]> git.proxmox.com Git - mirror_qemu.git/blame - docs/tools/qemu-pr-helper.rst
Merge remote-tracking branch 'remotes/maxreitz/tags/pull-block-2021-03-30' into staging
[mirror_qemu.git] / docs / tools / qemu-pr-helper.rst
CommitLineData
773ee3f1
PM
1QEMU persistent reservation helper
2==================================
3
4Synopsis
5--------
6
7**qemu-pr-helper** [*OPTION*]
8
9Description
10-----------
11
12Implements the persistent reservation helper for QEMU.
13
14SCSI persistent reservations allow restricting access to block devices
15to specific initiators in a shared storage setup. When implementing
16clustering of virtual machines, it is a common requirement for virtual
17machines to send persistent reservation SCSI commands. However,
18the operating system restricts sending these commands to unprivileged
19programs because incorrect usage can disrupt regular operation of the
20storage fabric. QEMU's SCSI passthrough devices ``scsi-block``
21and ``scsi-generic`` support passing guest persistent reservation
22requests to a privileged external helper program. :program:`qemu-pr-helper`
23is that external helper; it creates a socket which QEMU can
24connect to to communicate with it.
25
26If you want to run VMs in a setup like this, this helper should be
27started as a system service, and you should read the QEMU manual
28section on "persistent reservation managers" to find out how to
29configure QEMU to connect to the socket created by
30:program:`qemu-pr-helper`.
31
32After connecting to the socket, :program:`qemu-pr-helper` can
33optionally drop root privileges, except for those capabilities that
34are needed for its operation.
35
36:program:`qemu-pr-helper` can also use the systemd socket activation
37protocol. In this case, the systemd socket unit should specify a
38Unix stream socket, like this::
39
40 [Socket]
41 ListenStream=/var/run/qemu-pr-helper.sock
42
43Options
44-------
45
46.. program:: qemu-pr-helper
47
48.. option:: -d, --daemon
49
50 run in the background (and create a PID file)
51
52.. option:: -q, --quiet
53
54 decrease verbosity
55
56.. option:: -v, --verbose
57
58 increase verbosity
59
60.. option:: -f, --pidfile=PATH
61
62 PID file when running as a daemon. By default the PID file
63 is created in the system runtime state directory, for example
64 :file:`/var/run/qemu-pr-helper.pid`.
65
66.. option:: -k, --socket=PATH
67
68 path to the socket. By default the socket is created in
69 the system runtime state directory, for example
70 :file:`/var/run/qemu-pr-helper.sock`.
71
72.. option:: -T, --trace [[enable=]PATTERN][,events=FILE][,file=FILE]
73
74 .. include:: ../qemu-option-trace.rst.inc
75
76.. option:: -u, --user=USER
77
78 user to drop privileges to
79
80.. option:: -g, --group=GROUP
81
82 group to drop privileges to
83
84.. option:: -h, --help
85
86 Display a help message and exit.
87
88.. option:: -V, --version
89
90 Display version information and exit.