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Guides VM lifecycle operations with kcli. Use when creating, managing, or troubleshooting virtual machines across providers.
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Based on SOC occupation classification
| name | kcli-vm-operations |
| description | Guides VM lifecycle operations with kcli. Use when creating, managing, or troubleshooting virtual machines across providers. |
Important: Before creating a VM, always run
kcli create vm -hto check the latest available flags and examples.
# From image
kcli create vm -i fedora40 myvm
# With parameters
kcli create vm -i centos9stream -P memory=4096 -P numcpus=4 -P disks=[20,50] myvm
# From profile
kcli create vm -p myprofile myvm
# Create multiple VMs at once with -c (count)
kcli create vm -c 3 myvm
# Create 3 VMs to emulate baremetal
kcli create vm -P start=false -P memory=20480 -P numcpus=16 -P disks=[200] -P uefi=true -P nets=[default] -c 3 myvm
# Create a VM with a static IP
kcli create vm -i centos9stream -P nets=['{"name":"default","ip":"192.168.122.250","netmask":"24","gateway":"192.168.122.1"}'] myvm
# Create a VM with a DNS reservation
kcli create vm -i centos9stream -P nets=['{"name":"default","reservedns":"true"}'] myvm
# Create a VM with a DHCP reservation
kcli create vm -i centos9stream -P nets=['{"name":"default","ip":"192.168.122.250","reserveip":"true"}'] myvm
kcli list vm # All VMs
kcli list vm -o yaml # YAML output
kcli list vm -o json # JSON output
kcli info vm myvm # Full info
kcli info vm myvm -f ip # Specific field
kcli info vm myvm -o yaml # YAML format
kcli start vm myvm
kcli stop vm myvm
kcli restart vm myvm
kcli delete vm myvm # With confirmation
kcli delete vm myvm --yes # Skip confirmation
kcli delete vm myvm --snapshots # Delete snapshots too
kcli ssh myvm # SSH as default user
kcli ssh -u root myvm # SSH as specific user
kcli ssh -l myvm # List SSH command only
kcli console myvm # Graphical console (VNC/SPICE)
kcli console myvm --serial # Serial console
# Add disk
kcli create disk -s 20 -p default myvm # 20GB disk
kcli create disk -s 50 --thin myvm # Thin provisioned
# Delete disk
kcli delete disk myvm-disk1 myvm
# List disks
kcli list disk
# Add NIC
kcli create nic -n mynetwork myvm
# Delete NIC
kcli delete nic eth1 myvm
# Update NIC
kcli update nic -n newnetwork myvm --index 0
# Create snapshot
kcli create snapshot myvm mysnapshot
# List snapshots
kcli list snapshot myvm
# Revert to snapshot
kcli revert snapshot myvm mysnapshot
# Delete snapshot
kcli delete snapshot myvm mysnapshot
Parameters are resolved in order (later overrides earlier):
kvirt/defaults.py - Built-in defaults~/.kcli/config.yml default section~/.kcli/profiles.yml)-P overrides# Compute
numcpus: 2 # CPU count
memory: 512 # Memory in MB
cpumodel: host-model # CPU model
# Storage
pool: default # Storage pool
disks: # Disk configuration
- size: 20 # Size in GB
- size: 50
pool: otherpool
thin: true
# Network
nets: # Network configuration
- default # Simple: network name only
- name: mynet # Advanced: with options
ip: 192.168.1.10
netmask: 255.255.255.0
gateway: 192.168.1.1
mac: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
# OS Customization
image: fedora40 # Base image
cloudinit: true # Enable cloud-init
keys: # SSH public keys
- ssh-rsa AAAA... user@host
cmds: # Post-boot commands
- dnf -y update
- systemctl enable nginx
files: # Files to inject
- path: /etc/myconfig
content: |
key=value
# List available images
kcli list image
# Download image
kcli download image fedora40
kcli download image centos9stream -p mypool
# Delete image
kcli delete image fedora40
# List all available images (from kcli catalog)
kcli list available-images
Profiles in ~/.kcli/profiles.yml:
small:
numcpus: 1
memory: 1024
disks:
- size: 10
medium:
numcpus: 2
memory: 2048
disks:
- size: 20
webserver:
image: centos9stream
numcpus: 2
memory: 4096
nets:
- default
cmds:
- dnf -y install nginx
- systemctl enable --now nginx
Usage:
kcli create vm -p webserver myweb
# Update memory
kcli update vm myvm -P memory=8192
# Update CPUs
kcli update vm myvm -P numcpus=4
# Update metadata
kcli update vm myvm -P information="Production server"
kcli clone vm myvm myclone
kcli clone vm myvm myclone --full # Full clone (not linked)
kcli export vm myvm # Export to image
kcli export vm myvm --image myimage # Custom image name
kcli -d start vm myvm # Debug output
sudo virsh list --all # Check libvirt state
sudo virsh start myvm # Try direct start
# Check DHCP is enabled on network
kcli info network default
# Check cloud-init completed
kcli ssh myvm
cat /var/log/cloud-init.log
# Get SSH command details
kcli ssh -l myvm
# Check VM has IP
kcli info vm myvm -f ip
# Try direct SSH
ssh -i ~/.kcli/id_rsa user@<ip>
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Guides kcli configuration and provider setup. Use when setting up ~/.kcli/config.yml, configuring providers (KVM, AWS, GCP, Azure, etc.), or managing profiles.
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Guides implementation of new virtualization providers for kcli. Use when adding support for a new cloud platform, hypervisor, or infrastructure provider.