virt-install • man page

virt-install (1)

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NAME

virt-install - provision new virtual machines

SYNOPSIS

virt-install [

OPTION

]...

DESCRIPTION

virt-install is a command line tool for creating new

KVM,

Xen, or Linux container guests using the "libvirt" hypervisor management library. See the

EXAMPLES

section at the end of this document to quickly get started.

virt-install tool supports graphical installations using (for example)

VNC

SPICE,

as well as text mode installs over serial console. The guest can be configured to use one or more virtual disks, network interfaces, audio devices, physical

USB

PCI

devices, among others.

The installation media can be held locally or remotely on

NFS, HTTP, FTP

servers. In the latter case "virt-install" will fetch the minimal files necessary to kick off the installation process, allowing the guest to fetch the rest of the

distribution as needed.

PXE

booting, and importing an existing disk image (thus skipping the install phase) are also supported.

Given suitable command line arguments, "virt-install" is capable of running completely unattended, with the guest 'kickstarting' itself too. This allows for easy automation of guest installs.

Many arguments have sub options, specified like opt1=foo,opt2=bar, etc. Try --option=? to see a complete list of sub options associated with that argument, example: virt-install --disk=?

Most options are not required. Minimum requirements are --name, --memory, guest storage (--disk or --filesystem), and an install option.

CONNECTING TO LIBVIRT

-c URI

--connect
URI

Connect to a non-default hypervisor. If this isn't specified, libvirt will try and choose the most suitable default.

Some valid options here are:

qemu:///system: For creating
KVM
and
QEMU
guests to be run by the system libvirtd instance. This is the default mode that virt-manager uses, and what most
KVM
users want.
qemu:///session: For creating
KVM
and
QEMU
guests for libvirtd running as the regular user.
xen:///: For connecting to Xen.
lxc:///: For creating linux containers

GENERAL OPTIONS

General configuration parameters that apply to all types of guest installs.

-n NAME

--name
NAME

Name of the new guest virtual machine instance. This must be unique amongst all guests known to the hypervisor on the connection, including those not currently active. To re-define an existing guest, use the virsh(1) tool to shut it down ('virsh shutdown') & delete ('virsh undefine') it prior to running "virt-install".

--memory
OPTIONS

Memory to allocate for the guest, in MiB. Sub options are available, like 'maxmemory' and 'hugepages'. This deprecates the -r/--ram option.

Use --memory=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryAllocation>

--memorybacking
OPTIONS

This option will influence how virtual memory pages are backed by host pages.

Use --memorybacking=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryBacking>

--arch
ARCH

Request a non-native

CPU

architecture for the guest virtual machine. If omitted, the host

CPU

architecture will be used in the guest.

--machine
MACHINE

The machine type to emulate. This will typically not need to be specified for Xen or

KVM,

but is useful for choosing machine types of more exotic architectures.

--metadata OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify metadata values for the guest. Possible options include name, uuid, title, and description. This option deprecates -u/--uuid and --description.

Use --metadata=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMetadata>

--events OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify events values for the guest. Possible options include on_poweroff, on_reboot, and on_crash.

Use --events=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsEvents>

--resource OPT=VAL,[...]

Specify resource partitioning for the guest.

Use --resource=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#resPartition>

--vcpus
OPTIONS

Number of virtual cpus to configure for the guest. If 'maxvcpus' is specified, the guest will be able to hotplug up to

MAX

vcpus while the guest is running, but will startup with

VCPUS.

CPU

topology can additionally be specified with sockets, cores, and threads. If values are omitted, the rest will be autofilled preferring sockets over cores over threads.

'cpuset' sets which physical cpus the guest can use. "CPUSET" is a comma separated list of numbers, which can also be specified in ranges or cpus to exclude. Example:

    0,2,3,5     : Use processors 0,2,3 and 5
    1-5,^3,8    : Use processors 1,2,4,5 and 8

If the value 'auto' is passed, virt-install attempts to automatically determine an optimal cpu pinning using

NUMA

data, if available.

Use --vcpus=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUAllocation>

--numatune
OPTIONS

Tune

NUMA

policy for the domain process. Example invocations

    --numatune 1,2,3,4-7
    --numatune 1-3,5,mode=preferred

Specifies the numa nodes to allocate memory from. This has the same syntax as "--cpuset" option. mode can be one of 'interleave', 'preferred', or 'strict' (the default). See 'man 8 numactl' for information about each mode.

