Ubuntu Manpage: libvirtd - libvirt management daemon

name
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system socket activation
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Provided by: libvirt-daemon_10.6.0-1ubuntu3.2_amd64

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
       manipulating 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 resources 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 libvirtd daemon can be instructed to additionally listen on a TCP/IP
       socket.  The TCP/IP socket to use is defined in the libvirtd configuration 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 defined 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 itself.  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 --listen 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

       On top of that make sure that the --timeout argument is not used for the daemon since  it  would  not  be
       started upon any later connection.

       If  using  libvirt-guests  service  then  the ordering for that service needs to be adapted so that it is
       ordered after the service unit instead of the socket unit.  Since dependencies  and  ordering  cannot  be
       changed  with  drop-in  overrides,  the  whole libvirt-guests unit file needs to be changed.  In order to
       preserve   such   change   copy   the   installed    /usr/lib/systemd/system/libvirt-guests.service    to
       /etc/systemd/system/libvirt-guests.service  and  make the change there, specifically make sure the After=
       ordering mentions libvirtd.service and not libvirtd.socket:

          [Unit]
          After=libvirtd.service

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 libvirtd-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
• /etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf

The default configuration file used by libvirtd, unless overridden on the command line using the -f |
--config option.

Depending on what driver is installed, then the following files are also read:

• /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf for the QEMU driver

• /etc/libvirt/lxc.conf for the LXC driver

• /etc/libvirt/libxl.conf for the libxl driver

These files contain various knobs and default values for virtual machines created within their respective
drivers, and offer a way to override the built in defaults, for instance (but not limited to): paths to
various supplementary binaries, TLS certificates location, graphical consoles configuration and others.
Location of neither of these files can be overridden by any command line switch.

• /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock

• /run/libvirt/libvirt-sock-ro

The sockets libvirtd will use.

• /etc/pki/CA/cacert.pem

The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.

• /etc/pki/libvirt/servercert.pem

The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.

• /etc/pki/libvirt/private/serverkey.pem

The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.

• /run/libvirtd.pid

The PID file to use, unless overridden by the -p | --pid-file option.

When run as non-root
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/libvirtd.conf

The default configuration file used by libvirtd, unless overridden on the command line using the
-f``|--config`` option.

If QEMU driver is installed, then the following file is also read:

• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/libvirt/qemu.conf

If the file exists, it can contain various knobs and default values for virtual machines created within
QEMU driver, and offers a way to override the built in defaults, for instance (but not limited to): paths
to various supplementary binaries, TLS certificates location, graphical consoles configuration and
others. Location of this file can't be overridden by any command line switch.

• $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/libvirt/libvirt-sock

The socket libvirtd will use.

• $HOME/.pki/libvirt/cacert.pem

The TLS Certificate Authority certificate libvirtd will use.

• $HOME/.pki/libvirt/servercert.pem

The TLS Server certificate libvirtd will use.

• $HOME/.pki/libvirt/serverkey.pem

The TLS Server private key libvirtd will use.

• $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) 10.6.0

       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 / vendor.

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  warranty;  not  even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
       PURPOSE