The virtual shell or virsh program is the main interface for managing virsh guest domains. This program can be used to list, create, pause, and shutdown domains.
1. Display information about the hypervisor
virsh nodeinfo
Sample output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh nodeinfo
CPU model: x86_64
CPU(s): 40
CPU frequency: 1199 MHz
CPU socket(s): 1
Core(s) per socket: 10
Thread(s) per core: 2
NUMA cell(s): 2
Memory size: 263945968 KiB
2. List all domains
virsh list –all
Sample output: (with –all options, it will display also those shut off domains)
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh list –all
Id  Name  State
—————————————————-
4  eve-ng   running
–  redhat  shut off
–  debian  shut off
3. Display domain information
virsh dominfo [domain id/name]
Sample Output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh dominfo eve-ng
Id: 4
Name: eve-ng
UUID: afac7793-29f9-4754-84f3-42157e41934b
OS Type: hvm
State: running
CPU(s): 16
CPU time: 64353519.3s
Max memory: 67108864 KiB
Used memory: 67108864 KiB
Persistent: yes
Autostart: disable
Managed save: no
Security model: apparmor
Security DOI: 0
Security label: libvirt-afac7793-29f9-4754-84f3-42157e41934b (enforcing)
4. Output domain/guest XML configuration
virsh dumpxml [domain id/name]
Sample output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh dumpxml 4
<domain type=’kvm’ id=’4′>
<name>eve-ng</name>
<uuid>afac7793-29f9-4754-84f3-42157e41934b</uuid>
<memory unit=’KiB’>67108864</memory>
<currentMemory unit=’KiB’>67108864</currentMemory>
<vcpu placement=’static’>16</vcpu>
<resource>
<partition>/machine</partition>
</resource>
<os>
<type arch=’x86_64′ machine=’pc-i440fx-trusty’>hvm</type>
<boot dev=’hd’/>
</os>
<source file=’/home/tux/images/eve-ng.qcow2’/>
<interface type=’bridge’>
<mac address=’11:24:30:56:38:28’/>
<source bridge=’br0’/>
<target dev=’vnet0’/>
<model type=’rtl8139’/>
</domain>
5. Edit guest/domain configuration file (can be done while running or offline)
virsh edit [domain id/name]
6. Shutdown a guest/domain
virsh shutdown [domain id/name]
Sample Output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh list
Id Name State
—————————————————-
4  eve-ng  running
10 server1 running
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh shutdown 10
Domain 10 is being shutdown
7. Start a guest/domain
virsh start [domain id/name]
Sample Output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~/$ virsh start eve-ng
Domain eve-ng started
8. Suspend a guest/domain ( when in a suspended state, it still consumes system RAM but disk and network I/O will not occur). State will be “paused”.
virsh suspend [domain id/name]
Sample Output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh list
Id Name State
—————————————————-
4 eve-ng running
11 server1 running
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh suspend server1
Domain server1 suspended
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh list
Id Name State
—————————————————-
4 eve-ng running
11 server1 paused
9. Resume a guest/domain (to resume from the “suspend” command)
virsh resume [domain id/name]
Sample Output:
tux@ubuntuserver:~$ virsh resume server1
Domain server1 resumed
10. Connect the virtual serial console for the guest.
virsh console [domain id/name]
