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1 | @example |
2 | @c man begin SYNOPSIS | |
3 | usage: qemu-img command [command options] | |
4 | @c man end | |
5 | @end example | |
6 | ||
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7 | @c man begin DESCRIPTION |
8 | qemu-img allows you to create, convert and modify images offline. It can handle | |
9 | all image formats supported by QEMU. | |
10 | ||
11 | @b{Warning:} Never use qemu-img to modify images in use by a running virtual | |
12 | machine or any other process; this may destroy the image. Also, be aware that | |
13 | querying an image that is being modified by another process may encounter | |
14 | inconsistent state. | |
15 | @c man end | |
16 | ||
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17 | @c man begin OPTIONS |
18 | ||
19 | The following commands are supported: | |
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20 | |
21 | @include qemu-img-cmds.texi | |
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22 | |
23 | Command parameters: | |
24 | @table @var | |
25 | @item filename | |
26 | is a disk image filename | |
5fafdf24 | 27 | @item fmt |
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28 | is the disk image format. It is guessed automatically in most cases. See below |
29 | for a description of the supported disk formats. | |
acd935ef | 30 | |
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31 | @item --backing-chain |
32 | will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer | |
33 | below for further description. | |
34 | ||
5fafdf24 | 35 | @item size |
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36 | is the disk image size in bytes. Optional suffixes @code{k} or @code{K} |
37 | (kilobyte, 1024) @code{M} (megabyte, 1024k) and @code{G} (gigabyte, 1024M) | |
38 | and T (terabyte, 1024G) are supported. @code{b} is ignored. | |
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39 | |
40 | @item output_filename | |
5fafdf24 | 41 | is the destination disk image filename |
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42 | |
43 | @item output_fmt | |
44 | is the destination format | |
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45 | @item options |
46 | is a comma separated list of format specific options in a | |
47 | name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported | |
3e032364 | 48 | by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details. |
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49 | @item snapshot_param |
50 | is param used for internal snapshot, format is | |
51 | 'snapshot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME]' or '[ID_OR_NAME]' | |
52 | @item snapshot_id_or_name | |
53 | is deprecated, use snapshot_param instead | |
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54 | |
55 | @item -c | |
56 | indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only) | |
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57 | @item -h |
58 | with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats | |
aaf55b47 | 59 | @item -p |
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60 | display progress bar (compare, convert and rebase commands only). |
61 | If the @var{-p} option is not used for a command that supports it, the | |
62 | progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} signal. | |
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63 | @item -q |
64 | Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar | |
65 | in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used. | |
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66 | @item -S @var{size} |
67 | indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros | |
68 | for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded | |
69 | down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like | |
70 | @code{k} for kilobytes. | |
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71 | @item -t @var{cache} |
72 | specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See | |
73 | the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed | |
74 | values. | |
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75 | @end table |
76 | ||
77 | Parameters to snapshot subcommand: | |
78 | ||
79 | @table @option | |
80 | ||
81 | @item snapshot | |
82 | is the name of the snapshot to create, apply or delete | |
83 | @item -a | |
84 | applies a snapshot (revert disk to saved state) | |
85 | @item -c | |
86 | creates a snapshot | |
87 | @item -d | |
88 | deletes a snapshot | |
89 | @item -l | |
90 | lists all snapshots in the given image | |
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91 | @end table |
92 | ||
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93 | Parameters to compare subcommand: |
94 | ||
95 | @table @option | |
96 | ||
97 | @item -f | |
98 | First image format | |
99 | @item -F | |
100 | Second image format | |
101 | @item -s | |
102 | Strict mode - fail on on different image size or sector allocation | |
103 | @end table | |
104 | ||
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105 | Parameters to convert subcommand: |
106 | ||
107 | @table @option | |
108 | ||
109 | @item -n | |
110 | Skip the creation of the target volume | |
111 | @end table | |
112 | ||
