VIRT-INSTALL(1) Virtual Machine Manager VIRT-INSTALL(1)NAMEvirt-install - provision new virtual machines
SYNOPSISvirt-install [OPTION]...
DESCRIPTIONvirt-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 or 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 or 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 OS 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=?
OPTIONS
Most options are not required. Minimum requirements are --name,
--memory, guest storage (--disk, --filesystem or --nodisks), and an
install option.
-h, --help
Show the help message and exit
--version
Show program's version number and exit
--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=MEM[,OPT1=VAL][...]
Memory to allocate for the guest, in megabytes. 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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryAllocation>
--memorybacking OPT1=yes|no[,OPT2=yes|no][...]
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
<http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMetadata>
--vcpus=VCPUS[,maxvcpus=MAX][,sockets=#][,cores=#][,threads=#][,cpuset=CPUSET]
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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCPUAllocation>
--numatune=NODESET,[mode=MODE]
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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNUMATuning>
--memtune=SOFT_LIMIT,[hard_limit=HARD_LIMIT,swap_hard_limit=SW_HARD_LIMIT,min_guarantee=MIN_GUARANTEE]
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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemoryTuning>
--blkiotune=WEIGHT,[device_path=DEVICE_PATH,device_weight=DEVICE_WEIGHT]
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
<http://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 <http://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 <http://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
Use --features=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTime>
--pm=PMOPTS
Configure guest power management features. Example suboptions include
suspend_to_ram=on|off and suspend_to_disk=on|off
Use --pm=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPowerManagement>
Installation Method options
--cdrom=CDROM
File or device use as a virtual CD-ROM device for fully virtualized
guests. 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=LOCATION
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 DIRECTORY
* Mount the ISO at a local directory, export that directory over
local http, and do --location http://localhost/DIRECTORY
The "LOCATION" can take one of the following forms:
http://host/path
An HTTP server location containing an installable distribution
image.
ftp://host/path
An FTP server location containing an installable distribution
image.
nfs:host:/path or nfs://host/path
An NFS server location containing an installable distribution
image. This requires running virt-install as root.
DIRECTORY
Path to a local directory containing an installable distribution
image. Note that the directory will not be accessible by the
guest after initial boot, so the OS installer will need another
way to access the rest of the install media.
ISO Mount the ISO and probe the directory. This requires running
virt-install as root, and has the same VM access caveat as
DIRECTORY.
Some distro specific url samples:
Fedora/Red Hat Based
http://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/18/Fedora/x86_64/os
Debian/Ubuntu
http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/installer-amd64/
Suse
http://download.opensuse.org/distribution/11.0/repo/oss/
Mandriva
ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/mandrake/official/2009.0/i586/
Mageia
ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/1
--pxe
Use the PXE boot protocol to load the initial ramdisk and kernel for
starting the guest installation process.
--import
Skip the OS installation process, and build a guest around an
existing disk image. The device used for booting is the first device
specified via "--disk" or "--filesystem".
--livecd
Specify that the installation media is a live CD and thus the guest
needs to be configured to boot off the CDROM device permanently. It
may be desirable to also use the "--nodisks" flag in combination.
-x EXTRA, --extra-args=EXTRA
Additional kernel command line arguments to pass to the installer
when performing a guest install from "--location". One common usage
is specifying an anaconda kickstart file for automated installs, such
as --extra-args "ks=http://myserver/my.ks"
--initrd-inject=PATH
Add PATH to the root of the initrd fetched with "--location". This
can be used to run an automated install without requiring a network
hosted kickstart file:
--initrd-inject=/path/to/my.ks --extra-args "ks=file:/my.ks"
--os-variant=OS_VARIANT
Optimize the guest configuration for a specific operating system (ex.
'fedora18', 'rhel7', 'winxp'). While not requires, specifying this
options is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, as it can greatly increase performance
by specifying virtio among other guest tweaks.
By default, virt-install will attempt to auto detect this value from
the install media (currently only supported for URL installs).
Autodetection can be disabled with the special value 'none'.
If the special value 'list' is passed, virt-install will print the
full list of variant values and exit. The printed format is not a
stable interface, DO NOT PARSE IT.
Use '--os-variant list' to see the full OS list
--boot=BOOTOPTS
Optionally specify the post-install VM boot configuration. This
option allows specifying a boot device order, permanently booting off
kernel/initrd with option kernel arguments, and enabling a BIOS boot
menu (requires libvirt 0.8.3 or later)
--boot can be specified in addition to other install options (such as
--location, --cdrom, etc.) or can be specified on its own. In the
latter case, behavior is similar to the --import install option:
there is no 'install' phase, the guest is just created and launched
as specified.
Some examples:
--boot cdrom,fd,hd,network,menu=on
Set the boot device priority as first cdrom, first floppy, first
harddisk, network PXE boot. Additionally enable BIOS boot menu
prompt.
--boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,kernel_args="console=/dev/ttyS0"
Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair, with
the specified kernel options.
--boot kernel=KERNEL,initrd=INITRD,dtb=DTB
Have guest permanently boot off a local kernel/initrd pair with an
external device tree binary. DTB can be required for some non-x86
configurations like ARM or PPC
--boot loader=BIOSPATH
Use BIOSPATH as the virtual machine BIOS. Only valid for fully
virtualized guests.
--boot menu=on,useserial=on
Enable the bios boot menu, and enable sending bios text output over
serial console.
