VM management: Various domain lifecycle operations such as start, stop, pause, save, restore, and migrate. Hotplug operations for MANY device types including disk and network interfaces, memory, and cpus.

Remote machine support: All libvirt functionality is accessible on any machine running the libvirt daemon, including remote MACHINES. A variety of network transports are supported for connecting remotely, with the simplest being SSH, which requires no extra EXPLICIT configuration. If example.com is running libvirtd and SSH ACCESS is allowed, the following command will provide access to all virsh commands on the remote host for qemu/kvm:

1 [root@host]# virsh --connect qemu+ssh://root@example.com/system

Storage management: Any host running the libvirt daemon can be used to manage various types of storage: create file images of various formats (qcow2, vmdk, raw, ...), MOUNT NFS shares, enumerate existing LVM volume groups, create new LVM volume groups and logical volumes, partition raw disk devices, mount iSCSI shares, and much more. Since libvirt works remotely as well, all these options are available for remote hosts as well.

Network interface management: Any host running the libvirt daemon can be used to manage physical and logical network interfaces. Enumerate existing interfaces, as well as configure (and create) interfaces, bridges, vlans, and bond devices. This is with the help of netcf.

Virtual NAT and Route based networking: Any host running the libvirt daemon can manage and create virtual networks. Libvirt virtual networks use firewall rules to act as a router, providing VMs transparent access to the host machines network.

VM management: Various domain lifecycle operations such as start, stop, pause, save, restore, and migrate. Hotplug operations for many device types including disk and network interfaces, memory, and cpus.

Remote machine support: All libvirt functionality is accessible on any machine running the libvirt daemon, including remote machines. A variety of network transports are supported for connecting remotely, with the simplest being SSH, which requires no extra explicit configuration. If example.com is running libvirtd and SSH access is allowed, the following command will provide access to all virsh commands on the remote host for qemu/kvm:

1 [root@host]# virsh --connect qemu+ssh://root@example.com/system

Storage management: Any host running the libvirt daemon can be used to manage various types of storage: create file images of various formats (qcow2, vmdk, raw, ...), mount NFS shares, enumerate existing LVM volume groups, create new LVM volume groups and logical volumes, partition raw disk devices, mount iSCSI shares, and much more. Since libvirt works remotely as well, all these options are available for remote hosts as well.

Network interface management: Any host running the libvirt daemon can be used to manage physical and logical network interfaces. Enumerate existing interfaces, as well as configure (and create) interfaces, bridges, vlans, and bond devices. This is with the help of netcf.

Virtual NAT and Route based networking: Any host running the libvirt daemon can manage and create virtual networks. Libvirt virtual networks use firewall rules to act as a router, providing VMs transparent access to the host machines network.