Use --numatune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNUMATuning>

--memtune
OPTIONS

Tune memory policy for the domain process. Example invocations

    --memtune 1000
    --memtune hard_limit=100,soft_limit=60,swap_hard_limit=150,min_guarantee=80

Use --memtune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryTuning>

--blkiotune
OPTIONS

Tune blkio policy for the domain process. Example invocations

    --blkiotune 100
    --blkiotune weight=100,device_path=/dev/sdc,device_weight=200

Use --blkiotune=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsBlockTuning>

--cpu MODEL[,+feature][,-feature][,match=MATCH][,vendor=VENDOR]

Configure the

CPU

model and

CPU

features exposed to the guest. The only required value is

MODEL,

which is a valid

CPU

model as known to libvirt.

Libvirt's feature policy values force, require, optional, disable, or forbid, or with the shorthand '+feature' and '-feature', which equal 'force=feature' and 'disable=feature' respectively

Some examples:

--cpu core2duo,+x2apic,disable=vmx: Expose the core2duo
CPU
model, force enable x2apic, but do not expose vmx
--cpu host: Expose the host CPUs configuration to the guest. This enables the guest to take advantage of many of the host CPUs features (better performance), but may cause issues if migrating the guest to a host without an identical
CPU.
--cpu host-model-only: Expose the nearest host
CPU
model configuration to the guest. It is the best
CPU
which can be used for a guest on any of the hosts.

: Use --cpu=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPU>

--security type=TYPE[,label=LABEL][,relabel=yes|no]

Configure domain security driver settings. Type can be either 'static' or 'dynamic'. 'static' configuration requires a security

LABEL.

Specifying

LABEL

without

TYPE

implies static configuration.

To have libvirt automatically apply your static label, you must specify relabel=yes. Otherwise disk images must be manually labeled by the admin, including images that virt-install is asked to create.

Use --security=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#seclabel>

--features FEAT=on|off,...

Set elements in the guests <features>

XML

on or off. Examples include acpi, apic, eoi, privnet, and hyperv features. Some examples:

--features eoi=on: Enable
APIC PV EOI
--features hyperv_vapic=on,hyperv_spinlocks=off: Enable hypver
VAPIC,
but disable spinlocks
--features kvm_hidden=on: Allow the
KVM
hypervisor signature to be hidden from the guest
--features pvspinlock=on: Notify the guest that the host supports paravirtual spinlocks for example by exposing the pvticketlocks mechanism.
--features gic_version=2: This is relevant only for
ARM
architectures. Possible values are ``host'' or version number.

: Use --features=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFeatures>

--clock offset=OFFSET,TIMER_OPT=VAL,...

Configure the guest's <clock>

XML.

Some supported options:

--clock offset=OFFSET: Set the clock offset, ex. 'utc' or 'localtime'
--clock TIMER_present=no: Disable a boolean timer.
TIMER
here might be hpet, kvmclock, etc.
--clock TIMER_tickpolicy=VAL: Set a timer's tickpolicy value.
TIMER
here might be rtc, pit, etc.
VAL
might be catchup, delay, etc. Refer to the libvirt docs for all values.

: Use --clock=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime>

--pm
OPTIONS

Configure guest power management features. Example suboptions include suspend_to_mem=on|off and suspend_to_disk=on|off

Use --pm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPowerManagement>

INSTALLATION OPTIONS

--cdrom
OPTIONS

File or device used as a virtual CD-ROM device. It can be path to an

ISO

image, or to a

CDROM

device. It can also be a

URL

from which to fetch/access a minimal boot

ISO

image. The URLs take the same format as described for the "--location" argument. If a cdrom has been specified via the "--disk" option, and neither "--cdrom" nor any other install option is specified, the "--disk" cdrom is used as the install media.

-l LOCATION

--location
OPTIONS

Distribution tree installation source. virt-install can recognize certain distribution trees and fetches a bootable kernel/initrd pair to launch the install.

With libvirt 0.9.4 or later, network

URL

installs work for remote connections. virt-install will download kernel/initrd to the local machine, and then upload the media to the remote host. This option requires the

URL

to be accessible by both the local and remote host.

--location allows things like --extra-args for kernel arguments, and using --initrd-inject. If you want to use those options with

CDROM

media, you have a few options:

* Run virt-install as root and do --location

ISO

* Mount the

ISO

at a local directory, and do --location

STORAGE OPTIONS

--disk
OPTIONS

Specifies media to use as storage for the guest, with various options. The general format of a disk string is

    --disk opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...

The simplest invocation to create a new 10G disk image and associated disk device:

    --disk size=10

virt-install will generate a path name, and place it in the default image location for the hypervisor. To specify media, the command can either be:

    --disk /some/storage/path[,opt1=val1]...

or explicitly specify one of the following arguments:

path

A path to some storage media to use, existing or not. Existing media can be a file or block device.

