VMD(8) FreeBSD System Manager's Manual VMD(8)
NAME
vmd - virtual machine daemon
SYNOPSIS
vmd [-dnv] [-D macro=value] [-f file]
DESCRIPTION
vmd is a daemon responsible for the execution of virtual machines (VMs)
on a host. vmd is typically started at boot time and is controlled via
vmctl(8).
To have vmd enabled at boot time, use "rcctl enable vmd", which sets
vmd_flags=""
in rc.conf.local(8).
vmd interfaces with the virtual machine monitor (VMM) built into the
kernel. One instance of vmd will be spawned for each VM running on the
host, plus extra instances for control operations. Each child vmd will
in turn create one or more VCPU (virtual CPU) threads responsible for
driving the VM's operations using vmm(4).
vmd is also responsible for proxying various other commands/requests from
vmctl(8), such as stopping VMs, and retrieving information from vmm(4)
about running VMs.
When the host machine is shut down, vmd sends each running VM a shutdown
request via the vmmci(4) device. If the VMs are vmmci-aware, this
provides each VM the chance to shut down cleanly in anticipation of host
shutdown. During shutdown, vmd waits 30 seconds for the VMs to terminate
cleanly before forcibly stopping them. This 30 second default can be
changed by "rcctl set vmd timeout n", where 'n' is the desired timeout in
seconds.
The options are as follows:
-D macro=value
Define macro to be set to value on the command line. Overrides
the definition of macro in the configuration file.
-d Do not daemonize and log to stderr.
-f file
Specify an alternative configuration file. The default is
/etc/vm.conf.
-n Configtest mode. Only check the configuration file for validity.
-v Verbose mode. Multiple -v options increase the verbosity.
FILES
/etc/firmware/vmm-bios Default BIOS boot image. The BIOS is an
external firmware file that is distributed
separately due to an incompatible license. A
prepackaged version of the firmware can be
installed using fw_update(8).
/etc/vm.conf Default configuration file. This is optional.
/var/run/vmd.sock UNIX-domain socket used for communication with
vmctl(8).
SEE ALSO
vmm(4), vmmci(4), vm.conf(5), rc.conf(8), vmctl(8)
HISTORY
The vmd command first appeared in OpenBSD 5.9.
AUTHORS
Mike Larkin <
[email protected]> and Reyk Floeter <
[email protected]>.
FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8 September 24, 2024 FreeBSD 14.1-RELEASE-p8