Virsh Commands

The libvirt toolkit is focused primarily on KVM virtual machines, but it is intended to be usable for multiple virtualization technologies, including the Xen Project Hypervisor. As a result, some commands are essential when using Xen Project software, but others do not apply as they are targeted for KVM concepts.

Some of the essential virsh commands for manipulating Xen Project VMs include:

virsh list
virsh dominfo
virsh dumpxml
virsh start
virsh shutdown
virsh destroy
virsh create

help print help list list domains create create a domain from an XML file start start a previously created inactive domain destroy destroy a domain define define (but do not start) a domain from an XML file domid convert a domain name or UUID to domain id domuuid convert a domain name or id to domain UUID dominfo domain information domname convert a domain id or UUID to domain name domstate domain state quit quit this interactive terminal reboot reboot a domain restore restore a domain from a saved state in a file resume resume a domain save save a domain state to a file shutdown gracefully shutdown a domain suspend suspend a domain undefine undefine an inactive domain