Specifying a non-existent path implies attempting to create the new storage, and will require specifying a 'size' value. Even for remote hosts, virt-install will try to use libvirt storage APIs to automatically create the given path.

If the hypervisor supports it, path can also be a network

URL,

like http://example.com/some-disk.img . For network paths, they hypervisor will directly access the storage, nothing is downloaded locally.

pool

An existing libvirt storage pool name to create new storage on. Requires specifying a 'size' value.

vol

An existing libvirt storage volume to use. This is specified as 'poolname/volname'.

Other available options:

device

Disk device type. Value can be 'cdrom', 'disk', 'lun' or 'floppy'. Default is 'disk'. If a 'cdrom' is specified, and no install method is chosen, the cdrom is used as the install media.

boot_order

Guest installation with multiple disks will need this parameter to boot correctly after being installed. A boot_order parameter will take values 1,2,3,... Devices with lower value has higher priority.

bus

Disk bus type. Value can be 'ide', 'sata', 'scsi', 'usb', 'virtio' or 'xen'. The default is hypervisor dependent since not all hypervisors support all bus types.

removable

Sets the removable flag (/sys/block/$dev/removable on Linux). Only used with

QEMU

and bus=usb. Value can be 'on' or 'off'.

readonly

Set drive as readonly (takes 'on' or 'off')

shareable

Set drive as shareable (takes 'on' or 'off')

size

size (in GiB) to use if creating new storage

sparse

whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is 'yes' or 'no'. Default is 'yes' (do not fully allocate) unless it isn't supported by the underlying storage type.

The initial time taken to fully-allocate the guest virtual disk (sparse=no) will be usually balanced by faster install times inside the guest. Thus use of this option is recommended to ensure consistently high performance and to avoid I/O errors in the guest should the host filesystem fill up.

backing_store

Path to a disk to use as the backing store for the newly created image.

backing_format

Disk image format of backing_store

cache

The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache memory. The cache value can be 'none', 'writethrough', 'directsync', 'unsafe' or 'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides read caching. 'writeback' provides read and write caching. 'directsync' bypasses the host page cache. 'unsafe' may cache all content and ignore flush requests from the guest.

discard

Whether discard (also known as ``trim'' or ``unmap'') requests are ignored or passed to the filesystem. The value can be either ``unmap'' (allow the discard request to be passed) or ``ignore'' (ignore the discard request). Since 1.0.6 (

QEMU

and

KVM

only)

format

Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw', 'qcow2', 'vmdk', etc. See format types in <libvirt.org/storage.html> for possible values. This is often mapped to the driver_type value as well.

If not specified when creating file images, this will default to 'qcow2'.

If creating storage, this will be the format of the new image. If using an existing image, this overrides libvirt's format auto-detection.

driver_name

Driver name the hypervisor should use when accessing the specified storage. Typically does not need to be set by the user.

driver_type

Driver format/type the hypervisor should use when accessing the specified storage. Typically does not need to be set by the user.

io

Disk

backend. Can be either ``threads'' or ``native''.

error_policy

How guest should react if a write error is encountered. Can be one of ``stop'', ``ignore'', or ``enospace''

serial

Serial number of the emulated disk device. This is used in linux guests to set /dev/disk/by-id symlinks. An example serial number might be:

WD-WMAP9A966149

startup_policy

It defines what to do with the disk if the source file is not accessible. See possible values in <www.libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>

See the examples section for some uses. This option deprecates -f/--file, -s/--file-size, --nonsparse, and --nodisks.

Use --disk=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>

--filesystem

Specifies a directory on the host to export to the guest. The most simple invocation is:

    --filesystem /source/on/host,/target/point/in/guest

Which will work for recent

QEMU

and linux guest

LXC

containers. For

QEMU,

the target point is just a mounting hint in sysfs, so will not be automatically mounted.

The following explicit options can be specified:

type: The type or the source directory. Valid values are 'mount' (the default) or 'template' for OpenVZ templates.
mode: The access mode for the source directory from the guest
OS.
Only used with
QEMU
and type=mount. Valid modes are 'passthrough' (the default), 'mapped', or 'squash'. See libvirt domain
XML
documentation for more info.
source: The directory on the host to share.
target: The mount location to use in the guest.

