NAME¶
virt-customize - Customize a virtual machine
SYNOPSIS¶
virt-customize [--options] -d domname
[--chmod PERMISSIONS:FILE] [--delete PATH] [--edit FILE:EXPR]
[--firstboot SCRIPT] [--firstboot-command 'CMD+ARGS']
[--firstboot-install PKG,PKG..] [--hostname HOSTNAME]
[--install PKG,PKG..] [--link TARGET:LINK[:LINK..]] [--mkdir DIR]
[--password USER:SELECTOR] [--root-password SELECTOR]
[--run SCRIPT] [--run-command 'CMD+ARGS'] [--scrub FILE]
[--timezone TIMEZONE] [--update] [--upload FILE:DEST]
[--write FILE:CONTENT] [--no-logfile]
[--password-crypto md5|sha256|sha512] [--selinux-relabel]
virt-customize [--options] -a disk.img [-a disk.img ...]
[--chmod PERMISSIONS:FILE] [--delete PATH] [--edit FILE:EXPR]
[--firstboot SCRIPT] [--firstboot-command 'CMD+ARGS']
[--firstboot-install PKG,PKG..] [--hostname HOSTNAME]
[--install PKG,PKG..] [--link TARGET:LINK[:LINK..]] [--mkdir DIR]
[--password USER:SELECTOR] [--root-password SELECTOR]
[--run SCRIPT] [--run-command 'CMD+ARGS'] [--scrub FILE]
[--timezone TIMEZONE] [--update] [--upload FILE:DEST]
[--write FILE:CONTENT] [--no-logfile]
[--password-crypto md5|sha256|sha512] [--selinux-relabel]
DESCRIPTION¶
Virt-customize can customize a virtual machine (disk image) by installing
packages, editing configuration files, and so on.
Virt-customize modifies the guest or disk image
in place. The guest must
be shut down. If you want to preserve the existing contents of the guest,
you must snapshot, copy or clone the disk first.
You do
not need to run virt-customize as root. In fact we'd generally
recommend that you don't.
Related tools include:
virt-sysprep(1) and
virt-builder(1).
OPTIONS¶
- --help
- Display brief help.
- -a file
- --add file
- Add file which should be a disk image from a virtual machine.
The format of the disk image is auto-detected. To override this and force a
particular format use the --format option.
- -a URI
- --add URI
- Add a remote disk. The URI format is compatible with guestfish. See
"ADDING REMOTE STORAGE" in guestfish(1).
- --attach ISOFILE
- The given disk is attached to the libguestfs appliance. This is used to
provide extra software repositories or other data for customization.
You probably want to ensure the volume(s) or filesystems in the attached
disks are labelled (or use an ISO volume name) so that you can mount them
by label in your run-scripts:
mkdir /tmp/mount
mount LABEL=EXTRA /tmp/mount
You can have multiple --attach options, and the format can be any
disk format (not just an ISO).
- --attach-format FORMAT
- Specify the disk format for the next --attach option. The
"FORMAT" is usually "raw" or "qcow2". Use
"raw" for ISOs.
- -c URI
- --connect URI
- If using libvirt, connect to the given URI. If omitted, then we
connect to the default libvirt hypervisor.
If you specify guest block devices directly ( -a), then libvirt is
not used at all.
- -d guest
- --domain guest
- Add all the disks from the named libvirt guest. Domain UUIDs can be used
instead of names.
- -n
- --dry-run
- Perform a read-only "dry run" on the guest. This runs the
sysprep operation, but throws away any changes to the disk at the
end.
- --format raw|qcow2|..
- --format auto
- The default for the -a option is to auto-detect the format of the
disk image. Using this forces the disk format for -a options which
follow on the command line. Using --format auto switches back to
auto-detection for subsequent -a options.
For example:
virt-customize --format raw -a disk.img
forces raw format (no auto-detection) for "disk.img".
virt-customize --format raw -a disk.img --format auto -a another.img
forces raw format (no auto-detection) for "disk.img" and reverts
to auto-detection for "another.img".
If you have untrusted raw-format guest disk images, you should use this
option to specify the disk format. This avoids a possible security problem
with malicious guests (CVE-2010-3851).
- -m MB
- --memsize MB
- Change the amount of memory allocated to --run scripts. Increase
this if you find that --run scripts or the --install option
are running out of memory.
The default can be found with this command:
guestfish get-memsize
- --network
- --no-network
- Enable or disable network access from the guest during the installation.
Enabled is the default. Use --no-network to disable access.
The network only allows outgoing connections and has other minor
limitations. See "NETWORK" in virt-rescue(1).
If you use --no-network then certain other options such as
--install will not work.
This does not affect whether the guest can access the network once it has
been booted, because that is controlled by your hypervisor or cloud
environment and has nothing to do with virt-customize.
Generally speaking you should not use --no-network. But here
are some reasons why you might want to:
- 1.
- Because the libguestfs backend that you are using doesn't support the
network. (See: "BACKEND" in guestfs(3)).
- 2.
- Any software you need to install comes from an attached ISO, so you don't
need the network.
- 3.
- You don't want untrusted guest code trying to access your host network
when running virt-customize. This is particularly an issue when you don't
trust the source of the operating system templates. (See
"SECURITY" below).
- 4.
- You don't have a host network (eg. in secure/restricted
environments).
- -q
- --quiet
- Don't print log messages.
To enable detailed logging of individual file operations, use
-x.
- --smp N
- Enable N ≥ 2 virtual CPUs for --run scripts to use.
- -v
- --verbose
- Enable verbose messages for debugging.
