --all is specified this will also
include defined but inactive networks, if --inactive is specified only the
inactive ones will be listed. You may also want to filter the returned net-
works by --persistent to list the persistent ones, --transient to list the
transient ones, --autostart to list the ones with autostart enabled, and
--no-autostart to list the ones with autostart disabled.

If --name is specified, network names are printed instead of the table for-
matted one per line. If --uuid is specified network's UUID's are printed
instead of names. Flag --table specifies that the legacy table-formatted
output should be used. This is the default. All of these are mutually ex-
clusive.

If --title is specified, then the short network description (title) is
printed in an extra column. This flag is usable only with the default --ta-
ble output.

NOTE: When talking to older servers, this command is forced to use a series
of API calls with an inherent race, where a pool might not be listed or
might appear more than once if it changed state between calls while the
list was being collected. Newer servers do not have this problem.

net-metadata
Syntax:

net-metadata network [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]
[--edit] [uri] [key] [set] [--remove]

Show or modify custom XML metadata of a network. The metadata is a user de-
fined XML that allows storing arbitrary XML data in the network definition.
Multiple separate custom metadata pieces can be stored in the network XML.
The pieces are identified by a private XML namespace provided via the uri
argument. (See also net-desc that works with textual metadata of a network,
such as title and description.)

Flag --remove specifies that the metadata element specified by the uri ar-
gument should be removed rather than updated.

When setting metadata via --edit or set the key argument must be specified
and is used to prefix the custom elements to bind them to the private name-
space.

If neither of --edit and set are specified the XML metadata corresponding
to the uri namespace is displayed instead of being modified.

net-name
Syntax:

net-name network-UUID

Convert a network UUID to network name.

net-start
Syntax:

net-start network

Start a (previously defined) inactive network.

net-undefine
Syntax:

net-undefine network

Undefine the configuration for a persistent network. If the network is ac-
tive, make it transient.

net-uuid
Syntax:

net-uuid network-name

Convert a network name to network UUID.

net-update
Syntax:

net-update network command section xml
[--parent-index index] [[--live] [--config] | [--current]]

Update the given section of an existing network definition, with the
changes optionally taking effect immediately, without needing to destroy
and re-start the network.

command is one of "add-first", "add-last", "add" (a synonym for add-last),
"delete", or "modify".

section is one of "bridge", "domain", "ip", "ip-dhcp-host",
"ip-dhcp-range", "forward", "forward-interface", "forward-pf", "portgroup",
"dns-host", "dns-txt", or "dns-srv", each section being named by a concate-
nation of the xml element hierarchy leading to the element being changed.
For example, "ip-dhcp-host" will change a <host> element that is contained
inside a <dhcp> element inside an <ip> element of the network.

xml is either the text of a complete xml element of the type being changed
(e.g. "<host mac="00:11:22:33:44:55' ip='1.2.3.4'/>", or the name of a file
that contains a complete xml element. Disambiguation is done by looking at
the first character of the provided text - if the first character is "<",
it is xml text, if the first character is not "<", it is the name of a file
that contains the xml text to be used.

The --parent-index option is used to specify which of several parent ele-
ments the requested element is in (0-based). For example, a dhcp <host> el-
ement could be in any one of multiple <ip> elements in the network; if a
parent-index isn't provided, the "most appropriate" <ip> element will be
selected (usually the only one that already has a <dhcp> element), but if
--parent-index is given, that particular instance of <ip> will get the mod-
ification.

If --live is specified, affect a running network. If --config is speci-
fied, affect the next startup of a persistent network. If --current is
specified, it is equivalent to either --live or --config, depending on the
current state of the guest. Both --live and --config flags may be given,
but --current is exclusive. Not specifying any flag is the same as specify-
ing --current.

net-dhcp-leases
Syntax:

net-dhcp-leases network [mac]

Get a list of dhcp leases for all network interfaces connected to the given
virtual network or limited output just for one interface if mac is speci-
fied.

NETWORK PORT COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate network ports. Libvirt virtual networks
have ports created when a virtual machine has a virtual network interface
added. In general there should be no need to use any of the commands here,
since the hypervisor drivers run these commands are the right point in a
virtual machine's lifecycle. They can be useful for debugging problems and
/ or recovering from bugs / stale state.

net-port-list
Syntax:

net-port-list { [--table] | --uuid } network

List all network ports recorded against the network.

If --uuid is specified network ports' UUID's are printed instead of a ta-
ble. Flag --table specifies that the legacy table-formatted output should
be used. This is the default. All of these are mutually exclusive.

net-port-create
Syntax:

net-port-create network file [--validate]

Allocate a new network port reserving resources based on the port descrip-
tion. Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be validated
against an internal RNG schema with --validate.

net-port-dumpxml
Syntax:

net-port-dumpxml [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] network port

Output the network port information as an XML dump to stdout.

net-port-delete
Syntax:

net-port-delete network port

Delete record of the network port and release its resources

INTERFACE COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate host interfaces. Often, these host in-
terfaces can then be used by name within domain <interface> elements (such
as a system-created bridge interface), but there is no requirement that
host interfaces be tied to any particular guest configuration XML at all.

Many of the commands for host interfaces are similar to the ones used for
domains, and the way to name an interface is either by its name or its MAC
address. However, using a MAC address for an iface argument only works
when that address is unique (if an interface and a bridge share the same
MAC address, which is often the case, then using that MAC address results
in an error due to ambiguity, and you must resort to a name instead).

iface-bridge
Syntax:

iface-bridge interface bridge [--no-stp] [delay] [--no-start]

Create a bridge device named bridge, and attach the existing network device
interface to the new bridge. The new bridge defaults to starting immedi-
ately, with STP enabled and a delay of 0; these settings can be altered
with --no-stp, --no-start, and an integer number of seconds for delay. All
IP address configuration of interface will be moved to the new bridge de-
vice.

See also iface-unbridge for undoing this operation.

iface-define
Syntax:

iface-define file [--validate]

Define an inactive persistent physical host interface or modify an existing
persistent one from the XML file. Optionally, the format of the input XML
file can be validated against an internal RNG schema with --validate.

iface-destroy
Syntax:

iface-destroy interface

Destroy (stop) a given host interface, such as by running "if-down" to dis-
able that interface from active use. This takes effect immediately.

iface-dumpxml
Syntax:

iface-dumpxml [--inactive] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] interface

Output the host interface information as an XML dump to stdout. If --inac-
tive is specified, then the output reflects the persistent state of the in-
terface that will be used the next time it is started.

iface-edit
Syntax:

iface-edit interface

Edit the XML configuration file for a host interface.

This is equivalent to:

virsh iface-dumpxml iface > iface.xml
vi iface.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh iface-define iface.xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

iface-list
Syntax:

iface-list [--inactive | --all]

Returns the list of active host interfaces. If --all is specified this
will also include defined but inactive interfaces. If --inactive is speci-
fied only the inactive ones will be listed.

iface-name
Syntax:

iface-name interface

Convert a host interface MAC to interface name, if the MAC address is
unique among the host's interfaces.

interface specifies the interface MAC address.

iface-mac
Syntax:

iface-mac interface

Convert a host interface name to MAC address.

interface specifies the interface name.

iface-start
Syntax:

iface-start interface

Start a (previously defined) host interface, such as by running "if-up".

iface-unbridge
Syntax:

iface-unbridge bridge [--no-start]

Tear down a bridge device named bridge, releasing its underlying interface
back to normal usage, and moving all IP address configuration from the
bridge device to the underlying device. The underlying interface is
restarted unless --no-start is present; this flag is present for symmetry,
but generally not recommended.