: Use --filesystem=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems>

NETWORKING OPTIONS

-w OPTIONS

--network
OPTIONS

Connect the guest to the host network. The value for "NETWORK" can take one of 4 formats:

bridge=BRIDGE: Connect to a bridge device in the host called "BRIDGE". Use this option if the host has static networking config & the guest requires full outbound and inbound connectivity to/from the
LAN.
Also use this if live migration will be used with this guest.
network=NAME: Connect to a virtual network in the host called "NAME". Virtual networks can be listed, created, deleted using the "virsh" command line tool. In an unmodified install of "libvirt" there is usually a virtual network with a name of "default". Use a virtual network if the host has dynamic networking (eg NetworkManager), or using wireless. The guest will be NATed to the
LAN
by whichever connection is active.
type=direct,source=IFACE[,source_mode=MODE]: Direct connect to host interface
IFACE
using macvtap.
user: Connect to the
LAN
using
SLIRP.
Only use this if running a
QEMU
guest as an unprivileged user. This provides a very limited form of
NAT.
none: Tell virt-install not to add any default network interface.

If this option is omitted a single

NIC

will be created in the guest. If there is a bridge device in the host with a physical interface enslaved, that will be used for connectivity. Failing that, the virtual network called "default" will be used. This option can be specified multiple times to setup more than one

NIC.

Other available options are:

model

Network device model as seen by the guest. Value can be any nic model supported by the hypervisor, e.g.: 'e1000', 'rtl8139', 'virtio', ...

mac

Fixed

MAC

address for the guest; If this parameter is omitted, or the value "RANDOM" is specified a suitable address will be randomly generated. For Xen virtual machines it is required that the first 3 pairs in the

MAC

address be the sequence '00:16:3e', while for

QEMU

KVM

virtual machines it must be '52:54:00'.

filterref

Controlling firewall and network filtering in libvirt. Value can be any nwfilter defined by the "virsh" 'nwfilter' subcommands. Available filters can be listed by running 'virsh nwfilter-list', e.g.: 'clean-traffic', 'no-mac-spoofing', ...

virtualport_type

The type of virtual port profile, one the following values

802.Qbg

The following additional parameters are accepted

virtualport_managerid: The
VSI
Manager
ID
identifies the database containing the
VSI
type and instance definitions. This is an integer value and the value 0 is reserved.
virtualport_typeid: The
VSI
Type
ID
identifies a
VSI
type characterizing the network access.
VSI
types are typically managed by network administrator. This is an integer value.
virtualport_typeidversion: The
VSI
Type Version allows multiple versions of a
VSI
Type. This is an integer value.
virtualport_instanceid: The
VSI
Instance
ID
Identifier is generated when a
VSI
instance (i.e. a virtual interface of a virtual machine) is created. This is a globally unique identifier.

802.Qbh

The following additional parameters are accepted

virtualport_profileid: The profile
ID
contains the name of the port profile that is to be applied to this interface. This name is resolved by the port profile database into the network parameters from the port profile, and those network parameters will be applied to this interface.

openvswitch

The following additional parameters are accepted

virtualport_profileid: The OpenVSwitch port profile for the interface
virtualport_interfaceid: A
UUID
to uniquely identify the interface. If omitted one will be generated automatically

midonet

The following additional parameters are accepted

virtualport_interfaceid: A
UUID
identifying the port in the network to which the interface will be bound

Use --network=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNICS>

This option deprecates -m/--mac, -b/--bridge, and --nonetworks

GRAPHICS OPTIONS

If no graphics option is specified, "virt-install" will try to select the appropriate graphics if the

DISPLAY

environment variable is set, otherwise '--graphics none' is used.

--graphics
TYPE
,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...

Specifies the graphical display configuration. This does not configure any virtual hardware, just how the guest's graphical display can be accessed. Typically the user does not need to specify this option, virt-install will try and choose a useful default, and launch a suitable connection.

General format of a graphical string is

    --graphics TYPE,opt1=arg1,opt2=arg2,...

For example:

    --graphics vnc,password=foobar

The supported options are:

type

The display type. This is one of:

vnc

Setup a virtual console in the guest and export it as a

VNC

server in the host. Unless the "port" parameter is also provided, the

VNC

server will run on the first free port number at 5900 or above. The actual

VNC

display allocated can be obtained using the "vncdisplay" command to "virsh" (or virt-viewer(1) can be used which handles this detail for the use).

spice

Export the guest's console using the Spice protocol. Spice allows advanced features like audio and

USB

device streaming, as well as improved graphical performance.

