VIRT-XML(1) Virtual Machine Manager VIRT-XML(1)NAMEvirt-xml - Edit libvirt XML using command line options.
SYNOPSISvirt-xml DOMAIN XML-ACTION XML-OPTION [OUTPUT-OPTION] [MISC-OPTIONS]
...
DESCRIPTIONvirt-xml is a command line tool for editing libvirt XML using explicit
command line options. See the EXAMPLES section at the end of this
document to jump right in.
Each virt-xml invocation requires 3 things: name of an existing domain
to alter (or XML passed on stdin), an action to on the XML, and an XML
change to make. actions are one of:
--add-device: Append a new device definition to the XML
--remove-device: Remove an existing device definition --edit: Edit an
existing XML block --build-xml: Just build the requested XML block and
print it (no domain or input XML are required here).
An XML change is one instance of any of the XML options provided by
virt-xml, for example --disk or --boot.
virt-xml only allows one action and XML pair per invocation. If you
need to make multiple edits, invoke the command multiple times.
OPTIONS-h, --help
Show the help message and exit
--version
Show program's version number and exit
-c URI, --connect=URI
Connect to a non-default hypervisor. See virt-install(1) for
details
domain
domain is the name, UUID, or ID of the existing VM. This can be
omitted if using --build-xml, or if XML is passed on stdin.
When a domain is specified, the default output action is --define,
even if the VM is running. To update the running VM configuration,
add the --update option (but not all options/devices support
updating the running VM configuration).
If XML is passed on stdin, the default output is --print-xml.
XML actions
--edit [EDIT-OPTIONS]
Edit the specified XML block. EDIT-OPTIONS tell virt-xml which block
to edit. The type of XML that we are editing is decided by XML option
that is passed to virt-xml. So if --disk is passed, EDIT-OPTIONS
select which <disk> block to edit.
Certain XML options only ever map to a single XML block, like --cpu,
--security, --boot, --clock, and a few others. In those cases, virt-
xml will not complain if a corresponding XML block does not already
exist, it will create it for you.
Every XML option has a special value 'clearxml=yes'. When combined
with --edit, it will completely blank out the XML block being edited
before applying the requested changes. This allows completely
rebuilding an XML block. See EXAMPLES for some usage.
EDIT-OPTIONS examples:
--edit
--edit without any options implies 'edit the first block'. So
'--edit --disk DISK-OPTIONS' means 'edit the first <disk>'.
For the single XML block options mentioned above, plain '--edit'
without any options is what you always want to use.
--edit #
Select the specified XML block number. So '--edit 2 --disk
DISK-OPTS' means 'edit the second <disk>'. This option only
really applies for device XML.
--edit all
Modify every XML block of the XML option type. So '--edit all
--disk DISK-OPTS' means 'edit ever <disk> block'. This option
only really applies for device XML.
--edit DEVICE-OPTIONS
Modify every XML block that matches the passed device options.
The device options are in the same format as would be passed to
the XML option.
So '--edit path=/tmp/foo --disk DISK-OPTS' means 'edit every
<disk> with path /tmp/foo'. This option only really applies for
device XML.
--add-device
Append the specified XML options to the XML <devices> list. Example:
'--add-device --disk DISK-OPTIONS' will create a new <disk> block and
add it to the XML.
This option will error if specified with a non-device XML option (see
--edit section for a partial list).
--remove-device
Remove the specified device from the XML. The device to remove is
chosen by the XML option, which takes arguments in the same format as
--edit. Examples
--remove-device --disk 2
Remove the second disk device
--remove-device --network all
Remove all network devices
--remove-device --sound pcspk
Remove all sound devices with model='pcspk'
This option will error if specified with a non-device XML option (see
--edit section for a partial list).
--build-xml
Just build the specified XML, and print it to stdout. No input domain
or input XML is required. Example: '--build-xml --disk DISK-OPTIONS'
will just print the new <disk> device.
This option will error if specified with an XML option that does not
map cleanly to a specific XML block, like --vcpus or --memory.
Output options
These options decide what action to take after altering the XML. In the
common case these do not need to be specified, as 'XML actions' will
imply a default output action, described in detail above. These are
only needed if you want to modify the default output.
--update
If the specified domain is running, attempt to alter the running VM
configuration. If combined with --edit, this is an update operation.