See also iface-bridge for creating a bridge.

iface-undefine
Syntax:

iface-undefine interface

Undefine the configuration for an inactive host interface.

iface-begin
Syntax:

iface-begin

Create a snapshot of current host interface settings, which can later be
committed (iface-commit) or restored (iface-rollback). If a snapshot al-
ready exists, then this command will fail until the previous snapshot has
been committed or restored. Undefined behavior results if any external
changes are made to host interfaces outside of the libvirt API between the
beginning of a snapshot and its eventual commit or rollback.

iface-commit
Syntax:

iface-commit

Declare all changes since the last iface-begin as working, and delete the
rollback point. If no interface snapshot has already been started, then
this command will fail.

iface-rollback
Syntax:

iface-rollback

Revert all host interface settings back to the state recorded in the last
iface-begin. If no interface snapshot has already been started, then this
command will fail. Rebooting the host also serves as an implicit rollback
point.

STORAGE POOL COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate storage pools. Libvirt has the capability
to manage various storage solutions, including files, raw partitions, and
domain-specific formats, used to provide the storage volumes visible as de-
vices within virtual machines. For more detailed information about this
feature, see the documentation at
<https://libvirt.org/formatstorage.html> . Many of the commands for pools
are similar to the ones used for domains.

find-storage-pool-sources
Syntax:

find-storage-pool-sources type [srcSpec]

Returns XML describing all possible available storage pool sources that
could be used to create or define a storage pool of a given type. If src-
Spec is provided, it is a file that contains XML to further restrict the
query for pools.

Not all storage pools support discovery in this manner. Furthermore, for
those that do support discovery, only specific XML elements are required in
order to return valid data, while other elements and even attributes of
some elements are ignored since they are not necessary to find the pool
based on the search criteria. The following lists the supported type op-
tions and the expected minimal XML elements used to perform the search.

For a "netfs" or "gluster" pool, the minimal expected XML required is the
<host> element with a "name" attribute describing the IP address or host-
name to be used to find the pool. The "port" attribute will be ignored as
will any other provided XML elements in srcSpec.

For a "logical" pool, the contents of the srcSpec file are ignored, al-
though if provided the file must at least exist.

For an "iscsi" or "iscsi-direct" pool, the minimal expect XML required is
the <host> element with a "name" attribute describing the IP address or
hostname to be used to find the pool (the iSCSI server address). Option-
ally, the "port" attribute may be provided, although it will default to
3260. Optionally, an <initiator> XML element with a "name" attribute may be
provided to further restrict the iSCSI target search to a specific initia-
tor for multi-iqn iSCSI storage pools.

find-pool-sources-as
Syntax:

find-storage-pool-sources-as type [host] [port] [initiator]

Rather than providing srcSpec XML file for find-storage-pool-sources use
this command option in order to have virsh generate the query XML file us-
ing the optional arguments. The command will return the same output XML as
find-storage-pool-sources.

Use host to describe a specific host to use for networked storage, such as
netfs, gluster, and iscsi type pools.

Use port to further restrict which networked port to utilize for the con-
nection if required by the specific storage backend, such as iscsi.

Use initiator to further restrict the iscsi type pool searches to specific
target initiators.

pool-autostart
Syntax:

pool-autostart pool-or-uuid [--disable]

Configure whether pool should automatically start at boot.

pool-build
Syntax:

pool-build pool-or-uuid [--overwrite] [--no-overwrite]

Build a given pool.

Options --overwrite and --no-overwrite can only be used for pool-build a
filesystem, disk, or logical pool.

For a file system pool if neither flag is specified, then pool-build just
makes the target path directory and no attempt to run mkfs on the target
volume device. If --no-overwrite is specified, it probes to determine if a
filesystem already exists on the target device, returning an error if one
exists or using mkfs to format the target device if not. If --overwrite is
specified, mkfs is always executed and any existing data on the target de-
vice is overwritten unconditionally.

For a disk pool, if neither of them is specified or --no-overwrite is spec-
ified, pool-build will check the target volume device for existing filesys-
tems or partitions before attempting to write a new label on the target
volume device. If the target volume device already has a label, the command
will fail. If --overwrite is specified, then no check will be made on the
target volume device prior to writing a new label. Writing of the label
uses the pool source format type or "dos" if not specified.

For a logical pool, if neither of them is specified or --no-overwrite is
specified, pool-build will check the target volume devices for existing
filesystems or partitions before attempting to initialize and format each
device for usage by the logical pool. If any target volume device already
has a label, the command will fail. If --overwrite is specified, then no
check will be made on the target volume devices prior to initializing and
formatting each device. Once all the target volume devices are properly
formatted via pvcreate, the volume group will be created using all the de-
vices.

pool-create
Syntax:

pool-create file [--build] [[--overwrite] | [--no-overwrite]]

Create and start a pool object from the XML file.

[--build] [[--overwrite] | [--no-overwrite]] perform a pool-build after
creation in order to remove the need for a follow-up command to build the
pool. The --overwrite and --no-overwrite flags follow the same rules as
pool-build. If just --build is provided, then pool-build is called with no
flags.

pool-create-as
Syntax:

pool-create-as name type
[--source-host hostname] [--source-path path] [--source-dev path]
[--source-name name] [--target path] [--source-format format]
[--source-initiator initiator-iqn]
[--auth-type authtype --auth-username username
[--secret-usage usage | --secret-uuid uuid]]
[--source-protocol-ver ver]
[[--adapter-name name] | [--adapter-wwnn wwnn --adapter-wwpn wwpn]
[--adapter-parent parent |
--adapter-parent-wwnn parent_wwnn adapter-parent-wwpn parent_wwpn |
--adapter-parent-fabric-wwn parent_fabric_wwn]]
[--build] [[--overwrite] | [--no-overwrite]] [--print-xml]

Create and start a pool object name from the raw parameters. If
--print-xml is specified, then print the XML of the pool object without
creating the pool. Otherwise, the pool has the specified type. When using
pool-create-as for a pool of type "disk", the existing partitions found on
the --source-dev path will be used to populate the disk pool. Therefore, it
is suggested to use pool-define-as and pool-build with the --overwrite in
order to properly initialize the disk pool.

[--source-host hostname] provides the source hostname for pools backed by
storage from a remote server (pool types netfs, iscsi, rbd, sheepdog, glus-
ter).

[--source-path path] provides the source directory path for pools backed by
directories (pool type dir).

[--source-dev path] provides the source path for pools backed by physical
devices (pool types fs, logical, disk, iscsi, zfs).

[--source-name name] provides the source name for pools backed by storage
from a named element (pool types logical, rbd, sheepdog, gluster).

[--target path] is the path for the mapping of the storage pool into the
host file system.

[--source-format format] provides information about the format of the pool
(pool types fs, netfs, disk, logical).

[--source-initiator initiator-iqn] provides the initiator iqn for iscsi
connection of the pool (pool type iscsi-direct).

[--auth-type authtype --auth-username username [--secret-usage usage |
--secret-uuid uuid]] provides the elements required to generate authentica-
tion credentials for the storage pool. The authtype is either chap for
iscsi type pools or ceph for rbd type pools. Either the secret usage or
uuid value may be provided, but not both.

[--source-protocol-ver ver] provides the NFS protocol version number used
to contact the server's NFS service via nfs mount option 'nfsvers=n'. It is
expect the ver value is an unsigned integer.

[--adapter-name name] defines the scsi_hostN adapter name to be used for
the scsi_host adapter type pool.

[--adapter-wwnn wwnn --adapter-wwpn wwpn [--adapter-parent parent |
--adapter-parent-wwnn parent_wwnn adapter-parent-wwpn parent_wwpn |
--adapter-parent-fabric-wwn parent_fabric_wwn]] defines the wwnn and wwpn
to be used for the fc_host adapter type pool. Optionally provide the par-
ent scsi_hostN node device to be used for the vHBA either by parent name,
parent_wwnn and parent_wwpn, or parent_fabric_wwn. The parent name could
change between reboots if the hardware environment changes, so providing
the parent_wwnn and parent_wwpn ensure usage of the same physical HBA even
if the scsi_hostN node device changes. Usage of the parent_fabric_wwn al-
lows a bit more flexibility to choose an HBA on the same storage fabric in
order to define the pool.