Using spice graphic type will work as if those arguments were given:

    --video qxl --channel spicevmc

none

No graphical console will be allocated for the guest. Guests will likely need to have a text console configured on the first serial port in the guest (this can be done via the --extra-args option). The command 'virsh console

NAME

' can be used to connect to the serial device.

port

Request a permanent, statically assigned port number for the guest console. This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

tlsport

Specify the spice tlsport.

listen

Address to listen on for VNC/Spice connections. Default is typically 127.0.0.1 (localhost only), but some hypervisors allow changing this globally (for example, the qemu driver default can be changed in /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf). Use 0.0.0.0 to allow access from other machines.

Use 'none' to specify that the display server should not listen on any port. The display server can be accessed only locally through libvirt unix socket (virt-viewer with --attach for instance).

Use 'socket' to have the

listen on a libvirt generated unix socket path on the host filesystem.

This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

keymap

Request that the virtual

VNC

console be configured to run with a specific keyboard layout. If the special value 'local' is specified, virt-install will attempt to configure to use the same keymap as the local system. A value of 'none' specifically defers to the hypervisor. Default behavior is hypervisor specific, but typically is the same as 'local'. This is used by 'vnc'

password

Request a

VNC

password, required at connection time. Beware, this info may end up in virt-install log files, so don't use an important password. This is used by 'vnc' and 'spice'

gl

Whether to use OpenGl accelerated rendering. Value is 'yes' or 'no'. This is used by 'spice'.

Use --graphics=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsGraphics>

This deprecates the following options: --vnc, --vncport, --vnclisten, -k/--keymap, --sdl, --nographics

--noautoconsole

Don't automatically try to connect to the guest console. The default behaviour is to launch virt-viewer(1) to display the graphical console, or to run the "virsh" "console" command to display the text console. Use of this parameter will disable this behaviour.

VIRTUALIZATION OPTIONS

Options to override the default virtualization type choices.

-v
--hvm: Request the use of full virtualization, if both para & full virtualization are available on the host. This parameter may not be available if connecting to a Xen hypervisor on a machine without hardware virtualization support. This parameter is implied if connecting to a
QEMU
based hypervisor.
-p
--paravirt: This guest should be a paravirtualized guest. If the host supports both para & full virtualization, and neither this parameter nor the "--hvm" are specified, this will be assumed.
--container: This guest should be a container type guest. This option is only required if the hypervisor supports other guest types as well (so for example this option is the default behavior for
LXC
and OpenVZ, but is provided for completeness).
--virt-type: The hypervisor to install on. Example choices are kvm, qemu, or xen. Available options are listed via 'virsh capabilities' in the <domain> tags.
This deprecates the --accelerate option, which is now the default behavior. To install a plain
QEMU
guest, use '--virt-type qemu'

DEVICE OPTIONS

All devices have a set of address.* options for configuring the particulars of the device's address on its parent controller or bus. See "libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsAddress" for details.

--controller
OPTIONS

Attach a controller device to the guest.

TYPE

is one of: ide, fdc, scsi, sata, virtio-serial, or usb.

Controller also supports the special values usb2 and usb3 to specify which version of the

USB

controller should be used (version 2 or 3).

model: Controller model. These may vary according to the hypervisor and its version. Most commonly used models are e.g. auto, virtio-scsi for the scsi controller, ehci or none for the usb controller. For full list and further details on controllers/models, see "libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers".
address: Shorthand for setting a manual
PCI
address from an lscpi style string. The preferred method for setting this is using the address.* parameters.
index: A decimal integer describing in which order the bus controller is encountered, and to reference the controller bus.
master: Applicable to
USB
companion controllers, to define the master bus startport.

Examples:

--controller usb,model=ich9-ehci1,address=0:0:4.0,index=0: Adds a
ICH9 EHCI1 USB
controller on
PCI
address 0:0:4.0
--controller usb,model=ich9-uhci2,address=0:0:4.7,index=0,master=2: Adds a
ICH9 UHCI2 USB
companion controller for the previous master controller, ports start from port number 2.
The parameter multifunction='on' will be added automatically to the proper device (if needed). This applies to all
PCI
devices.

: Use --controller=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers>

--input
OPTIONS

Attach an input device to the guest. Example input device types are mouse, tablet, or keyboard.

Use --input=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsInput>

--hostdev
OPTIONS

--host-device
OPTIONS

Attach a physical host device to the guest. Some example values for

HOSTDEV:

--hostdev pci_0000_00_1b_0: A node device name via libvirt, as shown by 'virsh nodedev-list'
--hostdev 001.003: USB
by bus, device (via lsusb).
--hostdev 0x1234:0x5678: USB
by vendor, product (via lsusb).
--hostdev 1f.01.02: PCI
device (via lspci).

: Use --hostdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsHostDev>

--sound
MODEL

Attach a virtual audio device to the guest.