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113 | Command description: |
114 | ||
115 | @table @option | |
8599ea4c | 116 | @item check [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [-r [leaks | all]] @var{filename} |
e6184690 | 117 | |
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118 | Perform a consistency check on the disk image @var{filename}. The command can |
119 | output in the format @var{ofmt} which is either @code{human} or @code{json}. | |
e6184690 | 120 | |
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121 | If @code{-r} is specified, qemu-img tries to repair any inconsistencies found |
122 | during the check. @code{-r leaks} repairs only cluster leaks, whereas | |
123 | @code{-r all} fixes all kinds of errors, with a higher risk of choosing the | |
0546b8c2 | 124 | wrong fix or hiding corruption that has already occurred. |
4534ff54 | 125 | |
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126 | Only the formats @code{qcow2}, @code{qed} and @code{vdi} support |
127 | consistency checks. | |
128 | ||
8063d0fe | 129 | @item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}] |
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130 | |
131 | Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format | |
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132 | @var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options} |
133 | that enable additional features of this format. | |
acd935ef | 134 | |
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135 | If the option @var{backing_file} is specified, then the image will record |
136 | only the differences from @var{backing_file}. No size needs to be specified in | |
137 | this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the | |
138 | @code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit). | |
acd935ef | 139 | |
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140 | The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o}, |
141 | it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case. | |
142 | ||
3763f26f | 143 | @item commit [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] @var{filename} |
acd935ef | 144 | |
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145 | Commit the changes recorded in @var{filename} in its base image or backing file. |
146 | If the backing file is smaller than the snapshot, then the backing file will be | |
147 | resized to be the same size as the snapshot. If the snapshot is smaller than | |
148 | the backing file, the backing file will not be truncated. If you want the | |
149 | backing file to match the size of the smaller snapshot, you can safely truncate | |
150 | it yourself once the commit operation successfully completes. | |
acd935ef | 151 | |
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152 | @item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2} |
153 | ||
154 | Check if two images have the same content. You can compare images with | |
155 | different format or settings. | |
156 | ||
157 | The format is probed unless you specify it by @var{-f} (used for | |
158 | @var{filename1}) and/or @var{-F} (used for @var{filename2}) option. | |
159 | ||
160 | By default, images with different size are considered identical if the larger | |
161 | image contains only unallocated and/or zeroed sectors in the area after the end | |
162 | of the other image. In addition, if any sector is not allocated in one image | |
163 | and contains only zero bytes in the second one, it is evaluated as equal. You | |
164 | can use Strict mode by specifying the @var{-s} option. When compare runs in | |
165 | Strict mode, it fails in case image size differs or a sector is allocated in | |
166 | one image and is not allocated in the second one. | |
167 | ||
168 | By default, compare prints out a result message. This message displays | |
169 | information that both images are same or the position of the first different | |
170 | byte. In addition, result message can report different image size in case | |
171 | Strict mode is used. | |
172 | ||
173 | Compare exits with @code{0} in case the images are equal and with @code{1} | |
174 | in case the images differ. Other exit codes mean an error occurred during | |
175 | execution and standard error output should contain an error message. | |
176 | The following table sumarizes all exit codes of the compare subcommand: | |
177 | ||
178 | @table @option | |
179 | ||
180 | @item 0 | |
181 | Images are identical | |
182 | @item 1 | |
183 | Images differ | |
184 | @item 2 | |
185 | Error on opening an image | |
186 | @item 3 | |
187 | Error on checking a sector allocation | |
188 | @item 4 | |
189 | Error on reading data | |
190 | ||
191 | @end table | |
192 | ||
ef80654d | 193 | @item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_id_or_name}] [-l @var{snapshot_param}] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename} |
acd935ef | 194 | |
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195 | Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_param}(@var{snapshot_id_or_name} is deprecated) |
196 | to disk image @var{output_filename} using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c} | |
eff44266 | 197 | option) or use any format specific options like encryption (@code{-o} option). |
acd935ef | 198 | |