For a "logical" pool only [--name] needs to be provided. The
[--source-name] if provided must match the Volume Group name. If not pro-
vided, one will be generated using the [--name]. If provided the [--target]
is ignored and a target source is generated using the [--source-name] (or
as generated from the [--name]).

pool-define
Syntax:

pool-define file [--validate]

Define an inactive persistent storage pool or modify an existing persistent
one from the XML file. Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be
validated against an internal RNG schema with --validate.

pool-define-as
Syntax:

pool-define-as name type
[--source-host hostname] [--source-path path] [--source-dev path]
[*--source-name name*] [*--target path*] [*--source-format format*]
[--source-initiator initiator-iqn]
[*--auth-type authtype* *--auth-username username*
[*--secret-usage usage* | *--secret-uuid uuid*]]
[*--source-protocol-ver ver*]
[[*--adapter-name name*] | [*--adapter-wwnn* *--adapter-wwpn*]
[*--adapter-parent parent*]] [*--print-xml*]

Create, but do not start, a pool object name from the raw parameters. If
--print-xml is specified, then print the XML of the pool object without
defining the pool. Otherwise, the pool has the specified type.

Use the same arguments as pool-create-as, except for the --build, --over-
write, and --no-overwrite options.

pool-destroy
Syntax:

pool-destroy pool-or-uuid

Destroy (stop) a given pool object. Libvirt will no longer manage the stor-
age described by the pool object, but the raw data contained in the pool is
not changed, and can be later recovered with pool-create.

pool-delete
Syntax:

pool-delete pool-or-uuid

Destroy the resources used by a given pool object. This operation is
non-recoverable. The pool object will still exist after this command,
ready for the creation of new storage volumes.

pool-dumpxml
Syntax:

pool-dumpxml [--inactive] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] pool-or-uuid

Returns the XML information about the pool object. --inactive tells virsh
to dump pool configuration that will be used on next start of the pool as
opposed to the current pool configuration.

pool-edit
Syntax:

pool-edit pool-or-uuid

Edit the XML configuration file for a storage pool.

This is equivalent to:

virsh pool-dumpxml pool > pool.xml
vi pool.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh pool-define pool.xml

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

pool-info
Syntax:

pool-info [--bytes] pool-or-uuid

Returns basic information about the pool object. If --bytes is specified
the sizes of basic info are not converted to human friendly units.

pool-list
Syntax:

pool-list [--inactive] [--all]
[--persistent] [--transient]
[--autostart] [--no-autostart]
[[--details] [--uuid]
[--name] [<type>]

List pool objects known to libvirt. By default, only active pools are
listed; --inactive lists just the inactive pools, and --all lists all
pools.

In addition, there are several sets of filtering flags. --persistent is to
list the persistent pools, --transient is to list the transient pools.
--autostart lists the autostarting pools, --no-autostart lists the pools
with autostarting disabled. If --uuid is specified only pool's UUIDs are
printed. If --name is specified only pool's names are printed. If both
--name and --uuid are specified, pool's UUID and names are printed side by
side without any header. Option --details is mutually exclusive with op-
tions --uuid and --name.

You may also want to list pools with specified types using type, the pool
types must be separated by comma, e.g. --type dir,disk. The valid pool
types include 'dir', 'fs', 'netfs', 'logical', 'disk', 'iscsi', 'scsi',
'mpath', 'rbd', 'sheepdog', 'gluster', 'zfs', 'vstorage' and 'iscsi-di-
rect'.

The --details option instructs virsh to additionally display pool persis-
tence and capacity related information where available.

pool-name
Syntax:

pool-name uuid

Convert the uuid to a pool name.

pool-refresh
Syntax:

pool-refresh pool-or-uuid

Refresh the list of volumes contained in pool.

pool-start
Syntax:

pool-start pool-or-uuid [--build] [[--overwrite] | [--no-overwrite]]

Start the storage pool, which is previously defined but inactive.

[--build] [[--overwrite] | [--no-overwrite]] perform a pool-build prior to
pool-start to ensure the pool environment is in an expected state rather
than needing to run the build command prior to startup. The --overwrite and
--no-overwrite flags follow the same rules as pool-build. If just --build
is provided, then pool-build is called with no flags.

Note: A storage pool that relies on remote resources such as an "iscsi" or
a (v)HBA backed "scsi" pool may need to be refreshed multiple times in or-
der to have all the volumes detected (see pool-refresh). This is because
the corresponding volume devices may not be present in the host's filesys-
tem during the initial pool startup or the current refresh attempt. The
number of refresh retries is dependent upon the network connection and the
time the host takes to export the corresponding devices.

pool-undefine
Syntax:

pool-undefine pool-or-uuid

Undefine the configuration for an inactive pool.

pool-uuid
Syntax:

pool-uuid pool

Returns the UUID of the named pool.

pool-event
Syntax:

pool-event {[pool] event [--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--timestamp] | --list}

Wait for a class of storage pool events to occur, and print appropriate de-
tails of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by
pool. Using --list as the only argument will provide a list of possible
event values known by this client, although the connection might not allow
registering for all these events.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event.

VOLUME COMMANDS
vol-create
Syntax:

vol-create pool-or-uuid FILE [--prealloc-metadata] [--validate]

Create a volume from an XML <file>.

pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool to create the volume
in.

FILE is the XML <file> with the volume definition. An easy way to create
the XML <file> is to use the vol-dumpxml command to obtain the definition
of a pre-existing volume.

[--prealloc-metadata] preallocate metadata (for qcow2 images which don't
support full allocation). This option creates a sparse image file with
metadata, resulting in higher performance compared to images with no preal-
location and only slightly higher initial disk space usage.

If --validate is specified, validates the format of the XML document
against an internal RNG schema.

Example:

virsh vol-dumpxml --pool storagepool1 appvolume1 > newvolume.xml
vi newvolume.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh vol-create differentstoragepool newvolume.xml

vol-create-from
Syntax:

vol-create-from pool-or-uuid FILE vol-name-or-key-or-path
[--inputpool pool-or-uuid] [--prealloc-metadata] [--reflink] [--validate]

Create a volume, using another volume as input.

pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool to create the volume
in.

FILE is the XML <file> with the volume definition.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the source volume.

--inputpool pool-or-uuid is the name or uuid of the storage pool the source
volume is in.

When --reflink is specified, perform a COW lightweight copy, where the data
blocks are copied only when modified. If this is not possible, the copy
fails.

If --validate is specified, validates the format of the XML document
against an internal RNG schema.

vol-create-as
Syntax:

vol-create-as pool-or-uuid name capacity [--allocation size] [--format string]
[--backing-vol vol-name-or-key-or-path]
[--backing-vol-format string] [--prealloc-metadata] [--print-xml]

Create a volume from a set of arguments unless --print-xml is specified, in
which case just the XML of the volume object is printed out without any ac-
tual object creation.

pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool to create the volume
in.

name is the name of the new volume. For a disk pool, this must match the
partition name as determined from the pool's source device path and the
next available partition. For example, a source device path of /dev/sdb and
there are no partitions on the disk, then the name must be sdb1 with the
next name being sdb2 and so on.

capacity is the size of the volume to be created, as a scaled integer (see
NOTES above), defaulting to bytes if there is no suffix.

--allocation size is the initial size to be allocated in the volume, also
as a scaled integer defaulting to bytes.

--format string is used in file based storage pools to specify the volume
file format to use; raw, bochs, qcow, qcow2, vmdk, qed. Use extended for
disk storage pools in order to create an extended partition (other values
are validity checked but not preserved when libvirtd is restarted or the
pool is refreshed).

--backing-vol vol-name-or-key-or-path is the source backing volume to be
used if taking a snapshot of an existing volume.

--backing-vol-format string is the format of the snapshot backing volume;
raw, bochs, qcow, qcow2, qed, vmdk, host_device. These are, however, meant
for file based storage pools.

vol-clone
Syntax:

vol-clone vol-name-or-key-or-path name
[--pool pool-or-uuid] [--prealloc-metadata] [--reflink] [--print-xml]

Clone an existing volume within the parent pool. Less powerful, but easier
to type, version of vol-create-from.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the source volume.

name is the name of the new volume.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool that contains
the source volume and will contain the new volume. If the source volume
name is provided instead of the key or path, then providing the pool is
necessary to find the volume to be cloned; otherwise, the first volume
found by the key or path will be used.