--boot init=INITPATH
Path to a binary that the container guest will init. If a root
"--filesystem" has been specified, virt-install will default to
/sbin/init, otherwise will default to /bin/sh.
Use --boot=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOS>
--idmap=IDMAPOPTS
If the guest configuration declares a UID or GID mapping, the 'user'
namespace will be enabled to apply these. A suitably configured
UID/GID mapping is a pre-requisite to make containers secure, in the
absence of sVirt confinement.
--idmap can be specified to enable user namespace for LXC containers
Example:
--idmap
uid_start=0,uid_target=1000,uid_count=10,gid_start=0,gid_target=1000,gid_count=10
Use --idmap=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsOSContainer>
Storage Configuration
--disk=DISKOPTS
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.
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', or 'floppy'.
Default is 'disk'. If a 'cdrom' is specified, and no install
method is chosen, the cdrom is used as the install media.
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 GB) to use if creating new storage
sparse
whether to skip fully allocating newly created storage. Value is
'true' or 'false'. Default is 'true' (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=false) 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.
cache
The cache mode to be used. The host pagecache provides cache
memory. The cache value can be 'none', 'writethrough', or
'writeback'. 'writethrough' provides read caching. 'writeback'
provides read and write caching.
format
Disk image format. For file volumes, this can be 'raw', 'qcow2',
'vmdk', etc. See format types in
<http://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 IO 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
<http://www.libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsDisks>
See the examples section for some uses. This option deprecates
-f/--file, -s/--file-size, and --nonsparse.
Use --disk=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://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 OS or 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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsFilesystems>
--nodisks
Request a virtual machine without any local disk storage, typically
used for running 'Live CD' images or installing to network storage
(iSCSI or NFS root).
Networking Configuration
-w NETWORK, --network=NETWORK,opt1=val1,opt2=val2,...
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.
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 or 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', ...
Use --network=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsNICS>
This option deprecates -m/--mac and -b/--bridge
--nonetworks
Request a virtual machine without any network interfaces.
Graphics Configuration
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. Fully
virtualized guests (Xen FV or QEmu/KVM) will need to have a text
console configured on the first serial port in the guest (this
can be done via the --extra-args option). Xen PV will set this up
automatically. 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. This is use 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'
Use --graphics=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://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 Type 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, xen, or
kqemu. 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
--controller=TYPE[,OPTS]
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.
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
"http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers".
address
Controller address, current PCI of form
'bus:domain:slot.function'.
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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsControllers>
--host-device=HOSTDEV
Attach a physical host device to the guest. Some example values for
HOSTDEV:
--host-device pci_0000_00_1b_0
A node device name via libvirt, as shown by 'virsh nodedev-list'
--host-device 001.003
USB by bus, device (via lsusb).
--host-device 0x1234:0x5678
USB by vendor, product (via lsusb).
--host-device 1f.01.02
PCI device (via lspci).
Use --host-device=? to see a list of all available sub options.
Complete details at
<http://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, ac97, es1370,
sb16, pcspk, or default. 'default' will try to pick the best model
that the specified OS supports.
This deprecates the old --soundhw option.
Use --sound=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsWatchdog>
--parallel=CHAROPTS
--serial=CHAROPTS
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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharSerial> and
<http://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 <http://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 http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsCharConsole>
--video=VIDEO
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, or vmvga (vmware).
Use --video=? to see a list of all available sub options. Complete
details at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsVideo>
--smartcard=MODE[,OPTS]
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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsSmartcard>
--redirdev=BUS[,OPTS]
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 <http://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
<http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsMemBalloon>
--tpm=TYPE[,OPTS]
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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsTpm>
--rng=TYPE[,OPTS]
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 <http://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 <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html#elementsPanic>
Miscellaneous Options
--autostart
Set the autostart flag for a domain. This causes the domain to be
started on host boot up.
--print-xml
If the requested guest has no install phase (--import, --boot), print
the generated XML instead of defining the guest. By default this WILL
do storage creation (can be disabled with --dry-run).
If the guest has an install phase, you will need to use --print-step
to specify exactly what XML output you want. This option implies
--quiet.
--print-step
Acts similarly to --print-xml, except requires specifying which
install step to print XML for. Possible values are 1, 2, 3, or all.
Stage 1 is typically booting from the install media, and stage 2 is
typically the final guest config booting off harddisk. Stage 3 is
only relevant for windows installs, which by default have a second
install stage. This option implies --quiet.
--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.
-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 10GB 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
# virt-install \
--connect qemu:///system \
--name demo \
--memory 500 \
--disk path=/dev/HostVG/DemoVM \
--network network=default \
--virt-type qemu
--graphics vnc \
--os-variant fedora9
Run a Live CD image under Xen fullyvirt, in diskless environment
# virt-install \
--hvm \
--name demo \
--memory 500 \
--nodisks \
--livecd \
--graphics vnc \
--cdrom /root/fedora7live.iso
Run /usr/bin/httpd in a linux container guest (LXC). Resource usage is
capped at 512 MB 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 MB of RAM, a 5 GB 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 \
--file /var/lib/xen/images/demo.img \
--file-size 6 \
--graphics none \
--location http://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" \
--nographics
BUGS
Please see http://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 "http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html". There is
NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
SEE ALSOvirsh(1), "virt-clone(1)", "virt-manager(1)", the project website
"http://virt-manager.org"
1.0.1 2014-05-14 VIRT-INSTALL(1)