MODEL

specifies the emulated sound card model. Possible values are ich6, ich9, ac97, es1370, sb16, pcspk, or default. 'default' will try to pick the best model that the specified

supports.

This deprecates the old --soundhw option.

Use --sound=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSound>

--watchdog MODEL[,action=ACTION]

Attach a virtual hardware watchdog device to the guest. This requires a daemon and device driver in the guest. The watchdog fires a signal when the virtual machine appears to hung.

ACTION

specifies what libvirt will do when the watchdog fires. Values are

reset: Forcefully reset the guest (the default)
poweroff: Forcefully power off the guest
pause: Pause the guest
none: Do nothing
shutdown: Gracefully shutdown the guest (not recommended, since a hung guest probably won't respond to a graceful shutdown)

MODEL

is the emulated device model: either i6300esb (the default) or ib700. Some examples:

Use the recommended settings:

--watchdog default

Use the i6300esb with the 'poweroff' action

--watchdog i6300esb,action=poweroff

Use --watchdog=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsWatchdog>

--parallel
OPTIONS

--serial
OPTIONS

Specifies a serial device to attach to the guest, with various options. The general format of a serial string is

    --serial type,opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...

--serial and --parallel devices share all the same options, unless otherwise noted. Some of the types of character device redirection are:

--serial pty

Pseudo

TTY.

The allocated pty will be listed in the running guests

XML

description.

--serial dev,path=HOSTPATH

Host device. For serial devices, this could be /dev/ttyS0. For parallel devices, this could be /dev/parport0.

--serial file,path=FILENAME

Write output to

FILENAME.

--serial pipe,path=PIPEPATH

Named pipe (see pipe(7))

--serial tcp,host=HOST:PORT,mode=MODE,protocol=PROTOCOL

TCP

net console.

MODE

is either 'bind' (wait for connections on

HOST:PORT

) or 'connect' (send output to

HOST:PORT

), default is 'bind'.

HOST

defaults to '127.0.0.1', but

PORT

is required.

PROTOCOL

can be either 'raw' or 'telnet' (default 'raw'). If 'telnet', the port acts like a telnet server or client. Some examples:

Wait for connections on any address, port 4567:

--serial tcp,host=0.0.0.0:4567

Connect to localhost, port 1234:

--serial tcp,host=:1234,mode=connect

Wait for telnet connection on localhost, port 2222. The user could then connect interactively to this console via 'telnet localhost 2222':

--serial tcp,host=:2222,mode=bind,protocol=telnet

--serial udp,host=CONNECT_HOST:PORT,bind_host=BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT

UDP

net console.

HOST:PORT

is the destination to send output to (default

HOST

is '127.0.0.1',

PORT

is required).

BIND_HOST:BIND_PORT

is the optional local address to bind to (default

BIND_HOST

is 127.0.0.1, but is only set if

BIND_PORT

is specified). Some examples:

Send output to default syslog port (may need to edit /etc/rsyslog.conf accordingly):

--serial udp,host=:514

Send output to remote host 192.168.10.20, port 4444 (this output can be read on the remote host using 'nc -u -l 4444'):

--serial udp,host=192.168.10.20:4444

--serial unix,path=UNIXPATH,mode=MODE

Unix socket, see unix(7).

MODE

has similar behavior and defaults as --serial tcp,mode=MODE

: Use --serial=? or --parallel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial> and <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharParallel>

--channel

Specifies a communication channel device to connect the guest and host machine. This option uses the same options as --serial and --parallel for specifying the host/source end of the channel. Extra 'target' options are used to specify how the guest machine sees the channel.

Some of the types of character device redirection are:

--channel
SOURCE
,target_type=guestfwd,target_address=HOST:PORT: Communication channel using
QEMU
usermode networking stack. The guest can connect to the channel using the specified
HOST:PORT
combination.
--channel
SOURCE
,target_type=virtio[,name=NAME]: Communication channel using virtio serial (requires 2.6.34 or later host and guest). Each instance of a virtio --channel line is exposed in the guest as /dev/vport0p1, /dev/vport0p2, etc.
NAME
is optional metadata, and can be any string, such as org.linux-kvm.virtioport1. If specified, this will be exposed in the guest at /sys/class/virtio-ports/vport0p1/NAME
--channel spicevmc,target_type=virtio[,name=NAME]: Communication channel for
QEMU
spice agent, using virtio serial (requires 2.6.34 or later host and guest).
NAME
is optional metadata, and can be any string, such as the default com.redhat.spice.0 that specifies how the guest will see the channel.