When --reflink is specified, perform a COW lightweight copy, where the data
blocks are copied only when modified. If this is not possible, the copy
fails.

If --print-xml is specified, then the XML used to clone the volume is
printed instead.

vol-delete
Syntax:

vol-delete vol-name-or-key-or-path [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--delete-snapshots]

Delete a given volume.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the volume name or key or path of the volume to
delete.

[--pool pool-or-uuid] is the name or UUID of the storage pool the volume is
in. If the volume name is provided instead of the key or path, then provid-
ing the pool is necessary to find the volume to be deleted; otherwise, the
first volume found by the key or path will be used.

The --delete-snapshots flag specifies that any snapshots associated with
the storage volume should be deleted as well. Not all storage drivers sup-
port this option, presently only rbd.

vol-upload
Syntax:

vol-upload vol-name-or-key-or-path local-file
[--pool pool-or-uuid] [--offset bytes]
[--length bytes] [--sparse]

Upload the contents of local-file to a storage volume.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume where the
local-file will be uploaded.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool the volume is
in. If the volume name is provided instead of the key or path, then provid-
ing the pool is necessary to find the volume to be uploaded into; other-
wise, the first volume found by the key or path will be used.

--offset is the position in the storage volume at which to start writing
the data. The value must be 0 or larger.

--length is an upper bound of the amount of data to be uploaded. A nega-
tive value is interpreted as an unsigned long long value to essentially in-
clude everything from the offset to the end of the volume.

If --sparse is specified, this command will preserve volume sparseness.

An error will occur if the local-file is greater than the specified length.

See the description for the libvirt virStorageVolUpload API for details re-
garding possible target volume and pool changes as a result of the pool re-
fresh when the upload is attempted.

vol-download
Syntax:

vol-download vol-name-or-key-or-path local-file
[--pool pool-or-uuid] [--offset bytes] [--length bytes]
[--sparse]

Download the contents of a storage volume to local-file.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume to down-
load into local-file.

--offset is the position in the storage volume at which to start reading
the data. The value must be 0 or larger.

--length is an upper bound of the amount of data to be downloaded. A nega-
tive value is interpreted as an unsigned long long value to essentially in-
clude everything from the offset to the end of the volume.

If --sparse is specified, this command will preserve volume sparseness.

vol-wipe
Syntax:

vol-wipe vol-name-or-key-or-path [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--algorithm algorithm]

Wipe a volume, ensure data previously on the volume is not accessible to
future reads.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume to wipe.
It is possible to choose different wiping algorithms instead of re-writing
volume with zeroes.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool the volume is
in. If the volume name is provided instead of the key or path, then provid-
ing the pool is necessary to find the volume to be wiped; otherwise, the
first volume found by the key or path will be used.

Use the --algorithm switch choosing from the list of the following algo-
rithms in order to define which algorithm to use for the wipe.

Supported algorithms

* zero - 1-pass all zeroes

* nnsa - 4-pass NNSA Policy Letter NAP-14.1-C (XVI-8) for sanitizing
removable and non-removable hard disks: random x2, 0x00, verify.

* dod - 4-pass DoD 5220.22-M section 8-306 procedure for sanitizing
removable and non-removable rigid disks: random, 0x00, 0xff, verify.

* bsi - 9-pass method recommended by the German Center of Security
in Information Technologies ( <https://www.bsi.bund.de> ): 0xff, 0xfe,
0xfd, 0xfb, 0xf7, 0xef, 0xdf, 0xbf, 0x7f.

* gutmann - The canonical 35-pass sequence described in Gutmann's paper.

* schneier - 7-pass method described by Bruce Schneier in "Applied Cryp-
tography" (1996): 0x00, 0xff, random x5.

* pfitzner7 - Roy Pfitzner's 7-random-pass method: random x7.

* pfitzner33 - Roy Pfitzner's 33-random-pass method: random x33.

* random - 1-pass pattern: random.

* trim - 1-pass trimming the volume using TRIM or DISCARD

Note: The scrub binary will be used to handle the 'nnsa', 'dod', 'bsi',
'gutmann', 'schneier', 'pfitzner7' and 'pfitzner33' algorithms. The avail-
ability of the algorithms may be limited by the version of the scrub binary
installed on the host. The 'zero' algorithm will write zeroes to the entire
volume. For some volumes, such as sparse or rbd volumes, this may result in
completely filling the volume with zeroes making it appear to be completely
full. As an alternative, the 'trim' algorithm does not overwrite all the
data in a volume, rather it expects the storage driver to be able to dis-
card all bytes in a volume. It is up to the storage driver to handle how
the discarding occurs. Not all storage drivers or volume types can support
'trim'.

vol-dumpxml
Syntax:

vol-dumpxml [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap]
vol-name-or-key-or-path

Output the volume information as an XML dump to stdout.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume to output
the XML.

vol-info
Syntax:

vol-info vol-name-or-key-or-path [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--bytes] [--physical]

Returns basic information about the given storage volume.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume to return
information for.

If --bytes is specified the sizes are not converted to human friendly
units.

If --physical is specified, then the host physical size is returned and
displayed instead of the allocation value. The physical value for some file
types, such as qcow2 may have a different (larger) physical value than is
shown for allocation. Additionally sparse files will have different physi-
cal and allocation values.

vol-list
Syntax:

vol-list [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--details]

Return the list of volumes in the given storage pool.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool.

The --details option instructs virsh to additionally display volume type
and capacity related information where available.

vol-pool
Syntax:

vol-pool vol-key-or-path [--uuid]

Return the pool name or UUID for a given volume. By default, the pool name
is returned.

vol-key-or-path is the key or path of the volume to return the pool infor-
mation.

If the --uuid option is given, the pool UUID is returned instead.

vol-path
Syntax:

vol-path vol-name-or-key [--pool pool-or-uuid]

Return the path for a given volume.

vol-name-or-key is the name or key of the volume to return the path.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool the volume is
in. If the volume name is provided instead of the key, then providing the
pool is necessary to find the volume to be uploaded into; otherwise, the
first volume found by the key will be used.

vol-name
Syntax:

vol-name vol-key-or-path

Return the name for a given volume.

vol-key-or-path is the key or path of the volume to return the name.

vol-key
Syntax:

vol-key vol-name-or-path [--pool pool-or-uuid]

Return the volume key for a given volume.

vol-name-or-path is the name or path of the volume to return the volume
key.

--pool pool-or-uuid is the name or UUID of the storage pool the volume is
in. If the volume name is provided instead of the path, then providing the
pool is necessary to find the volume to be uploaded into; otherwise, the
first volume found by the path will be used.

vol-resize
Syntax:

vol-resize vol-name-or-path capacity [--pool pool-or-uuid] [--allocate] [--delta] [--shrink]

Resize the capacity of the given volume, in bytes.

vol-name-or-key-or-path is the name or key or path of the volume to resize.

capacity is a scaled integer (see NOTES above) for the volume, which de-
faults to bytes if there is no suffix.

The new capacity might be sparse unless --allocate is specified.

Normally, capacity is the new size, but if --delta is present, then it is
added to the existing size.

Attempts to shrink the volume will fail unless --shrink is present. The
capacity cannot be negative unless --shrink is provided, but a negative
sign is not necessary.

This command is only safe for storage volumes not in use by an active
guest; see also blockresize for live resizing.

SECRET COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate "secrets" (e.g. passwords, passphrases
and encryption keys). Libvirt can store secrets independently from their
use, and other objects (e.g. volumes or domains) can refer to the secrets
for encryption or possibly other uses. Secrets are identified using a
UUID. See
<https://libvirt.org/formatsecret.html> for documentation of the XML for-
mat used to represent properties of secrets.

secret-define
Syntax:

secret-define file [--validate]

Create a secret with the properties specified in file, with no associated
secret value. If file does not specify a UUID, choose one automatically.
If file specifies a UUID of an existing secret, replace its properties by
properties defined in file, without affecting the secret value.

Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be validated against an
internal RNG schema with --validate.

secret-dumpxml
Syntax:

secret-dumpxml [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] secret

Output properties of secret (specified by its UUID) as an XML dump to std-
out.

secret-event
Syntax:

secret-event {[secret] event [--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--timestamp] | --list}

Wait for a class of secret events to occur, and print appropriate details
of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by secret.
Using --list as the only argument will provide a list of possible event
values known by this client, although the connection might not allow regis-
tering for all these events.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event.

secret-set-value
Syntax:

secret-set-value secret (--file filename [--plain] | --interactive | base64)

Set the value associated with secret (specified by its UUID) to the value
Base64-encoded value base64 or Base-64-encoded contents of file named file-
name. Using the --plain flag is together with --file allows one to use the
file contents directly as the secret value.

If --interactive flag is used the secret value is read as a password from
the terminal.

Note that --file, --interactive and base64 options are mutually exclusive.

Passing secrets via the base64 option on command line is INSECURE and dep-
recated. Use the --file option instead.

secret-get-value
Syntax:

secret-get-value [--plain] secret

Output the value associated with secret (specified by its UUID) to stdout,
encoded using Base64.

If the --plain flag is used the value is not base64 encoded, but rather
printed raw. Note that unless virsh is started in quiet mode (virsh -q) it
prints a newline at the end of the command. This newline is not part of the
secret.

secret-undefine
Syntax:

secret-undefine secret

Delete a secret (specified by its UUID), including the associated value, if
any.

secret-list
Syntax:

secret-list [--ephemeral] [--no-ephemeral]
[--private] [--no-private]

Returns the list of secrets. You may also want to filter the returned se-
crets by --ephemeral to list the ephemeral ones, --no-ephemeral to list the
non-ephemeral ones, --private to list the private ones, and --no-private to
list the non-private ones.

SNAPSHOT COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate domain snapshots. Snapshots take the
disk, memory, and device state of a domain at a point-of-time, and save it
for future use. They have many uses, from saving a "clean" copy of an OS
image to saving a domain's state before a potentially destructive opera-
tion. Snapshots are identified with a unique name. See
<https://libvirt.org/formatsnapshot.html> for documentation of the XML
format used to represent properties of snapshots.

snapshot-create
Syntax:

snapshot-create domain [xmlfile] {[--redefine [--current]] |
[--no-metadata] [--halt] [--disk-only] [--reuse-external]
[--quiesce] [--atomic] [--live]} [--validate]

Create a snapshot for domain domain with the properties specified in xml-
file. Optionally, the --validate option can be passed to validate the
format of the input XML file against an internal RNG schema (identical to
using the virt-xml-validate(1) tool). Normally, the only properties set-
table for a domain snapshot are the <name> and <description> elements, as
well as <disks> if --disk-only is given; the rest of the fields are ig-
nored, and automatically filled in by libvirt. If xmlfile is completely
omitted, then libvirt will choose a value for all fields. The new snapshot
will become current, as listed by snapshot-current.

If --halt is specified, the domain will be left in an inactive state after
the snapshot is created.

If --disk-only is specified, the snapshot will only include disk content
rather than the usual full system snapshot with vm state. Disk snapshots
are captured faster than full system snapshots, but reverting to a disk
snapshot may require fsck or journal replays, since it is like the disk
state at the point when the power cord is abruptly pulled; and mixing
--halt and --disk-only loses any data that was not flushed to disk at the
time.

If --redefine is specified, then all XML elements produced by snap-
shot-dumpxml are valid; this can be used to migrate snapshot hierarchy from
one machine to another, to recreate hierarchy for the case of a transient
domain that goes away and is later recreated with the same name and UUID,
or to make slight alterations in the snapshot metadata (such as host-spe-
cific aspects of the domain XML embedded in the snapshot). When this flag
is supplied, the xmlfile argument is mandatory, and the domain's current
snapshot will not be altered unless the --current flag is also given.

If --no-metadata is specified, then the snapshot data is created, but any
metadata is immediately discarded (that is, libvirt does not treat the
snapshot as current, and cannot revert to the snapshot unless --redefine is
later used to teach libvirt about the metadata again).

If --reuse-external is specified, and the snapshot XML requests an external
snapshot with a destination of an existing file, then the destination must
exist and be pre-created with correct format and metadata. The file is then
reused; otherwise, a snapshot is refused to avoid losing contents of the
existing files.

If --quiesce is specified, libvirt will try to use guest agent to freeze
and unfreeze domain's mounted file systems. However, if domain has no guest
agent, snapshot creation will fail. Currently, this requires --disk-only
to be passed as well.

If --atomic is specified, libvirt will guarantee that the snapshot either
succeeds, or fails with no changes; not all hypervisors support this. If
this flag is not specified, then some hypervisors may fail after partially
performing the action, and dumpxml must be used to see whether any partial
changes occurred.

If --live is specified, libvirt takes the snapshot while the guest is run-
ning. Both disk snapshot and domain memory snapshot are taken. This in-
creases the size of the memory image of the external snapshot. This is cur-
rently supported only for full system external snapshots.

Existence of snapshot metadata will prevent attempts to undefine a persis-
tent guest. However, for transient domains, snapshot metadata is silently
lost when the domain quits running (whether by command such as destroy or
by internal guest action).

For now, it is not possible to create snapshots in a domain that has check-
points, although this restriction will be lifted in a future release.

snapshot-create-as
Syntax:

snapshot-create-as domain {[--print-xml] [--no-metadata]
[--halt] [--reuse-external]} [name]
[description] [--disk-only [--quiesce]] [--atomic] [--validate]
[[--live] [--memspec memspec]] [--diskspec] diskspec]...

Create a snapshot for domain domain with the given <name> and <descrip-
tion>; if either value is omitted, libvirt will choose a value. If
--print-xml is specified, then XML appropriate for snapshot-create is out-
put, rather than actually creating a snapshot. Otherwise, if --halt is
specified, the domain will be left in an inactive state after the snapshot
is created, and if --disk-only is specified, the snapshot will not include
vm state.

The --memspec option can be used to control whether a full system snapshot
is internal or external. The --memspec flag is mandatory, followed by a
memspec of the form [file=]name[,snapshot=type], where type can be no, in-
ternal, or external. To include a literal comma in file=name, escape it
with a second comma. --memspec cannot be used together with --disk-only.

The --diskspec option can be used to control how --disk-only and external
full system snapshots create external files. This option can occur multi-
ple times, according to the number of <disk> elements in the domain xml.
Each <diskspec> is in the form disk[,snapshot=type][,dri-
ver=type][,stype=type][,file=name]. A diskspec must be provided for disks
backed by block devices as libvirt doesn't auto-generate file names for
those. The optional stype parameter allows one to control the type of the
source file. Supported values are 'file' (default) and 'block'. To exclude
a disk from an external snapshot use --diskspec disk,snapshot=no.

To include a literal comma in disk or in file=name, escape it with a second
comma. A literal --diskspec must precede each diskspec unless all three of
domain, name, and description are also present. For example, a diskspec of
"vda,snapshot=external,file=/path/to,,new" results in the following XML:

If --reuse-external is specified, and the domain XML or diskspec option re-
quests an external snapshot with a destination of an existing file, then
the destination must exist and be pre-created with correct format and meta-
data. The file is then reused; otherwise, a snapshot is refused to avoid
losing contents of the existing files.

If --no-metadata is specified, then the snapshot data is created, but any
metadata is immediately discarded (that is, libvirt does not treat the
snapshot as current, and cannot revert to the snapshot unless snapshot-cre-
ate is later used to teach libvirt about the metadata again).

If --live is specified, libvirt takes the snapshot while the guest is run-
ning. This increases the size of the memory image of the external snapshot.
This is currently supported only for external full system snapshots.

