Command parameters:
@table @var
-@item filename
- is a disk image filename
-
-@item --object @var{objectdef}
-
-is a QEMU user creatable object definition. See the @code{qemu(1)} manual
-page for a description of the object properties. The most common object
-type is a @code{secret}, which is used to supply passwords and/or encryption
-keys.
-@item --image-opts
-
-Indicates that the @var{filename} parameter is to be interpreted as a
-full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
-exclusive with the @var{-f} and @var{-F} parameters.
+@item filename
+is a disk image filename
@item fmt
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)
is the destination disk image filename
@item output_fmt
- is the destination format
+is the destination format
+
@item options
is a comma separated list of format specific options in a
name=value format. Use @code{-o ?} for an overview of the options supported
by the used format or see the format descriptions below for details.
+
@item snapshot_param
is param used for internal snapshot, format is
'snapshot.id=[ID],snapshot.name=[NAME]' or '[ID_OR_NAME]'
+
@item snapshot_id_or_name
is deprecated, use snapshot_param instead
+@end table
+
+@table @option
+
+@item --object @var{objectdef}
+is a QEMU user creatable object definition. See the @code{qemu(1)} manual
+page for a description of the object properties. The most common object
+type is a @code{secret}, which is used to supply passwords and/or encryption
+keys.
+
+@item --image-opts
+Indicates that the source @var{filename} parameter is to be interpreted as a
+full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
+exclusive with the @var{-f} parameter.
+
+@item --target-image-opts
+Indicates that the @var{output_filename} parameter(s) are to be interpreted as
+a full option string, not a plain filename. This parameter is mutually
+exclusive with the @var{-O} parameters. It is currently required to also use
+the @var{-n} parameter to skip image creation. This restriction may be relaxed
+in a future release.
+
+@item --force-share (-U)
+If specified, @code{qemu-img} will open the image in shared mode, allowing
+other QEMU processes to open it in write mode. For example, this can be used to
+get the image information (with 'info' subcommand) when the image is used by a
+running guest. Note that this could produce inconsistent results because of
+concurrent metadata changes, etc. This option is only allowed when opening
+images in read-only mode.
+
+@item --backing-chain
+will enumerate information about backing files in a disk image chain. Refer
+below for further description.
+
@item -c
indicates that target image must be compressed (qcow format only)
+
@item -h
with or without a command shows help and lists the supported formats
+
@item -p
display progress bar (compare, convert and rebase commands only).
If the @var{-p} option is not used for a command that supports it, the
-progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} signal.
+progress is reported when the process receives a @code{SIGUSR1} or
+@code{SIGINFO} signal.
+
@item -q
Quiet mode - do not print any output (except errors). There's no progress bar
in case both @var{-q} and @var{-p} options are used.
+
@item -S @var{size}
indicates the consecutive number of bytes that must contain only zeros
for qemu-img to create a sparse image during conversion. This value is rounded
down to the nearest 512 bytes. You may use the common size suffixes like
@code{k} for kilobytes.
+
@item -t @var{cache}
specifies the cache mode that should be used with the (destination) file. See
the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
values.
+
@item -T @var{src_cache}
specifies the cache mode that should be used with the source file(s). See
the documentation of the emulator's @code{-drive cache=...} option for allowed
values.
+
@end table
Parameters to snapshot subcommand:
@item -n
Skip the creation of the target volume
+@item -m
+Number of parallel coroutines for the convert process
+@item -W
+Allow out-of-order writes to the destination. This option improves performance,
+but is only recommended for preallocated devices like host devices or other
+raw block devices.
@end table
Parameters to dd subcommand:
state after (the attempt at) repairing it. That is, a successful @code{-r all}
will yield the exit code 0, independently of the image state before.
-@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
+@item create [-f @var{fmt}] [-b @var{backing_file}] [-F @var{backing_fmt}] [-u] [-o @var{options}] @var{filename} [@var{size}]
Create the new disk image @var{filename} of size @var{size} and format
@var{fmt}. Depending on the file format, you can add one or more @var{options}
this case. @var{backing_file} will never be modified unless you use the
@code{commit} monitor command (or qemu-img commit).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
+Note that a given backing file will be opened to check that it is valid. Use
+the @code{-u} option to enable unsafe backing file mode, which means that the
+image will be created even if the associated backing file cannot be opened. A
+matching backing file must be created or additional options be used to make the
+backing file specification valid when you want to use an image created this
+way.
+
The size can also be specified using the @var{size} option with @code{-o},
it doesn't need to be specified separately in this case.
layer, the backing file into which the changes will be committed may be
specified as @var{base} (which has to be part of @var{filename}'s backing
chain). If @var{base} is not specified, the immediate backing file of the top
-image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. For reasons of consistency,
-explicitly specifying @var{base} will always imply @code{-d} (since emptying an
-image after committing to an indirect backing file would lead to different data
-being read from the image due to content in the intermediate backing chain
-overruling the commit target).
+image (which is @var{filename}) will be used. Note that after a commit operation
+all images between @var{base} and the top image will be invalid and may return
+garbage data when read. For this reason, @code{-b} implies @code{-d} (so that
+the top image stays valid).