8063d0fe | 199 | Only the formats @code{qcow} and @code{qcow2} support compression. The |
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200 | compression is read-only. It means that if a compressed sector is |
201 | rewritten, then it is rewritten as uncompressed data. | |
202 | ||
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203 | Image conversion is also useful to get smaller image when using a |
204 | growable format such as @code{qcow} or @code{cow}: the empty sectors | |
205 | are detected and suppressed from the destination image. | |
206 | ||
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207 | @var{sparse_size} indicates the consecutive number of bytes (defaults to 4k) |
208 | that must contain only zeros for qemu-img to create a sparse image during | |
209 | conversion. If @var{sparse_size} is 0, the source will not be scanned for | |
210 | unallocated or zero sectors, and the destination image will always be | |
211 | fully allocated. | |
212 | ||
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213 | You can use the @var{backing_file} option to force the output image to be |
214 | created as a copy on write image of the specified base image; the | |
215 | @var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image, | |
216 | however the path, image format, etc may differ. | |
217 | ||
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218 | If the @code{-n} option is specified, the target volume creation will be |
219 | skipped. This is useful for formats such as @code{rbd} if the target | |
220 | volume has already been created with site specific options that cannot | |
221 | be supplied through qemu-img. | |
222 | ||
e5357560 | 223 | @item info [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] [--backing-chain] @var{filename} |
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224 | |
225 | Give information about the disk image @var{filename}. Use it in | |
226 | particular to know the size reserved on disk which can be different | |
19d36792 | 227 | from the displayed size. If VM snapshots are stored in the disk image, |
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228 | they are displayed too. The command can output in the format @var{ofmt} |
229 | which is either @code{human} or @code{json}. | |
d2c639d6 | 230 | |
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231 | If a disk image has a backing file chain, information about each disk image in |
232 | the chain can be recursively enumerated by using the option @code{--backing-chain}. | |
233 | ||
234 | For instance, if you have an image chain like: | |
235 | ||
236 | @example | |
237 | base.qcow2 <- snap1.qcow2 <- snap2.qcow2 | |
238 | @end example | |
239 | ||
240 | To enumerate information about each disk image in the above chain, starting from top to base, do: | |
241 | ||
242 | @example | |
243 | qemu-img info --backing-chain snap2.qcow2 | |
244 | @end example | |
245 | ||
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246 | @item map [-f @var{fmt}] [--output=@var{ofmt}] @var{filename} |
247 | ||
248 | Dump the metadata of image @var{filename} and its backing file chain. | |
249 | In particular, this commands dumps the allocation state of every sector | |
250 | of @var{filename}, together with the topmost file that allocates it in | |
251 | the backing file chain. | |
252 | ||
253 | Two option formats are possible. The default format (@code{human}) | |
254 | only dumps known-nonzero areas of the file. Known-zero parts of the | |
255 | file are omitted altogether, and likewise for parts that are not allocated | |
256 | throughout the chain. @command{qemu-img} output will identify a file | |
257 | from where the data can be read, and the offset in the file. Each line | |
258 | will include four fields, the first three of which are hexadecimal | |
259 | numbers. For example the first line of: | |
260 | @example | |
261 | Offset Length Mapped to File | |
262 | 0 0x20000 0x50000 /tmp/overlay.qcow2 | |
263 | 0x100000 0x10000 0x95380000 /tmp/backing.qcow2 | |
264 | @end example | |
265 | @noindent | |
266 | means that 0x20000 (131072) bytes starting at offset 0 in the image are | |
267 | available in /tmp/overlay.qcow2 (opened in @code{raw} format) starting | |
268 | at offset 0x50000 (327680). Data that is compressed, encrypted, or | |
269 | otherwise not available in raw format will cause an error if @code{human} | |
270 | format is in use. Note that file names can include newlines, thus it is | |
271 | not safe to parse this output format in scripts. | |
272 | ||
273 | The alternative format @code{json} will return an array of dictionaries | |
274 | in JSON format. It will include similar information in | |
275 | the @code{start}, @code{length}, @code{offset} fields; | |
276 | it will also include other more specific information: | |
277 | @itemize @minus | |
278 | @item | |
279 | whether the sectors contain actual data or not (boolean field @code{data}; | |
280 | if false, the sectors are either unallocated or stored as optimized | |
281 | all-zero clusters); | |
282 | ||
283 | @item | |
284 | whether the data is known to read as zero (boolean field @code{zero}); | |
285 | ||
286 | @item | |
287 | in order to make the output shorter, the target file is expressed as | |
288 | a @code{depth}; for example, a depth of 2 refers to the backing file | |