For now, it is not possible to create snapshots in a domain that has check-
points, although this restriction will be lifted in a future release.

Optionally, the --validate option can be passed to validate XML document
which is internally generated by this command against the internal RNG
schema.

snapshot-current
Syntax:

snapshot-current domain {[--name] | [--security-info] | [snapshotname]}

Without snapshotname, this will output the snapshot XML for the domain's
current snapshot (if any). If --name is specified, just the current snap-
shot name instead of the full xml. Otherwise, using --security-info will
also include security sensitive information in the XML.

With snapshotname, this is a request to make the existing named snapshot
become the current snapshot, without reverting the domain.

snapshot-edit
Syntax:

snapshot-edit domain [snapshotname] [--current] {[--rename] | [--clone]}

Edit the XML configuration file for snapshotname of a domain. If both
snapshotname and --current are specified, also force the edited snapshot to
become the current snapshot. If snapshotname is omitted, then --current
must be supplied, to edit the current snapshot.

This is equivalent to:

virsh snapshot-dumpxml dom name > snapshot.xml
vi snapshot.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh snapshot-create dom snapshot.xml --redefine [--current]

except that it does some error checking.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

If --rename is specified, then the edits can change the snapshot name. If
--clone is specified, then changing the snapshot name will create a clone
of the snapshot metadata. If neither is specified, then the edits must not
change the snapshot name. Note that changing a snapshot name must be done
with care, since the contents of some snapshots, such as internal snapshots
within a single qcow2 file, are accessible only from the original name.

snapshot-info
Syntax:

snapshot-info domain {snapshot | --current}

Output basic information about a named <snapshot>, or the current snapshot
with --current.

snapshot-list
Syntax:

snapshot-list domain [--metadata] [--no-metadata]
[{--parent | --roots | [{--tree | --name}]}] [--topological]
[{[--from] snapshot | --current} [--descendants]]
[--leaves] [--no-leaves] [--inactive] [--active]
[--disk-only] [--internal] [--external]

List all of the available snapshots for the given domain, defaulting to
show columns for the snapshot name, creation time, and domain state.

Normally, table form output is sorted by snapshot name; using --topological
instead sorts so that no child is listed before its ancestors (although
there may be more than one possible ordering with this property).

If --parent is specified, add a column to the output table giving the name
of the parent of each snapshot. If --roots is specified, the list will be
filtered to just snapshots that have no parents. If --tree is specified,
the output will be in a tree format, listing just snapshot names. These
three options are mutually exclusive.

If --name is specified only the snapshot name is printed optionally fol-
lowed by a tab-separated name of the parent snapshot if --parent is used as
well. This option is mutually exclusive with --tree.

If --from is provided, filter the list to snapshots which are children of
the given snapshot; or if --current is provided, start at the current snap-
shot. When used in isolation or with --parent, the list is limited to di-
rect children unless --descendants is also present. When used with --tree,
the use of --descendants is implied. This option is not compatible with
--roots. Note that the starting point of --from or --current is not in-
cluded in the list unless the --tree option is also present.

If --leaves is specified, the list will be filtered to just snapshots that
have no children. Likewise, if --no-leaves is specified, the list will be
filtered to just snapshots with children. (Note that omitting both options
does no filtering, while providing both options will either produce the
same list or error out depending on whether the server recognizes the
flags). Filtering options are not compatible with --tree.

If --metadata is specified, the list will be filtered to just snapshots
that involve libvirt metadata, and thus would prevent undefine of a persis-
tent guest, or be lost on destroy of a transient domain. Likewise, if
--no-metadata is specified, the list will be filtered to just snapshots
that exist without the need for libvirt metadata.

If --inactive is specified, the list will be filtered to snapshots that
were taken when the domain was shut off. If --active is specified, the
list will be filtered to snapshots that were taken when the domain was run-
ning, and where the snapshot includes the memory state to revert to that
running state. If --disk-only is specified, the list will be filtered to
snapshots that were taken when the domain was running, but where the snap-
shot includes only disk state.

If --internal is specified, the list will be filtered to snapshots that use
internal storage of existing disk images. If --external is specified, the
list will be filtered to snapshots that use external files for disk images
or memory state.

snapshot-dumpxml
Syntax:

snapshot-dumpxml [--security-info] [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap]
domain snapshot

Output the snapshot XML for the domain's snapshot named snapshot. Using
--security-info will also include security sensitive information. Use
snapshot-current to easily access the XML of the current snapshot.

snapshot-parent
Syntax:

snapshot-parent domain {snapshot | --current}

Output the name of the parent snapshot, if any, for the given snapshot, or
for the current snapshot with --current.

snapshot-revert
Syntax:

snapshot-revert domain {snapshot | --current} [{--running | --paused}]
[--force] [--reset-nvram]

Revert the given domain to the snapshot specified by snapshot, or to the
current snapshot with --current. Be aware that this is a destructive ac-
tion; any changes in the domain since the last snapshot was taken will be
lost. Also note that the state of the domain after snapshot-revert is com-
plete will be the state of the domain at the time the original snapshot was
taken.

Normally, reverting to a snapshot leaves the domain in the state it was at
the time the snapshot was created, except that a disk snapshot with no vm
state leaves the domain in an inactive state. Passing either the --running
or --paused flag will perform additional state changes (such as booting an
inactive domain, or pausing a running domain). Since transient domains
cannot be inactive, it is required to use one of these flags when reverting
to a disk snapshot of a transient domain.

Since libvirt 7.10.0 the VM process is always restarted so the following
paragraph is no longer valid. If the snapshot metadata lacks the full VM
XML it's no longer possible to revert to such snapshot.

There are a number of cases where a snapshot revert involves extra risk,
which requires the use of --force to proceed:

* One is the case of a snapshot that lacks full domain information for
reverting configuration (such as snapshots created prior to libvirt
0.9.5); since libvirt cannot prove that the current configuration
matches what was in use at the time of the snapshot, supplying --force
assures libvirt that the snapshot is compatible with the current con-
figuration (and if it is not, the domain will likely fail to run).

* Another is the case of reverting from a running domain to an active
state where a new hypervisor has to be created rather than reusing the
existing hypervisor, because it implies drawbacks such as breaking any
existing VNC or Spice connections; this condition happens with an ac-
tive snapshot that uses a provably incompatible configuration, as well
as with an inactive snapshot that is combined with the --start or
--pause flag.

* Also, libvirt will refuse to restore snapshots of inactive QEMU do-
mains while there is managed saved state. This is because those snap-
shots do not contain memory state and will therefore not replace the
existing memory state. This ends up switching a disk underneath a run-
ning system and will likely cause extensive filesystem corruption or
crashes due to swap content mismatches when run.

If --reset-nvram is specified, any existing NVRAM/varstore file will be
deleted and re-initialized from its pristine template.

snapshot-delete
Syntax:

snapshot-delete domain {snapshot | --current}
[--metadata] [{--children | --children-only}]

Delete the snapshot for the domain named snapshot, or the current snapshot
with --current. If this snapshot has child snapshots, changes from this
snapshot will be merged into the children. If --children is passed, then
delete this snapshot and any children of this snapshot. If --children-only
is passed, then delete any children of this snapshot, but leave this snap-
shot intact. These two flags are mutually exclusive.

If --metadata is specified, then only delete the snapshot metadata main-
tained by libvirt, while leaving the snapshot contents intact for access by
external tools; otherwise deleting a snapshot also removes the data con-
tents from that point in time.

CHECKPOINT COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate domain checkpoints. Checkpoints serve as
a point in time to identify which portions of a guest's disks have changed
after that time, making it possible to perform incremental and differential
backups. Checkpoints are identified with a unique name. See
<https://libvirt.org/formatcheckpoint.html> for documentation of the XML
format used to represent properties of checkpoints.

checkpoint-create
Syntax:

checkpoint-create domain [xmlfile] { --redefine [--redefine-validate] | [--quiesce]}

Create a checkpoint for domain domain with the properties specified in xml-
file describing a <domaincheckpoint> top-level element. The format of the
input XML file will be validated against an internal RNG schema (identical
to using the virt-xml-validate(1) tool). If xmlfile is completely omitted,
then libvirt will create a checkpoint with a name based on the current
time.