@item compare [-f @var{fmt}] [-F @var{fmt}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-p] [-s] [-q] @var{filename1} @var{filename2}
@end table
-@item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-T @var{src_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}
+@item convert [-c] [-p] [-n] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] [-T @var{src_cache}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-B @var{backing_file}] [-o @var{options}] [-s @var{snapshot_id_or_name}] [-l @var{snapshot_param}] [-m @var{num_coroutines}] [-W] [-S @var{sparse_size}] @var{filename} [@var{filename2} [...]] @var{output_filename}
Convert the disk image @var{filename} or a snapshot @var{snapshot_param}(@var{snapshot_id_or_name} is deprecated)
to disk image @var{output_filename} using format @var{output_fmt}. It can be optionally compressed (@code{-c}
@var{backing_file} should have the same content as the input's base image,
however the path, image format, etc may differ.
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{output_filename}.
+
If the @code{-n} option is specified, the target volume creation will be
skipped. This is useful for formats such as @code{rbd} if the target
volume has already been created with site specific options that cannot
be supplied through qemu-img.
+Out of order writes can be enabled with @code{-W} to improve performance.
+This is only recommended for preallocated devices like host devices or other
+raw block devices. Out of order write does not work in combination with
+creating compressed images.
+
+@var{num_coroutines} specifies how many coroutines work in parallel during
+the convert process (defaults to 8).
+
@item dd [-f @var{fmt}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [bs=@var{block_size}] [count=@var{blocks}] [skip=@var{blocks}] if=@var{input} of=@var{output}
Dd copies from @var{input} file to @var{output} file converting it from
For more information, consult @file{include/block/block.h} in QEMU's
source code.
+@item measure [--output=@var{ofmt}] [-O @var{output_fmt}] [-o @var{options}] [--size @var{N} | [--object @var{objectdef}] [--image-opts] [-f @var{fmt}] [-l @var{snapshot_param}] @var{filename}]
+
+Calculate the file size required for a new image. This information can be used
+to size logical volumes or SAN LUNs appropriately for the image that will be
+placed in them. The values reported are guaranteed to be large enough to fit
+the image. The command can output in the format @var{ofmt} which is either
+@code{human} or @code{json}.
+
+If the size @var{N} is given then act as if creating a new empty image file
+using @command{qemu-img create}. If @var{filename} is given then act as if
+converting an existing image file using @command{qemu-img convert}. The format
+of the new file is given by @var{output_fmt} while the format of an existing
+file is given by @var{fmt}.
+
+A snapshot in an existing image can be specified using @var{snapshot_param}.
+
+The following fields are reported:
+@example
+required size: 524288
+fully allocated size: 1074069504
+@end example
+
+The @code{required size} is the file size of the new image. It may be smaller
+than the virtual disk size if the image format supports compact representation.
+
+The @code{fully allocated size} is the file size of the new image once data has
+been written to all sectors. This is the maximum size that the image file can
+occupy with the exception of internal snapshots, dirty bitmaps, vmstate data,
+and other advanced image format features.
+
@item snapshot [-l | -a @var{snapshot} | -c @var{snapshot} | -d @var{snapshot} ] @var{filename}
List, apply, create or delete snapshots in image @var{filename}.
string), then the image is rebased onto no backing file (i.e. it will exist
independently of any backing file).
+If a relative path name is given, the backing file is looked up relative to
+the directory containing @var{filename}.
+
@var{cache} specifies the cache mode to be used for @var{filename}, whereas
@var{src_cache} specifies the cache mode for reading backing files.
At this point, @code{modified.img} can be discarded, since
@code{base.img + diff.qcow2} contains the same information.
-@item resize @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
+@item resize [--shrink] [--preallocation=@var{prealloc}] @var{filename} [+ | -]@var{size}
Change the disk image as if it had been created with @var{size}.
partitioning tools inside the VM to reduce allocated file systems and partition
sizes accordingly. Failure to do so will result in data loss!
+When shrinking images, the @code{--shrink} option must be given. This informs
+qemu-img that the user acknowledges all loss of data beyond the truncated
+image's end.
+
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.
+When growing an image, the @code{--preallocation} option may be used to specify
+how the additional image area should be allocated on the host. See the format
+description in the @code{NOTES} section which values are allowed. Using this
+option may result in slightly more data being allocated than necessary.
+
@item amend [-p] [-f @var{fmt}] [-t @var{cache}] -o @var{options} @var{filename}
Amends the image format specific @var{options} for the image file
modern cryptography standards, suffering from a number of design problems:
@itemize @minus
-@item The AES-CBC cipher is used with predictable initialization vectors based
+@item
+The AES-CBC cipher is used with predictable initialization vectors based
on the sector number. This makes it vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks
which can reveal the existence of encrypted data.
-@item The user passphrase is directly used as the encryption key. A poorly
+@item
+The user passphrase is directly used as the encryption key. A poorly
chosen or short passphrase will compromise the security of the encryption.
-@item In the event of the passphrase being compromised there is no way to
+@item
+In the event of the passphrase being compromised there is no way to
change the passphrase to protect data in any qcow images. The files must
be cloned, using a different encryption passphrase in the new file. The
original file must then be securely erased using a program like shred,
though even this is ineffective with many modern storage technologies.
+@item
+Initialization vectors used to encrypt sectors are based on the
+guest virtual sector number, instead of the host physical sector. When
+a disk image has multiple internal snapshots this means that data in
+multiple physical sectors is encrypted with the same initialization
+vector. With the CBC mode, this opens the possibility of watermarking
+attacks if the attack can collect multiple sectors encrypted with the
+same IV and some predictable data. Having multiple qcow2 images with
+the same passphrase also exposes this weakness since the passphrase
+is directly used as the key.
@end itemize
Use of qcow / qcow2 encryption is thus strongly discouraged. Users are
projects / qemu.git / blobdiff