: Use --channel=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharChannel>

--console

Connect a text console between the guest and host. Certain guest and hypervisor combinations can automatically set up a getty in the guest, so an out of the box text login can be provided (target_type=xen for xen paravirt guests, and possibly target_type=virtio in the future).

Example:

--console pty,target_type=virtio: Connect a virtio console to the guest, redirected to a
PTY
on the host. For supported guests, this exposes /dev/hvc0 in the guest. See fedoraproject.org/wiki/Features/VirtioSerial for more info. virtio console requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later.

: Use --console=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole>

--video
OPTIONS

Specify what video device model will be attached to the guest. Valid values for

VIDEO

are hypervisor specific, but some options for recent kvm are cirrus, vga, qxl, virtio, or vmvga (vmware).

Use --video=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsVideo>

--smartcard MODE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual smartcard device.

Mode is one of host, host-certificates, or passthrough. Additional options are:

type: Character device type to connect to on the host. This is only applicable for passthrough mode.

An example invocation:

--smartcard passthrough,type=spicevmc: Use the smartcard channel of a
SPICE
graphics device to pass smartcard info to the guest

: Use --smartcard=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSmartcard>

--redirdev BUS[,OPTIONS]

Add a redirected device.

type: The redirection type, currently supported is tcp or spicevmc.
server: The
TCP
server connection details, of the form 'server:port'.

Examples of invocation:

--redirdev usb,type=tcp,server=localhost:4000: Add a
USB
redirected device provided by the
TCP
server on 'localhost' port 4000.
--redirdev usb,type=spicevmc: Add a
USB
device redirected via a dedicated Spice channel.

: Use --redirdev=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRedir>

--memballoon
MODEL

Attach a virtual memory balloon device to the guest. If the memballoon device needs to be explicitly disabled, MODEL='none' is used.

MODEL

is the type of memballoon device provided. The value can be 'virtio', 'xen' or 'none'. Some examples:

Use the recommended settings:

--memballoon virtio

Do not use memballoon device:

--memballoon none

Use --memballoon=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemBalloon>

--tpm TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual

TPM

device.

Type must be passthrough. Additional options are:

model: The device model to present to the guest operating system. Model must be tpm-tis.

An example invocation:

--tpm passthrough,model=tpm-tis: Make the host's
TPM
accessible to a single guest.
--tpm /dev/tpm: Convenience option for passing through the hosts
TPM.

: Use --tpm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTpm>

--rng TYPE[,OPTIONS]

Configure a virtual

RNG

device.

Type can be random or egd.

If the specified type is random then these values must be specified:

backend_device: The device to use as a source of entropy.

Whereas, when the type is egd, these values must be provided:

backend_host: Specify the host of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.
backend_service: Specify the port of the Entropy Gathering Daemon to connect to.
backend_type: Specify the type of the connection: tcp or udp.
backend_mode: Specify the mode of the connection. It is either 'bind' (wait for connections on
HOST:PORT
) or 'connect' (send output to
HOST:PORT
).
backend_connect_host: Specify the remote host to connect to when the specified backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.
backend_connect_service: Specify the remote service to connect to when the specified backend_type is udp and backend_mode is bind.

An example invocation:

--rng egd,backend_host=localhost,backend_service=8000,backend_type=tcp: Connect to localhost to the
TCP
port 8000 to get entropy data.
--rng /dev/random: Use the /dev/random device to get entropy data, this form implicitly uses the ``random'' model.
Use --rng=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsRng>

--panic
OPTS

Attach a panic notifier device to the guest. For the recommended settings, use:

--panic default

Use --panic=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete details at <libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPanic>

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

-h
--help: Show the help message and exit
--version: Show program's version number and exit
--autostart: Set the autostart flag for a domain. This causes the domain to be started on host boot up.
--transient: Use --import or --boot and --transient if you want a transient libvirt
VM.
These VMs exist only until the domain is shut down or the host server is restarted. Libvirt forgets the
XML
configuration of the
VM
after either of these events. Note that the
VM
's disks will not be deleted. See: <wiki.libvirt.org/page/VM_lifecycle#Transient_guest_domains_vs_Persistent_guest_domains>
--print-xml [
STEP
]: Print the generated
XML
of the guest, instead of defining it. By default this
WILL
do storage creation (can be disabled with --dry-run). This option implies --quiet.
If the
VM
install has multiple phases, by default this will print all generated
XML.
If you want to print a particular step, use --print-xml 2 (for the second phase
XML
).
--noreboot: Prevent the domain from automatically rebooting after the install has completed.
--wait
WAIT: Amount of time to wait (in minutes) for a
VM
to complete its install. Without this option, virt-install will wait for the console to close (not necessarily indicating the guest has shutdown), or in the case of --noautoconsole, simply kick off the install and exit. Any negative value will make virt-install wait indefinitely, a value of 0 triggers the same results as noautoconsole. If the time limit is exceeded, virt-install simply exits, leaving the virtual machine in its current state.
--dry-run: Proceed through the guest creation process, but do
NOT
create storage devices, change host device configuration, or actually teach libvirt about the guest. virt-install may still fetch install media, since this is required to properly detect the
OS
to install.
--check: Enable or disable some validation checks. Some examples are warning about using a disk that's already assigned to another
VM
(--check path_in_use=on|off), or warning about potentially running out of space during disk allocation (--check disk_size=on|off). Most checks are performed by default.
-q
--quiet: Only print fatal error messages.
-d
--debug: Print debugging information to the terminal when running the install process. The debugging information is also stored in "~/.cache/virt-manager/virt-install.log" even if this parameter is omitted.