If --redefine is specified, then all XML elements produced by check-
point-dumpxml are valid; this can be used to migrate checkpoint hierarchy
from one machine to another, to recreate hierarchy for the case of a tran-
sient domain that goes away and is later recreated with the same name and
UUID, or to make slight alterations in the checkpoint metadata (such as
host-specific aspects of the domain XML embedded in the checkpoint). When
this flag is supplied, the xmlfile argument is mandatory.

If --redefine-validate is specified along with --redefine the hypervisor
performs validation of metadata associated with the checkpoint stored in
places besides the checkpoint XML. Note that some hypervisors may require
that the domain is running to perform validation.

If --quiesce is specified, libvirt will try to use guest agent to freeze
and unfreeze domain's mounted file systems. However, if domain has no guest
agent, checkpoint creation will fail.

Existence of checkpoint metadata will prevent attempts to undefine a per-
sistent guest. However, for transient domains, checkpoint metadata is
silently lost when the domain quits running (whether by command such as de-
stroy or by internal guest action).

For now, it is not possible to create checkpoints in a domain that has
snapshots, although this restriction will be lifted in a future release.

checkpoint-create-as
Syntax:

checkpoint-create-as domain [--print-xml] [name]
[description] [--quiesce] [--diskspec] diskspec]...

Create a checkpoint for domain domain with the given <name> and <descrip-
tion>; if either value is omitted, libvirt will choose a value. If
--print-xml is specified, then XML appropriate for checkpoint-create is
output, rather than actually creating a checkpoint.

The --diskspec option can be used to control which guest disks participate
in the checkpoint. This option can occur multiple times, according to the
number of <disk> elements in the domain xml. Each <diskspec> is in the
form disk[,checkpoint=type][,bitmap=name]. A literal --diskspec must pre-
cede each diskspec unless all three of domain, name, and description are
also present. For example, a diskspec of "vda,check-
point=bitmap,bitmap=map1" results in the following XML:

If --quiesce is specified, libvirt will try to use guest agent to freeze
and unfreeze domain's mounted file systems. However, if domain has no guest
agent, checkpoint creation will fail.

For now, it is not possible to create checkpoints in a domain that has
snapshots, although this restriction will be lifted in a future release.

checkpoint-edit
Syntax:

checkpoint-edit domain checkpointname

Edit the XML configuration file for checkpointname of a domain.

This is equivalent to:

virsh checkpoint-dumpxml dom name > checkpoint.xml
vi checkpoint.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh checkpoint-create dom checkpoint.xml --redefine

except that it does some error checking, including that the edits should
not attempt to change the checkpoint name.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

checkpoint-info
Syntax:

checkpoint-info domain checkpoint

Output basic information about a named <checkpoint>.

checkpoint-list
Syntax:

checkpoint-list domain [{--parent | --roots |
[{--tree | --name}]}] [--topological]
[[--from] checkpoint | [--descendants]]
[--leaves] [--no-leaves]

List all of the available checkpoints for the given domain, defaulting to
show columns for the checkpoint name and creation time.

Normally, table form output is sorted by checkpoint name; using --topologi-
cal instead sorts so that no child is listed before its ancestors (although
there may be more than one possible ordering with this property).

If --parent is specified, add a column to the output table giving the name
of the parent of each checkpoint. If --roots is specified, the list will
be filtered to just checkpoints that have no parents. If --tree is speci-
fied, the output will be in a tree format, listing just checkpoint names.
These three options are mutually exclusive.

If --name is specified only the checkpoint name is printed optionally fol-
lowed by a tab-separated name of the parent checkpoint if --parent is used
as well. This option is mutually exclusive with --tree.

If --from is provided, filter the list to checkpoints which are children of
the given checkpoint. When used in isolation or with --parent, the list is
limited to direct children unless --descendants is also present. When used
with --tree, the use of --descendants is implied. This option is not com-
patible with --roots. Note that the starting point of --from is not in-
cluded in the list unless the --tree option is also present.

If --leaves is specified, the list will be filtered to just checkpoints
that have no children. Likewise, if --no-leaves is specified, the list
will be filtered to just checkpoints with children. (Note that omitting
both options does no filtering, while providing both options will either
produce the same list or error out depending on whether the server recog-
nizes the flags). Filtering options are not compatible with --tree.

checkpoint-dumpxml
Syntax:

checkpoint-dumpxml [--security-info] [--no-domain] [--size]
[--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] domain checkpoint

Output the checkpoint XML for the domain's checkpoint named checkpoint.
Using --security-info will also include security sensitive information.

Using --size will add XML indicating the current size in bytes of guest
data that has changed since the checkpoint was created (although remember
that guest activity between a size check and actually creating a backup can
result in the backup needing slightly more space). Note that some hypervi-
sors may require that domain is running when --size is used.

Using --no-domain will omit the <domain> element from the output for a more
compact view.

checkpoint-parent
Syntax:

checkpoint-parent domain checkpoint

Output the name of the parent checkpoint, if any, for the given checkpoint.

checkpoint-delete
Syntax:

checkpoint-delete domain checkpoint
[--metadata] [{--children | --children-only}]

Delete the checkpoint for the domain named checkpoint. The record of which
portions of the disk changed since the checkpoint are merged into the par-
ent checkpoint (if any). If --children is passed, then delete this check-
point and any children of this checkpoint. If --children-only is passed,
then delete any children of this checkpoint, but leave this checkpoint in-
tact. These two flags are mutually exclusive.

If --metadata is specified, then only delete the checkpoint metadata main-
tained by libvirt, while leaving the checkpoint contents intact for access
by external tools; otherwise deleting a checkpoint also removes the ability
to perform an incremental backup from that point in time.

NWFILTER COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate network filters. Network filters allow
filtering of the network traffic coming from and going to virtual machines.
Individual network traffic filters are written in XML and may contain ref-
erences to other network filters, describe traffic filtering rules, or con-
tain both. Network filters are referenced by virtual machines from within
their interface description. A network filter may be referenced by multiple
virtual machines' interfaces.

nwfilter-define
Syntax:

nwfilter-define xmlfile [--validate]

Make a new network filter known to libvirt. If a network filter with the
same name already exists, it will be replaced with the new XML. Any run-
ning virtual machine referencing this network filter will have its network
traffic rules adapted. If for any reason the network traffic filtering
rules cannot be instantiated by any of the running virtual machines, then
the new XML will be rejected.

Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be validated against an
internal RNG schema with --validate.

nwfilter-undefine
Syntax:

nwfilter-undefine nwfilter-name

Delete a network filter. The deletion will fail if any running virtual ma-
chine is currently using this network filter.

nwfilter-list
Syntax:

nwfilter-list

List all of the available network filters.

nwfilter-dumpxml
Syntax:

nwfilter-dumpxml [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] nwfilter-name

Output the network filter XML.

nwfilter-edit
Syntax:

nwfilter-edit nwfilter-name

Edit the XML of a network filter.

This is equivalent to:

virsh nwfilter-dumpxml myfilter > myfilter.xml
vi myfilter.xml (or make changes with your other text editor)
virsh nwfilter-define myfilter.xml

except that it does some error checking. The new network filter may be re-
jected due to the same reason as mentioned in nwfilter-define.

The editor used can be supplied by the $VISUAL or $EDITOR environment vari-
ables, and defaults to vi.

NWFILTER BINDING COMMANDS
The following commands manipulate network filter bindings. Network filter
bindings track the association between a network port and a network filter.
Generally the bindings are managed automatically by the hypervisor drivers
when adding/removing NICs on a guest.

