X-Git-Url: https://git.proxmox.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=qemu-img.texi;h=00fca8da865d6adb701fecc4d52831aca0385620;hb=c95ec459c6c39b7a7e1850f82abd95eca4ccfcce;hp=77c6d0b6b0cb7e6e295d974b505e3d0397de520d;hpb=23797df3d9f08031d19aaaa1d2863d5feebe3d8b;p=qemu.git diff --git a/qemu-img.texi b/qemu-img.texi index 77c6d0b6b..00fca8da8 100644 --- a/qemu-img.texi +++ b/qemu-img.texi @@ -4,6 +4,16 @@ usage: qemu-img command [command options] @c man end @end example +@c man begin DESCRIPTION +qemu-img allows you to create, convert and modify images offline. It can handle +all image formats supported by QEMU. + +@b{Warning:} Never use qemu-img to modify images in use by a running virtual +machine or any other process; this may destroy the image. Also, be aware that +querying an image that is being modified by another process may encounter +inconsistent state. +@c man end + @c man begin OPTIONS The following commands are supported: @@ -18,6 +28,10 @@ Command parameters: is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below for a description of the supported disk formats. +@item --backing-chain +will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer +below for further description. + @item size is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K} (kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M) @@ -77,7 +91,7 @@ Perform a consistency check on the disk image @var{filename}. If @code{-r} is specified, qemu-img tries to repair any inconsistencies found during the check. @code{-r leaks} repairs only cluster leaks, whereas @code{-r all} fixes all kinds of errors, with a higher risk of choosing the -wrong fix or hiding corruption that has already occured. +wrong fix or hiding corruption that has already occurred. Only the formats @code{qcow2}, @code{qed} and @code{vdi} support consistency checks. @@ -119,12 +133,28 @@ created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the @var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image, however the path, image format, etc may differ. -@item info [-f @var{fmt}] @var{filename} +@item info [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [--backing-chain] @var{filename} Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image, -they are displayed too. +they are displayed too. The command can output in the format @var{ofmt} +which is either @code{human} or @code{json}. + +If a disk image has a backing file chain, information about each disk image in +the chain can be recursively enumerated by using the option @code{--backing-chain}. + +For instance, if you have an image chain like: + +@example +base.qcow2 <- snap1.qcow2 <- snap2.qcow2 +@end example + +To enumerate information about each disk image in the above chain, starting from top to base, do: + +@example +qemu-img info --backing-chain snap2.qcow2 +@end example @item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename} @@ -137,7 +167,9 @@ Changes the backing file of an image. Only the formats @code{qcow2} and The backing file is changed to @var{backing_file} and (if the image format of @var{filename} supports this) the backing file format is changed to -@var{backing_fmt}. +@var{backing_fmt}. If @var{backing_file} is specified as ``'' (the empty +string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist +independently of any backing file). There are two different modes in which @code{rebase} can operate: @table @option @@ -194,7 +226,10 @@ After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the device. @end table +@c man end +@ignore +@c man begin NOTES Supported image file formats: @table @option @@ -215,6 +250,13 @@ support of multiple VM snapshots. Supported options: @table @code +@item compat +Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the traditional +image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10 (this is the default). +@code{compat=1.1} enables image format extensions that only QEMU 1.1 and +newer understand. Amongst others, this includes zero clusters, which allow +efficient copy-on-read for sparse images. + @item backing_file File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand) @item backing_fmt @@ -235,73 +277,33 @@ Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs to grow. -@end table +@item lazy_refcounts +If this option is set to @code{on}, reference count updates are postponed with +the goal of avoiding metadata I/O and improving performance. This is +particularly interesting with @option{cache=writethrough} which doesn't batch +metadata updates. The tradeoff is that after a host crash, the reference count +tables must be rebuilt, i.e. on the next open an (automatic) @code{qemu-img +check -r all} is required, which may take some time. -@item qed -Image format with support for backing files and compact image files (when your -filesystem or transport medium does not support holes). Good performance due -to less metadata than the more featureful qcow2 format, especially with -cache=writethrough or cache=directsync. Consider using qcow2 which will soon -have a similar optimization and is most actively developed. +This option can only be enabled if @code{compat=1.1} is specified. -Supported options: -@table @code -@item backing_file -File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand). -@item backing_fmt -Image file format of backing file (optional). Useful if the format cannot be -autodetected because it has no header, like some vhd/vpc files. -@item cluster_size -Changes the cluster size (must be power-of-2 between 4K and 64K). Smaller -cluster sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes -generally provide better performance. -@item table_size -Changes the number of clusters per L1/L2 table (must be power-of-2 between 1 -and 16). There is normally no need to change this value but this option can be -used for performance benchmarking. @end table -@item qcow -Old QEMU image format. Left for compatibility. +@item Other +QEMU also supports various other image file formats for compatibility with +older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), qcow1 +and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}. +For a more detailed description of these formats, see the QEMU Emulation User +Documentation. -Supported options: -@table @code -@item backing_file -File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand) -@item encryption -If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted. -@end table - -@item cow -User Mode Linux Copy On Write image format. Used to be the only growable -image format in QEMU. It is supported only for compatibility with -previous versions. It does not work on win32. -@item vdi -VirtualBox 1.1 compatible image format. -@item vmdk -VMware 3 and 4 compatible image format. - -Supported options: -@table @code -@item backing_fmt -Image format of the base image -@item compat6 -Create a VMDK version 6 image (instead of version 4) -@end table - -@item vpc -VirtualPC compatible image format (VHD). - -@item cloop -Linux Compressed Loop image, useful only to reuse directly compressed -CD-ROM images present for example in the Knoppix CD-ROMs. +The main purpose of the block drivers for these formats is image conversion. +For running VMs, it is recommended to convert the disk images to either raw or +qcow2 in order to achieve good performance. @end table @c man end -@ignore - @setfilename qemu-img @settitle QEMU disk image utility