kcli-vm-operations

Create VM

```bash

# 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

```

List VMs

```bash

kcli list vm # All VMs

kcli list vm -o yaml # YAML output

kcli list vm -o json # JSON output

```

VM Info

```bash

kcli info vm myvm # Full info

kcli info vm myvm -f ip # Specific field

kcli info vm myvm -o yaml # YAML format

```

Start/Stop/Restart

```bash

kcli start vm myvm

kcli stop vm myvm

kcli restart vm myvm

```

Delete VM

```bash

kcli delete vm myvm # With confirmation

kcli delete vm myvm --yes # Skip confirmation

kcli delete vm myvm --snapshots # Delete snapshots too

```

```bash

kcli ssh myvm # SSH as default user

kcli ssh -u root myvm # SSH as specific user

kcli ssh -l myvm # List SSH command only

```

```bash

kcli console myvm # Graphical console (VNC/SPICE)

kcli console myvm --serial # Serial console

```

```bash

# 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

```

```bash

# 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

```

```bash

# 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

```

Configuration Hierarchy

Parameters are resolved in order (later overrides earlier):

1. kvirt/defaults.py - Built-in defaults
2. ~/.kcli/config.yml default section
3. Provider-specific section in config.yml
4. Profile definition (~/.kcli/profiles.yml)
5. Plan file parameters
6. Command-line -P overrides

Common Parameters

```yaml

# 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

```

```bash

# 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:

```yaml

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:

```bash

kcli create vm -p webserver myweb

```

```bash

# 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"

```

```bash

kcli clone vm myvm myclone

kcli clone vm myvm myclone --full # Full clone (not linked)

```

```bash

kcli export vm myvm # Export to image

kcli export vm myvm --image myimage # Custom image name

```

VM Won't Start

```bash

kcli -d start vm myvm # Debug output

sudo virsh list --all # Check libvirt state

sudo virsh start myvm # Try direct start

```

No IP Address

```bash

# Check DHCP is enabled on network

kcli info network default

# Check cloud-init completed

kcli ssh myvm

cat /var/log/cloud-init.log

```

SSH Connection Issues

```bash

# 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@

```