289 | of the backing file of @var{filename}. | |
290 | @end itemize | |
291 | ||
292 | In JSON format, the @code{offset} field is optional; it is absent in | |
293 | cases where @code{human} format would omit the entry or exit with an error. | |
294 | If @code{data} is false and the @code{offset} field is present, the | |
295 | corresponding sectors in the file are not yet in use, but they are | |
296 | preallocated. | |
297 | ||
298 | For more information, consult @file{include/block/block.h} in QEMU's | |
299 | source code. | |
300 | ||
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301 | @item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename} |
302 | ||
303 | List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}. | |
ae6b0ed6 | 304 | |
3763f26f | 305 | @item rebase [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-p] [-u] -b @var{backing_file} [-F @var{backing_fmt}] @var{filename} |
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306 | |
307 | Changes the backing file of an image. Only the formats @code{qcow2} and | |
308 | @code{qed} support changing the backing file. | |
309 | ||
310 | The backing file is changed to @var{backing_file} and (if the image format of | |
311 | @var{filename} supports this) the backing file format is changed to | |
a616673d AB |
312 | @var{backing_fmt}. If @var{backing_file} is specified as ``'' (the empty |
313 | string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist | |
314 | independently of any backing file). | |
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315 | |
316 | There are two different modes in which @code{rebase} can operate: | |
317 | @table @option | |
318 | @item Safe mode | |
319 | This is the default mode and performs a real rebase operation. The new backing | |
320 | file may differ from the old one and qemu-img rebase will take care of keeping | |
321 | the guest-visible content of @var{filename} unchanged. | |
322 | ||
323 | In order to achieve this, any clusters that differ between @var{backing_file} | |
324 | and the old backing file of @var{filename} are merged into @var{filename} | |
325 | before actually changing the backing file. | |
326 | ||
327 | Note that the safe mode is an expensive operation, comparable to converting | |
328 | an image. It only works if the old backing file still exists. | |
329 | ||
330 | @item Unsafe mode | |
331 | qemu-img uses the unsafe mode if @code{-u} is specified. In this mode, only the | |
332 | backing file name and format of @var{filename} is changed without any checks | |
333 | on the file contents. The user must take care of specifying the correct new | |
334 | backing file, or the guest-visible content of the image will be corrupted. | |
335 | ||
336 | This mode is useful for renaming or moving the backing file to somewhere else. | |
337 | It can be used without an accessible old backing file, i.e. you can use it to | |
338 | fix an image whose backing file has already been moved/renamed. | |
339 | @end table | |
340 | ||
9fda6ab1 RJ |
341 | You can use @code{rebase} to perform a ``diff'' operation on two |
342 | disk images. This can be useful when you have copied or cloned | |
343 | a guest, and you want to get back to a thin image on top of a | |
344 | template or base image. | |
345 | ||
346 | Say that @code{base.img} has been cloned as @code{modified.img} by | |
347 | copying it, and that the @code{modified.img} guest has run so there | |
348 | are now some changes compared to @code{base.img}. To construct a thin | |
349 | image called @code{diff.qcow2} that contains just the differences, do: | |
350 | ||
351 | @example | |
352 | qemu-img create -f qcow2 -b modified.img diff.qcow2 | |
353 | qemu-img rebase -b base.img diff.qcow2 | |
354 | @end example | |
355 | ||
356 | At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since | |
357 | @code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information. | |
358 | ||
ae6b0ed6 SH |
359 | @item resize @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size} |
360 | ||
361 | Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}. | |
362 | ||
363 | Before using this command to shrink a disk image, you MUST use file system and | |
364 | partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition | |
365 | sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss! | |
366 | ||
367 | After using this command to grow a disk image, you must use file system and | |
368 | partitioning tools inside the VM to actually begin using the new space on the | |
369 | device. | |
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370 | |
371 | @item amend [-f @var{fmt}] -o @var{options} @var{filename} | |
372 | ||
373 | Amends the image format specific @var{options} for the image file | |
374 | @var{filename}. Not all file formats support this operation. | |
acd935ef | 375 | @end table |
d3067b02 | 376 | @c man end |
acd935ef | 377 | |
d3067b02 KW |
378 | @ignore |
379 | @c man begin NOTES | |
f932c040 KW |
380 | Supported image file formats: |
381 | ||
382 | @table @option | |
383 | @item raw | |
384 | ||
385 | Raw disk image format (default). This format has the advantage of | |
386 | being simple and easily exportable to all other emulators. If your | |
387 | file system supports @emph{holes} (for example in ext2 or ext3 on | |
