LIBVIRTD(8)



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)

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