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QEMU-NBD(8) QEMU QEMU-NBD(8) NAME qemu-nbd - QEMU Disk Network Block Device Server SYNOPSIS qemu-nbd [OPTION]... filename qemu-nbd -L [OPTION]... qemu-nbd -d dev DESCRIPTION Export a QEMU disk image using the NBD protocol. Other uses: • Bind a /dev/nbdX block device to a QEMU server (on Linux). • As a client to query exports of a remote NBD server. OPTIONS filename is a disk image filename, or a set of block driver options if --image-opts is specified. dev is an NBD device. --object type,id=ID,... Define a new instance of the type object class identified by ID. See the qemu(1) manual page for full details of the properties supported. The common object types that it makes sense to define are the secret object, which is used to supply passwords and/or encryption keys, and the tls-creds object, which is used to sup- ply TLS credentials for the qemu-nbd server or client. -p, --port=PORT TCP port to listen on as a server, or connect to as a client (default 10809). -o, --offset=OFFSET The offset into the image. -b, --bind=IFACE The interface to bind to as a server, or connect to as a client (default 0.0.0.0). -k, --socket=PATH Use a unix socket with path PATH. --image-opts Treat filename as a set of image options, instead of a plain filename. If this flag is specified, the -f flag should not be used, instead the format= option should be set. -f, --format=FMT Force the use of the block driver for format FMT instead of auto-detecting. -r, --read-only Export the disk as read-only. -A, --allocation-depth Expose allocation depth information via the qemu:alloca- tion-depth metadata context accessible through NBD_OPT_SET_META_CONTEXT. -B, --bitmap=NAME If filename has a qcow2 persistent bitmap NAME, expose that bitmap via the qemu:dirty-bitmap:NAME metadata context accessi- ble through NBD_OPT_SET_META_CONTEXT. -s, --snapshot Use filename as an external snapshot, create a temporary file with backing_file=filename, redirect the write to the temporary one. -l, --load-snapshot=SNAPSHOT_PARAM Load an internal snapshot inside filename and export it as an read-only device, SNAPSHOT_PARAM format is snap- shot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME] or [ID_OR_NAME] --cache=CACHE The cache mode to be used with the file. Valid values are: none, writeback (the default), writethrough, directsync and unsafe. See the documentation of the emulator's -drive cache=... option for more info. -n, --nocache Equivalent to --cache=none. --aio=AIO Set the asynchronous I/O mode between threads (the default), na- tive (Linux only), and io_uring (Linux 5.1+). --discard=DISCARD Control whether discard (also known as trim or unmap) requests are ignored or passed to the filesystem. DISCARD is one of ig- nore (or off), unmap (or on). The default is ignore. --detect-zeroes=DETECT_ZEROES Control the automatic conversion of plain zero writes by the OS to driver-specific optimized zero write commands. DETECT_ZEROES is one of off, on, or unmap. unmap converts a zero write to an unmap operation and can only be used if DISCARD is set to unmap. The default is off. -c, --connect=DEV Connect filename to NBD device DEV (Linux only). -d, --disconnect Disconnect the device DEV (Linux only). -e, --shared=NUM Allow up to NUM clients to share the device (default 1), 0 for unlimited. -t, --persistent Don't exit on the last connection. -x, --export-name=NAME Set the NBD volume export name (default of a zero-length string). -D, --description=DESCRIPTION Set the NBD volume export description, as a human-readable string. --handshake-limit=N Set the timeout for a client to successfully complete its hand- shake to N seconds (default 10), or 0 for no limit. -L, --list Connect as a client and list all details about the exports ex- posed by a remote NBD server. This enables list mode, and is incompatible with options that change behavior related to a spe- cific export (such as --export-name, --offset, ...). --tls-creds=ID Enable mandatory TLS encryption for the server by setting the ID of the TLS credentials object previously created with the --object option; or provide the credentials needed for connect- ing as a client in list mode. --tls-hostname=hostname When validating an x509 certificate received over a TLS