libvirtd(8)

1LIBVIRTD(8)                 Virtualization Support                 LIBVIRTD(8)
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NAME

6       libvirtd - libvirt management daemon
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SYNOPSIS

9       libvirtd [OPTION]...
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DESCRIPTION

12       The libvirtd program is the server side daemon component of the libvirt
13       virtualization management system.
14
15       This daemon runs on host servers and performs required management tasks
16       for  virtualized  guests.   This  includes activities such as starting,
17       stopping and migrating guests between host servers, configuring and ma‐
18       nipulating networking, and managing storage for use by guests.
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20       The  libvirt  client  libraries and utilities connect to this daemon to
21       issue tasks and collect information about  the  configuration  and  re‐
22       sources of the host system and guests.
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24       By  default,  the  libvirtd daemon listens for requests on a local Unix
25       domain socket.  Using the -l | --listen command line option,  the  lib‐
26       virtd  daemon  can  be  instructed  to  additionally listen on a TCP/IP
27       socket.  The TCP/IP socket to use is defined in the libvirtd configura‐
28       tion file.
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30       Restarting libvirtd does not impact running guests.  Guests continue to
31       operate and will be picked up automatically if their XML  configuration
32       has  been defined.  Any guests whose XML configuration has not been de‐
33       fined will be lost from the configuration.
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SYSTEM SOCKET ACTIVATION

36       The libvirtd daemon is capable of starting in two modes.
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38       In the traditional mode, it will create and listen on UNIX sockets  it‐
39       self.   If  the  --listen  parameter  is  given, it will also listen on
40       TCP/IP socket(s), according to the listen_tcp and listen_tls options in
41       /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
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43       In socket activation mode, it will rely on systemd to create and listen
44       on the UNIX, and optionally TCP/IP, sockets and pass them as pre-opened
45       file  descriptors. In this mode, it is not permitted to pass the --lis‐
46       ten parameter, and  most  of  the  socket  related  config  options  in
47       /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf  will  no  longer have any effect. To enable
48       TCP or TLS sockets use either
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50          $ systemctl start libvirtd-tls.socket
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52       Or
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54          $ systemctl start libvirtd-tcp.socket
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56       Socket activation mode is generally the default when running on a  host
57       OS that uses systemd. To revert to the traditional mode, all the socket
58       unit files must be masked:
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60          $ systemctl mask libvirtd.socket libvirtd-ro.socket \
61             libvirtd-admin.socket libvirtd-tls.socket libvirtd-tcp.socket
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63       On top of that make sure that the --timeout argument is  not  used  for
64       the daemon since it would not be started upon any later connection.
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66       If  using  libvirt-guests  service  then  the ordering for that service
67       needs to be adapted so that it is ordered after the  service  unit  in‐
68       stead  of  the  socket unit.  Since dependencies and ordering cannot be
69       changed with drop-in overrides,  the  whole  libvirt-guests  unit  file
70       needs  to  be  changed.   In order to preserve such change copy the in‐
71       stalled  /usr/lib/systemd/system/libvirt-guests.service  to   /etc/sys‐
72       temd/system/libvirt-guests.service  and make the change there, specifi‐
73       cally make sure the After= ordering mentions libvirtd.service  and  not
74       libvirtd.socket:
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76          [Unit]
77          After=libvirtd.service
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OPTIONS

80       -h, --help
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82       Display command line help usage then exit.
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84       -d, --daemon
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86       Run as a daemon & write PID file.
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88       -f, --config *FILE*
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90       Use this configuration file, overriding the default value.
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92       -l, --listen
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94       Listen  for TCP/IP connections. This should not be set if using systemd
95       socket activation. Instead activate  the  libvirtd-tls.socket  or  lib‐
96       virtd-tcp.socket unit files.
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98       -p, --pid-file *FILE*
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100       Use this name for the PID file, overriding the default value.
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102       -t, --timeout *SECONDS*
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104       Exit  after timeout period (in seconds), provided there are neither any
105       client connections nor any running domains.
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107       -v, --verbose
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109       Enable output of verbose messages.
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111       --version
112
113       Display version information then exit.
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SIGNALS

116       On receipt of SIGHUP libvirtd will reload its configuration.
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FILES

119   When run as root
120       • /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
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122       The default configuration file used by libvirtd, unless  overridden  on
123       the command line using the -f | --config option.
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125       Depending  on  what  driver  is installed, then the following files are
126       also read:
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128       • /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf for the QEMU driver
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130       • /etc/libvirt/lxc.conf for the LXC driver
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132       • /etc/libvirt/libxl.conf for the libxl driver
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134       These files contain various knobs and default values  for  virtual  ma‐
135       chines  created  within  their  respective  drivers, and offer a way to
136       override the built in defaults, for  instance  (but  not  limited  to):
137       paths  to  various  supplementary  binaries, TLS certificates location,
138       graphical consoles configuration and others.  Location  of  neither  of
139       these files can be overridden by any command line switch.
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141       • /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock
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143       • /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock-ro
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145       The sockets libvirtd will use.
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147       • /etc/pki/CA/cacert.pem
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149       The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.
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151       • /etc/pki/libvirt/servercert.pem
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153       The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.
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155       • /etc/pki/libvirt/private/serverkey.pem
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157       The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.
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159       • /run/libvirtd.pid
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161       The PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.
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163   When run as non-root
164       • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
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166       The  default  configuration file used by libvirtd, unless overridden on
167       the command line using the -f``|--config`` option.
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169       If QEMU driver is installed, then the following file is also read:
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171       • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/qemu.conf
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173       If the file exists, it can contain various knobs and default values for
174       virtual  machines created within QEMU driver, and offers a way to over‐
175       ride the built in defaults, for instance (but not limited to): paths to
176       various  supplementary  binaries,  TLS certificates location, graphical
177       consoles configuration and others. Location of this file can't be over‐
178       ridden by any command line switch.
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180       • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/libvirt-sock
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182       The socket libvirtd will use.
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184       • $HOME/.pki/libvirt/cacert.pem
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186       The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.
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188       • $HOME/.pki/libvirt/servercert.pem
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190       The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.
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192       • $HOME/.pki/libvirt/serverkey.pem
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194       The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.
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196       • $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/libvirtd.pid
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198       The PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p``|--pid-file`` option.
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200       If  $XDG_CONFIG_HOME  is not set in your environment, libvirtd will use
201       $HOME/.config
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203       If $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set in your environment, libvirtd  will  use
204       $HOME/.cache
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EXAMPLES

207       To retrieve the version of libvirtd:
208
209          # libvirtd --version
210          libvirtd (libvirt) 9.0.0
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212       To start libvirtd, instructing it to daemonize and create a PID file:
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214          # libvirtd -d
215          # ls -la /run/libvirtd.pid
216          -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6 Jul  9 02:40 /run/libvirtd.pid
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BUGS

219       Please report all bugs you discover.  This should be done via either:
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221       1. the mailing list
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223          https://libvirt.org/contact.html
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225       2. the bug tracker
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227          https://libvirt.org/bugs.html
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229       Alternatively,  you may report bugs to your software distributor / ven‐
230       dor.
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AUTHORS

233       Please refer to the AUTHORS file distributed with libvirt.
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COPYRIGHT

236       Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Red Hat, Inc., and the authors  listed  in  the
237       libvirt AUTHORS file.
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LICENSE

240       libvirtd is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL v2.1+.  This is
241       free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO  war‐
242       ranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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