EXAMPLES

Install a Fedora 20

KVM

guest with virtio accelerated disk/network, creating a new 10GiB qcow2 file, installing from media in the hosts

CDROM

drive. This will use Spice graphics by default, and launch autolaunch a graphical client.

  # virt-install \
       --connect qemu:///system \
       --virt-type kvm \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk size=10 \
       --cdrom /dev/cdrom \
       --os-variant fedora13

Install a Fedora 9 plain

QEMU

guest, using

LVM

partition, virtual networking, booting from

PXE,

using

VNC

server/viewer, with virtio-scsi disk

  # virt-install \
       --connect qemu:///system \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk path=/dev/HostVG/DemoVM,bus=scsi \
       --controller virtio-scsi \
       --network network=default \
       --virt-type qemu
       --graphics vnc \
       --os-variant fedora9

Run a Live

image under Xen fullyvirt, in diskless environment

  # virt-install \
       --hvm \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk none \
       --livecd \
       --graphics vnc \
       --cdrom /root/fedora7live.iso

Run /usr/bin/httpd in a linux container guest (

LXC

). Resource usage is capped at 512 MiB of ram and 2 host cpus:

  # virt-install \
        --connect lxc:/// \
        --name httpd_guest \
        --memory 512 \
        --vcpus 2 \
        --init /usr/bin/httpd

Start a linux container guest(

LXC

) with a private root filesystem, using /bin/sh as init. Container's root will be under host dir /home/LXC. The host dir ``/home/test'' will be mounted at ``/mnt'' dir inside container:

  # virt-install \
        --connect lxc:/// \
        --name container \
        --memory 128 \
        --filesystem /home/LXC,/ \
        --filesystem /home/test,/mnt \
        --init /bin/sh

Install a paravirtualized Xen guest, 500 MiB of

RAM,

a 5 GiB of disk, and Fedora Core 6 from a web server, in text-only mode, with old style --file options:

  # virt-install \
       --paravirt \
       --name demo \
       --memory 500 \
       --disk /var/lib/xen/images/demo.img,size=6 \
       --graphics none \
       --location download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/6/x86_64/os

Create a guest from an existing disk image 'mydisk.img' using defaults for the rest of the options.

  # virt-install \
       --name demo \
       --memory 512 \
       --disk /home/user/VMs/mydisk.img \
       --import

Start serial

QEMU ARM VM,

which requires specifying a manual kernel.

  # virt-install \
       --name armtest \
       --memory 1024 \
       --arch armv7l --machine vexpress-a9 \
       --disk /home/user/VMs/myarmdisk.img \
       --boot kernel=/tmp/my-arm-kernel,initrd=/tmp/my-arm-initrd,dtb=/tmp/my-arm-dtb,kernel_args="console=ttyAMA0 rw root=/dev/mmcblk0p3" \
       --graphics none

BUGS

Please see virt-manager.org/page/BugReporting

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) Red Hat, Inc, and various contributors. This is free software. You may redistribute copies of it under the terms of the

GNU

General Public License "www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html". There is

NO WARRANTY,

to the extent permitted by law.

virt-install • man page

virt-install • man page

virt-install (1)

Leading comments

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

CONNECTING TO LIBVIRT

GENERAL OPTIONS

INSTALLATION OPTIONS

STORAGE OPTIONS

NETWORKING OPTIONS

GRAPHICS OPTIONS

VIRTUALIZATION OPTIONS

DEVICE OPTIONS

MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS

EXAMPLES

BUGS

COPYRIGHT

SEE ALSO

Installed via

Man Section

extra • Version

extra • Source

extra • Book

References

Referenced By