388 | Linux or NTFS on Windows), then only the written sectors will reserve | |
389 | space. Use @code{qemu-img info} to know the real size used by the | |
390 | image or @code{ls -ls} on Unix/Linux. | |
391 | ||
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392 | @item qcow2 |
393 | QEMU image format, the most versatile format. Use it to have smaller | |
394 | images (useful if your filesystem does not supports holes, for example | |
395 | on Windows), optional AES encryption, zlib based compression and | |
396 | support of multiple VM snapshots. | |
8063d0fe | 397 | |
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398 | Supported options: |
399 | @table @code | |
d3067b02 | 400 | @item compat |
7fa9e1f9 SH |
401 | Determines the qcow2 version to use. @code{compat=0.10} uses the |
402 | traditional image format that can be read by any QEMU since 0.10. | |
d3067b02 | 403 | @code{compat=1.1} enables image format extensions that only QEMU 1.1 and |
7fa9e1f9 SH |
404 | newer understand (this is the default). Amongst others, this includes zero |
405 | clusters, which allow efficient copy-on-read for sparse images. | |
d3067b02 | 406 | |
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407 | @item backing_file |
408 | File name of a base image (see @option{create} subcommand) | |
409 | @item backing_fmt | |
410 | Image format of the base image | |
411 | @item encryption | |
136cd19d | 412 | If this option is set to @code{on}, the image is encrypted with 128-bit AES-CBC. |
3e032364 | 413 | |
136cd19d DB |
414 | The use of encryption in qcow and qcow2 images is considered to be flawed by |
415 | modern cryptography standards, suffering from a number of design problems: | |
416 | ||
417 | @itemize @minus | |
418 | @item The AES-CBC cipher is used with predictable initialization vectors based | |
419 | on the sector number. This makes it vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks | |
420 | which can reveal the existence of encrypted data. | |
421 | @item The user passphrase is directly used as the encryption key. A poorly | |
422 | chosen or short passphrase will compromise the security of the encryption. | |
423 | @item In the event of the passphrase being compromised there is no way to | |
424 | change the passphrase to protect data in any qcow images. The files must | |
425 | be cloned, using a different encryption passphrase in the new file. The | |
426 | original file must then be securely erased using a program like shred, | |
427 | though even this is ineffective with many modern storage technologies. | |
428 | @end itemize | |
429 | ||
430 | Use of qcow / qcow2 encryption is thus strongly discouraged. Users are | |
431 | recommended to use an alternative encryption technology such as the | |
432 | Linux dm-crypt / LUKS system. | |
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433 | |
434 | @item cluster_size | |
435 | Changes the qcow2 cluster size (must be between 512 and 2M). Smaller cluster | |
436 | sizes can improve the image file size whereas larger cluster sizes generally | |
437 | provide better performance. | |
438 | ||
439 | @item preallocation | |
440 | Preallocation mode (allowed values: off, metadata). An image with preallocated | |
441 | metadata is initially larger but can improve performance when the image needs | |
442 | to grow. | |
443 | ||
d3067b02 KW |
444 | @item lazy_refcounts |
445 | If this option is set to @code{on}, reference count updates are postponed with | |
446 | the goal of avoiding metadata I/O and improving performance. This is | |
447 | particularly interesting with @option{cache=writethrough} which doesn't batch | |
448 | metadata updates. The tradeoff is that after a host crash, the reference count | |
449 | tables must be rebuilt, i.e. on the next open an (automatic) @code{qemu-img | |
450 | check -r all} is required, which may take some time. | |
3e032364 | 451 | |
d3067b02 | 452 | This option can only be enabled if @code{compat=1.1} is specified. |
f085800e | 453 | |
f085800e | 454 | @end table |
3e032364 | 455 | |
d3067b02 KW |
456 | @item Other |
457 | QEMU also supports various other image file formats for compatibility with | |
8282db1b JC |
458 | older QEMU versions or other hypervisors, including VMDK, VDI, VHD (vpc), VHDX, |
459 | qcow1 and QED. For a full list of supported formats see @code{qemu-img --help}. | |
d3067b02 KW |
460 | For a more detailed description of these formats, see the QEMU Emulation User |
461 | Documentation. | |
3e032364 | 462 | |
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463 | The main purpose of the block drivers for these formats is image conversion. |
464 | For running VMs, it is recommended to convert the disk images to either raw or | |
465 | qcow2 in order to achieve good performance. | |
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466 | @end table |
467 | ||
468 | ||
acd935ef FB |
469 | @c man end |
470 | ||
acd935ef FB |
471 | @setfilename qemu-img |
472 | @settitle QEMU disk image utility | |
473 | ||
474 | @c man begin SEEALSO | |
475 | The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux | |
476 | user mode emulator invocation. | |
477 | @c man end | |
478 | ||
479 | @c man begin AUTHOR | |
480 | Fabrice Bellard | |
481 | @c man end | |
482 | ||
483 | @end ignore |