LIBVIRTD(8) Virtualization Support LIBVIRTD(8)
NAME
libvirtd - libvirt management daemon
SYNOPSIS
libvirtd [OPTION]...
DESCRIPTION
The libvirtd program is the server side daemon component of the libvirt
virtualization management system.
This daemon runs on host servers and performs required management tasks
for virtualized guests. This includes activities such as starting,
stopping and migrating guests between host servers, configuring and ma-
nipulating networking, and managing storage for use by guests.
The libvirt client libraries and utilities connect to this daemon to
issue tasks and collect information about the configuration and re-
sources of the host system and guests.
By default, the libvirtd daemon listens for requests on a local Unix
domain socket. Using the -l | --listen command line option, the lib-
virtd daemon can be instructed to additionally listen on a TCP/IP
socket. The TCP/IP socket to use is defined in the libvirtd configura-
tion file.
Restarting libvirtd does not impact running guests. Guests continue to
operate and will be picked up automatically if their XML configuration
has been defined. Any guests whose XML configuration has not been de-
fined will be lost from the configuration.
SYSTEM SOCKET ACTIVATION
The libvirtd daemon is capable of starting in two modes.
In the traditional mode, it will create and listen on UNIX sockets it-
self. If the --listen parameter is given, it will also listen on
TCP/IP socket(s), according to the listen_tcp and listen_tls options in
/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
In socket activation mode, it will rely on systemd to create and listen
on the UNIX, and optionally TCP/IP, sockets and pass them as pre-opened
file descriptors. In this mode, it is not permitted to pass the --lis-
ten parameter, and most of the socket related config options in
/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf will no longer have any effect. To enable
TCP or TLS sockets use either
$ systemctl start libvirtd-tls.socket
Or
$ systemctl start libvirtd-tcp.socket
Socket activation mode is generally the default when running on a host
OS that uses systemd. To revert to the traditional mode, all the socket
unit files must be masked:
$ systemctl mask libvirtd.socket libvirtd-ro.socket \
libvirtd-admin.socket libvirtd-tls.socket libvirtd-tcp.socket
OPTIONS
-h, --help
Display command line help usage then exit.
-d, --daemon
Run as a daemon & write PID file.
-f, --config *FILE*
Use this configuration file, overriding the default value.
-l, --listen
Listen for TCP/IP connections. This should not be set if using systemd
socket activation. Instead activate the libvirtd-tls.socket or lib-
virtd-tcp.socket unit files.
-p, --pid-file *FILE*
Use this name for the PID file, overriding the default value.
-t, --timeout *SECONDS*
Exit after timeout period (in seconds), provided there are neither any
client connections nor any running domains.
-v, --verbose
Enable output of verbose messages.
--version
Display version information then exit.
SIGNALS
On receipt of SIGHUP libvirtd will reload its configuration.
FILES
When run as root
o /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
The default configuration file used by libvirtd, unless overridden on
the command line using the -f | --config option.
o /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock
o /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock-ro
The sockets libvirtd will use.
o /etc/pki/CA/cacert.pem
The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.
o /etc/pki/libvirt/servercert.pem
The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.
o /etc/pki/libvirt/private/serverkey.pem
The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.
o /run/libvirtd.pid
The PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.
When run as non-root
o $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/libvirtd.conf
The default configuration file used by libvirtd, unless overridden on
the command line using the -f``|--config`` option.
o $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/libvirt-sock
The socket libvirtd will use.
o $HOME/.pki/libvirt/cacert.pem
The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.
o $HOME/.pki/libvirt/servercert.pem
The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.
o $HOME/.pki/libvirt/serverkey.pem
The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.
o $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/libvirtd.pid
The PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p``|--pid-file`` option.
If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set in your environment, libvirtd will use
$HOME/.config
If $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is not set in your environment, libvirtd will use
$HOME/.cache
EXAMPLES
To retrieve the version of libvirtd:
# libvirtd --version
libvirtd (libvirt) 0.8.2
To start libvirtd, instructing it to daemonize and create a PID file:
# libvirtd -d
# ls -la /run/libvirtd.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6 Jul 9 02:40 /run/libvirtd.pid
BUGS
Please report all bugs you discover. This should be done via either:
1. the mailing list
https://libvirt.org/contact.html
2. the bug tracker
https://libvirt.org/bugs.html
Alternatively, you may report bugs to your software distributor / ven-
dor.
AUTHORS
Please refer to the AUTHORS file distributed with libvirt.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2006-2012 Red Hat, Inc., and the authors listed in the
libvirt AUTHORS file.
LICENSE
libvirtd is distributed under the terms of the GNU LGPL v2.1+. This is
free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO war-
ranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
SEE ALSO
virsh(1), virt-install(1), virt-xml-validate(1), virt-top(1),
virt-df(1), https://www.libvirt.org/
LIBVIRTD(8)