If an admin is creating/deleting TAP devices for non-guest usage, however,
the network filter binding commands provide a way to make use of the net-
work filters directly.

nwfilter-binding-create
Syntax:

nwfilter-binding-create xmlfile [--validate]

Associate a network port with a network filter. The network filter backend
will immediately attempt to instantiate the filter rules on the port. This
command may be used to associate a filter with a currently running guest
that does not have a filter defined for a specific network port. Since the
bindings are generally automatically managed by the hypervisor, using this
command to define a filter for a network port and then starting the guest
afterwards may prevent the guest from starting if it attempts to use the
network port and finds a filter already defined.

Optionally, the format of the input XML file can be validated against an
internal RNG schema with --validate.

nwfilter-binding-delete
Syntax:

nwfilter-binding-delete port-name

Disassociate a network port from a network filter. The network filter back-
end will immediately tear down the filter rules that exist on the port.
This command may be used to remove the network port binding for a filter
currently in use for the guest while the guest is running without needing
to restart the guest. Restoring the network port binding filter for the
running guest would be accomplished by using nwfilter-binding-create.

nwfilter-binding-list
Syntax:

nwfilter-binding-list

List all of the network ports which have filters associated with them.

nwfilter-binding-dumpxml
Syntax:

nwfilter-binding-dumpxml [--xpath EXPRESSION] [--wrap] port-name

Output the network filter binding XML for the network device called
port-name.

HYPERVISOR-SPECIFIC COMMANDS
NOTE: Use of the following commands is strongly discouraged. They can
cause libvirt to become confused and do the wrong thing on subsequent oper-
ations. Once you have used these commands, please do not report problems
to the libvirt developers; the reports will be ignored. If you find that
these commands are the only way to accomplish something, then it is better
to request that the feature be added as a first-class citizen in the regu-
lar libvirt library.

qemu-attach
Syntax:

qemu-attach pid

Attach an externally launched QEMU process to the libvirt QEMU driver. The
QEMU process must have been created with a monitor connection using the
UNIX driver. Ideally the process will also have had the '-name' argument
specified.

$ qemu-kvm -cdrom ~/demo.iso \
-monitor unix:/tmp/demo,server,nowait \
-name foo \
-uuid cece4f9f-dff0-575d-0e8e-01fe380f12ea &
$ QEMUPID=$!
$ virsh qemu-attach $QEMUPID

Not all functions of libvirt are expected to work reliably after attaching
to an externally launched QEMU process. There may be issues with the guest
ABI changing upon migration and device hotplug or hotunplug may not work.
The attached environment should be considered primarily read-only.

qemu-monitor-command
Syntax:

qemu-monitor-command domain { [--hmp] | [--pretty] [--return-value] }
[--pass-fds N,M,...] command...

Send an arbitrary monitor command command to domain domain through the QEMU
monitor. The results of the command will be printed on stdout.

If more than one argument is provided for command, they are concatenated
with a space in between before passing the single command to the monitor.

Note that libvirt uses the QMP to talk to qemu so command must be valid
JSON in QMP format to work properly. If command is not a JSON object lib-
virt tries to wrap it as a JSON object to provide convenient interface such
as the groups of commands with identical handling:

# simple command
$ virsh qemu-monitor-command VM commandname
$ virsh qemu-monitor-command VM '{"execute":"commandname"}'

# with arguments
$ virsh qemu-monitor-command VM commandname '"arg1":123' '"arg2":"test"'
$ virsh qemu-monitor-command VM commandname '{"arg1":123,"arg2":"test"}'
$ virsh qemu-monitor-command VM '{"execute":"commandname", "arguments":{"arg1":123,"arg2":"test"}}'

If --pretty is given the QMP reply is pretty-printed.

If --return-value is given the 'return' key of the QMP response object is
extracted rather than passing through the full reply from QEMU.

If --hmp is passed, the command is considered to be a human monitor command
and libvirt will automatically convert it into QMP and convert the result
back.

If --pass-fds is specified, the argument is a comma separated list of open
file descriptors which should be passed on to qemu along with the command.

qemu-agent-command
Syntax:

qemu-agent-command domain [--timeout seconds | --async | --block] command...

Send an arbitrary guest agent command command to domain domain through QEMU
agent. --timeout, --async and --block options are exclusive. --timeout
requires timeout seconds seconds and it must be positive. When --aysnc is
given, the command waits for timeout whether success or failed. And when
--block is given, the command waits forever with blocking timeout.

qemu-monitor-event
Syntax:

qemu-monitor-event [domain] [--event event-name]
[--loop] [--timeout seconds] [--pretty] [--regex] [--no-case]
[--timestamp]

Wait for arbitrary QEMU monitor events to occur, and print out the details
of events as they happen. The events can optionally be filtered by domain
or event-name. The 'query-events' QMP command can be used via qemu-moni-
tor-command to learn what events are supported. If --regex is used,
event-name is a basic regular expression instead of a literal string. If
--no-case is used, event-name will match case-insensitively.

When --timestamp is used, a human-readable timestamp will be printed before
the event, and the timing information provided by QEMU will be omitted.

lxc-enter-namespace
Syntax:

lxc-enter-namespace domain [--noseclabel] --
/path/to/binary [arg1, [arg2, ...]]

Enter the namespace of domain and execute the command /path/to/binary pass-
ing the requested args. The binary path is relative to the container root
filesystem, not the host root filesystem. The binary will inherit the envi-
ronment variables / console visible to virsh. The command will be run with
the same sVirt context and cgroups placement as processes within the con-
tainer. This command only works when connected to the LXC hypervisor dri-
ver. This command succeeds only if /path/to/binary has 0 exit status.

By default the new process will run with the security label of the new par-
ent container. Use the --noseclabel option to instead have the process keep
the same security label as virsh.

ENVIRONMENT
The following environment variables can be set to alter the behaviour of
virsh

* VIRSH_DEBUG=<0 to 4>

Turn on verbose debugging of virsh commands. Valid levels are

* VIRSH_DEBUG=0

DEBUG - Messages at ALL levels get logged

* VIRSH_DEBUG=1

INFO - Logs messages at levels INFO, NOTICE, WARNING and ERROR

* VIRSH_DEBUG=2

NOTICE - Logs messages at levels NOTICE, WARNING and ERROR

* VIRSH_DEBUG=3

WARNING - Logs messages at levels WARNING and ERROR

* VIRSH_DEBUG=4

ERROR - Messages at only ERROR level gets logged.

* VIRSH_LOG_FILE=``LOGFILE``

The file to log virsh debug messages.

* VIRSH_DEFAULT_CONNECT_URI

The hypervisor to connect to by default. Set this to a URI, in the same
format as accepted by the connect option. This environment variable is
deprecated in favour of the global LIBVIRT_DEFAULT_URI variable which
serves the same purpose.

* LIBVIRT_DEFAULT_URI

The hypervisor to connect to by default. Set this to a URI, in the same
format as accepted by the connect option. This overrides the default URI
set in any client config file and prevents libvirt from probing for dri-
vers.

* VISUAL

The editor to use by the edit and related options.

* EDITOR

The editor to use by the edit and related options, if VISUAL is not set.

* VIRSH_HISTSIZE

The number of commands to remember in the command history. The default
value is 500.

* LIBVIRT_DEBUG=LEVEL

Turn on verbose debugging of all libvirt API calls. Valid levels are

* LIBVIRT_DEBUG=1

Messages at level DEBUG or above

* LIBVIRT_DEBUG=2

Messages at level INFO or above

* LIBVIRT_DEBUG=3

Messages at level WARNING or above

* LIBVIRT_DEBUG=4

Messages at level ERROR

For further information about debugging options consult
<https://libvirt.org/logging.html>

BUGS
Please report all bugs you discover. This should be done via either:

1. the mailing list

<https://libvirt.org/contact.html>

2. the bug tracker

<https://libvirt.org/bugs.html>

Alternatively, you may report bugs to your software distributor / vendor.

AUTHORS
Please refer to the AUTHORS file distributed with libvirt.

LICENSE
virsh is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL v2+. This is free
software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not
even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE

SEE ALSO
virt-install(1), virt-xml-validate(1), virt-top(1), virt-df(1),
<https://libvirt.org/>

VIRSH(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=virsh&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+15.1.quarterly>

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