If combined with --add-device, this is a device hotplug. If combined
with --remove-device, this is a device hotunplug.
Keep in mind, most XML properties and devices do not support live
update operations, so don't expect it to succeed in all cases.
--define
Define the requested XML change. This is typically the default if no
output option is specified, but if a --print option is specified,
--define is required to force the change.
--print-diff
Print the generated XML change in unified diff format. If only this
output option is specified, all other output options are disabled and
no persistent change is made.
--print-xml
Print the generated XML in its entirety. If only this output option
is specified, all other output options are disabled and no persistent
change is made.
--confirm
Before defining or updating the domain, show the generated XML diff
and interactively request confirmation.
XML options
--disk
--network
--graphics
--metadata
--memory
--vcpus
--cpu
--security
--numatune
--features
--clock
--pm
--boot
--filesystem
--controller
--serial
--parallel
--channel
--console
--host-device
--sound
--watchdog
--video
--smartcard
--redirdev
--memballoon
--tpm
--rng
--panic
These options alter the XML for a single class of XML elements. More
complete documentation is found in virt-install(1).
Generally these options map pretty straightforwardly to the libvirt
XML, documented at <http://libvirt.org/formatdomain.html>
Option strings are in the format of: --option opt=val,opt2=val2,...
example: --disk path=/tmp/foo,shareable=on. Properties can be used
with '--option opt=,', so to clear a disks cache setting you could
use '--disk cache=,'
Every XML option has a special value 'clearxml=yes'. When combined
with --edit, it will completely blank out the XML block being edited
before applying the requested changes. This allows completely
rebuilding an XML block. See EXAMPLES for some usage.
For any option, use --option=? to see a list of all available sub
options, example: --disk=? or --boot=?
--help output also lists a few general examples. See the EXAMPLES
section below for some common examples.
Miscellaneous Options
-q, --quiet
Avoid verbose output.
-d, --debug
Print debugging information
EXAMPLES
See a list of all suboptions that --disk and --network take
# virt-xml --disk=? --network=?
Change the <description> of domain 'example':
# virt-xml example --edit --metadata description="my new description"
# Enable the boot device menu for domain 'example':
# virt-xml example --edit --boot bootmenu=on
Clear the previous <cpu> definition of domain 'winxp', change it to
'host-model', but interactively confirm the diff before saving:
# virt-xml winxp --edit --cpu host-model,clearxml=yes --confirm
Change the second sound card to model=ich6 on 'fedora19', but only
output the diff:
# virt-xml fedora19 --edit 2 --sound model=ich6 --print-diff
Update the every graphics device password to 'foo' of the running VM
'rhel6':
# virt-xml rhel6 --edit all --graphics password=foo --update
Remove the disk path from disk device hdc:
# virt-xml rhel6 --edit target=hdc --disk path=
Change all disk devices of type 'disk' to use cache=none, using XML
from stdin, printing the new XML to stdout.
# cat <xmlfile> | virt-xml--edit device=disk --disk cache=none
Change disk 'hda' IO to native and use startup policy as 'optional'.
# virt-xml fedora20 --edit target=hda --disk io=native,startup_policy=optional
Change all host devices to use driver_name=vfio for VM 'fedora20' on
the remote connection
# virt-xml--connect qemu+ssh://remotehost/system \
fedora20 --edit all --host-device driver_name=vfio
Hotplug host USB device 001.003 to running domain 'fedora19':
# virt-xml f19 --add-device --host-device 001.003 --update
Add a spicevmc channel to the domain 'winxp', that will be available
after the next VM shutdown.
# virt-xml winxp --add-device --channel spicevmc
Create a 10G qcow2 disk image and attach it to 'fedora18' for the next
VM startup:
# virt-xml fedora18 --add-device \
--disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/newimage.qcow2,format=qcow2,size=10
Remove the disk vdb from the running domain 'rhel7':
# virt-xml rhel7 --remove-device --disk target=vdb
Remove all graphics devices from the VM 'rhel7' after the next
shutdown:
# virt-xml rhel7 --remove-device --graphics all
Generate XML for a virtio console device and print it to stdout:
# virt-xml--build-xml --console pty,target_type=virtio
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 ALSOvirt-install(1), the project website "http://virt-manager.org"
1.0.1 2014-05-14 VIRT-XML(1)