connec- tion, the hostname that the NBD client used to connect will be checked against information in the server provided certificate. Sometimes it might be required to override the hostname used to perform this check. For example, if the NBD client is using a tunnel from localhost to connect to the remote server, the --tls-hostname option should be used to set the officially ex- pected hostname of the remote NBD server. This can also be used if accessing NBD over a UNIX socket where there is no inherent hostname available. This is only permitted when acting as a NBD client with the --list option. --fork Fork off the server process and exit the parent once the server is running. --pid-file=PATH Store the server's process ID in the given file. --tls-authz=ID Specify the ID of a qauthz object previously created with the --object option. This will be used to authorize connecting users against their x509 distinguished name. -v, --verbose Display extra debugging information. This option also keeps the original STDERR stream open if the qemu-nbd process is daemo- nized due to other options like --fork or -c. -h, --help Display this help and exit. -V, --version Display version information and exit. -T, --trace [[enable=]PATTERN][,events=FILE][,file=FILE] Specify tracing options. [enable=]PATTERN Immediately enable events matching PATTERN (either event name or a globbing pattern). This option is only available if QEMU has been compiled with the simple, log or ftrace tracing backend. To specify multiple events or patterns, specify the -trace option multiple times. Use -trace help to print a list of names of trace points. events=FILE Immediately enable events listed in FILE. The file must con- tain one event name (as listed in the trace-events-all file) per line; globbing patterns are accepted too. This option is only available if QEMU has been compiled with the simple, log or ftrace tracing backend. file=FILE Log output traces to FILE. This option is only available if QEMU has been compiled with the simple tracing backend. EXAMPLES Start a server listening on port 10809 that exposes only the guest-vis- ible contents of a qcow2 file, with no TLS encryption, and with the de- fault export name (an empty string). The command is one-shot, and will block until the first successful client disconnects: qemu-nbd -f qcow2 file.qcow2 Start a long-running server listening with encryption on port 10810, and allow clients with a specific X.509 certificate to connect to a 1 megabyte subset of a raw file, using the export name 'subset': qemu-nbd \ --object tls-creds-x509,id=tls0,endpoint=server,dir=/path/to/qemutls \ --object 'authz-simple,id=auth0,identity=CN=laptop.example.com,,\ O=Example Org,,L=London,,ST=London,,C=GB' \ --tls-creds tls0 --tls-authz auth0 \ -t -x subset -p 10810 \ --image-opts driver=raw,offset=1M,size=1M,file.driver=file,file.filename=file.raw Serve a read-only copy of a guest image over a Unix socket with as many as 5 simultaneous readers, with a persistent process forked as a dae- mon: qemu-nbd --fork --persistent --shared=5 --socket=/path/to/sock \ --read-only --format=qcow2 file.qcow2 Expose the guest-visible contents of a qcow2 file via a block device /dev/nbd0 (and possibly creating /dev/nbd0p1 and friends for partitions found within), then disconnect the device when done. Access to bind qemu-nbd to a /dev/nbd device generally requires root privileges, and may also require the execution of modprobe nbd to enable the kernel NBD client module. CAUTION: Do not use this method to mount filesystems from an untrusted guest image - a malicious guest may have prepared the image to attempt to trigger kernel bugs in partition probing or file system mounting. qemu-nbd -c /dev/nbd0 -f qcow2 file.qcow2 qemu-nbd -d /dev/nbd0 Query a remote server to see details about what export(s) it is serving on port 10809, and authenticating via PSK: qemu-nbd \ --object tls-creds-psk,id=tls0,dir=/tmp/keys,username=eblake,endpoint=client \ --tls-creds tls0 -L -b remote.example.com SEE ALSO qemu(1), qemu-img(1) AUTHOR Anthony Liguori <anthony@codemonkey.ws> COPYRIGHT 2025, The QEMU Project Developers 10.1.0 Nov 06, 2025 QEMU-NBD(8)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | AUTHOR | COPYRIGHT
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