virt-v2v-output-local - Man Page

Using virt-v2v to convert guests to local files or libvirt

Synopsis

 virt-v2v [-i* options] [-o libvirt] -os POOL

 virt-v2v [-i* options] -o local -os DIRECTORY

 virt-v2v [-i* options] -o qemu -os DIRECTORY [-oo qemu-boot]

 virt-v2v [-i* options] -o null

Description

This page documents how to use virt-v2v(1) to convert guests to local files or to a locally running libvirt instance. There are four output modes you can select on the virt-v2v command line:

-o libvirt -os POOL

-os POOL

This converts the guest to a libvirt directory pool call POOL, and instantiates the guest in libvirt (but does not start it running). See "Output to Libvirt" below.

-o libvirt is the default if no -o option is given, so you can omit it.

-o local -os DIRECTORY

This converts the guest to files in DIRECTORY. A libvirt XML file is also created, but unlike -o libvirt the guest is not instantiated in libvirt, only files are created.

The files will be called:

 NAME-sda, NAME-sdb, etc.      Guest disk(s).
 NAME.xml                      Libvirt XML.

where NAME is the guest name.

-o qemu -os DIRECTORY

-o qemu -os DIRECTORY -oo qemu-boot

This converts the guest to files in DIRECTORY. Unlike -o local above, a shell script is created which contains the raw qemu command you would need to boot the guest. However the shell script is not run, unless you also add the -oo qemu-boot option.

-o null

The guest is converted, but the final result is thrown away and no metadata is created. This is mainly useful for testing.

Output to Libvirt

The -o libvirt option lets you upload the converted guest to a libvirt-managed host. There are several limitations:

You can only use a local libvirt connection [see below for how to workaround this].
The -os pool option must specify a directory pool, not anything more exotic such as iSCSI [but see below].
You can only upload to a KVM hypervisor.

Workaround for output to a remote libvirt instance and/or a non-directory storage pool

Use virt-v2v in -o local mode to convert the guest disks and metadata into a local temporary directory:
```
 virt-v2v [...] -o local -os /var/tmp
```
This creates two (or more) files in /var/tmp called:
```
 /var/tmp/NAME.xml     # the libvirt XML (metadata)
 /var/tmp/NAME-sda     # the guest’s first disk
```
(for NAME substitute the guest’s name).

Upload the converted disk(s) into the storage pool called POOL:

 size=$(stat -c%s /var/tmp/NAME-sda)
 virsh vol-create-as POOL NAME-sda $size --format raw
 virsh vol-upload --pool POOL NAME-sda /var/tmp/NAME-sda

Edit /var/tmp/NAME.xml to change /var/tmp/NAME-sda to the pool name. In other words, locate the following bit of XML:
```
 <disk type='file' device='disk'>
   <driver name='qemu' type='raw' />
   <source file='/var/tmp/NAME-sda' />
   <target dev='hda' bus='ide' />
 </disk>
```
and change two things: The type='file' attribute must be changed to type='volume', and the <source> element must be changed to include pool and volume attributes:
```
 <disk type='volume' device='disk'>
   ...
   <source pool='POOL' volume='NAME-sda' />
   ...
 </disk>
```
Define the final guest in libvirt:
```
 virsh define /var/tmp/NAME.xml
```

Author

Richard W.M. Jones

Copyright

License

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

Bugs

To get a list of bugs against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/buglist.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

To report a new bug against libguestfs, use this link: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/enter_bug.cgi?component=libguestfs&product=Virtualization+Tools

When reporting a bug, please supply:

The version of libguestfs.
Where you got libguestfs (eg. which Linux distro, compiled from source, etc)
Describe the bug accurately and give a way to reproduce it.
Run libguestfs-test-tool(1) and paste the complete, unedited output into the bug report.

Referenced By

virt-v2v(1).

2025-10-16 virt-v2v-2.9.9 Virtualization Support