- -V
- --version
- Display version number and exit.
- -x
- Enable tracing of libguestfs API calls.
Customization options¶
- --chmod PERMISSIONS:FILE
- Change the permissions of "FILE" to "PERMISSIONS".
Note: "PERMISSIONS" by default would be decimal, unless
you prefix it with 0 to get octal, ie. use 0700 not 700.
- --delete PATH
- Delete a file from the guest. Or delete a directory (and all its contents,
recursively).
See also: --upload, --scrub.
- --edit FILE:EXPR
- Edit "FILE" using the Perl expression "EXPR".
Be careful to properly quote the expression to prevent it from being altered
by the shell.
Note that this option is only available when Perl 5 is installed.
See "NON-INTERACTIVE EDITING" in virt-edit(1).
- --firstboot SCRIPT
- Install "SCRIPT" inside the guest, so that when the guest first
boots up, the script runs (as root, late in the boot process).
The script is automatically chmod +x after installation in the guest.
The alternative version --firstboot-command is the same, but it
conveniently wraps the command up in a single line script for you.
You can have multiple --firstboot options. They run in the same order
that they appear on the command line.
See also --run.
- --firstboot-command 'CMD+ARGS'
- Run command (and arguments) inside the guest when the guest first boots up
(as root, late in the boot process).
You can have multiple --firstboot options. They run in the same order
that they appear on the command line.
See also --run.
- --firstboot-install PKG,PKG..
- Install the named packages (a comma-separated list). These are installed
when the guest first boots using the guest's package manager (eg. apt,
yum, etc.) and the guest's network connection.
For an overview on the different ways to install packages, see
"INSTALLING PACKAGES" in virt-builder(1).
- --hostname HOSTNAME
- Set the hostname of the guest to "HOSTNAME". You can use a
dotted hostname.domainname (FQDN) if you want.
- --install PKG,PKG..
- Install the named packages (a comma-separated list). These are installed
during the image build using the guest's package manager (eg. apt, yum,
etc.) and the host's network connection.
For an overview on the different ways to install packages, see
"INSTALLING PACKAGES" in virt-builder(1).
See also --update.
- --link TARGET:LINK[:LINK..]
- Create symbolic link(s) in the guest, starting at "LINK" and
pointing at "TARGET".
- --mkdir DIR
- Create a directory in the guest.
This uses "mkdir -p" so any intermediate directories are
created, and it also works if the directory already exists.
- --no-logfile
- Scrub "builder.log" (log file from build commands) from the
image after building is complete. If you don't want to reveal precisely
how the image was built, use this option.
See also: "LOG FILE".
- --password USER:SELECTOR
- Set the password for "USER". (Note this option does not
create the user account).
See "USERS AND PASSWORDS" in virt-builder(1) for the format
of the "SELECTOR" field, and also how to set up user
accounts.
- --password-crypto md5|sha256|sha512
- When the virt tools change or set a password in the guest, this option
sets the password encryption of that password to "md5",
"sha256" or "sha512".
"sha256" and "sha512" require glibc ≥ 2.7 (check
crypt(3) inside the guest).
"md5" will work with relatively old Linux guests (eg. RHEL 3), but
is not secure against modern attacks.
The default is "sha512" unless libguestfs detects an old guest
that didn't have support for SHA-512, in which case it will use
"md5". You can override libguestfs by specifying this option.
Note this does not change the default password encryption used by the guest
when you create new user accounts inside the guest. If you want to do
that, then you should use the --edit option to modify
"/etc/sysconfig/authconfig" (Fedora, RHEL) or
"/etc/pam.d/common-password" (Debian, Ubuntu).
- --root-password SELECTOR
- Set the root password.
See "USERS AND PASSWORDS" in virt-builder(1) for the format
of the "SELECTOR" field, and also how to set up user accounts.
Note: In virt-builder, if you don't set --root-password then
the guest is given a random root password.
- --run SCRIPT
- Run the shell script (or any program) called "SCRIPT" on the
disk image. The script runs virtualized inside a small appliance, chrooted
into the guest filesystem.
The script is automatically chmod +x.
If libguestfs supports it then a limited network connection is available but
it only allows outgoing network connections. You can also attach data
disks (eg. ISO files) as another way to provide data (eg. software
packages) to the script without needing a network connection (
--attach). You can also upload data files ( --upload).
You can have multiple --run options. They run in the same order that
they appear on the command line.
See also: --firstboot, --attach, --upload.
- --run-command 'CMD+ARGS'
- Run the command and arguments on the disk image. The command runs
virtualized inside a small appliance, chrooted into the guest filesystem.
If libguestfs supports it then a limited network connection is available but
it only allows outgoing network connections. You can also attach data
disks (eg. ISO files) as another way to provide data (eg. software
packages) to the script without needing a network connection (
--attach). You can also upload data files ( --upload).
You can have multiple --run-command options. They run in the same
order that they appear on the command line.
See also: --firstboot, --attach, --upload.
- --scrub FILE
- Scrub a file from the guest. This is like --delete except
that:
- •
- It scrubs the data so a guest could not recover it.
- •
- It cannot delete directories, only regular files.
- --selinux-relabel
- Relabel files in the guest so that they have the correct SELinux label.
You should only use this option for guests which support SELinux.
- --timezone TIMEZONE
- Set the default timezone of the guest to "TIMEZONE". Use a
location string like "Europe/London"
- --update
- Do the equivalent of "yum update", "apt-get upgrade",
or whatever command is required to update the packages already installed
in the template to their latest versions.
See also --install.
- --upload FILE:DEST
- Upload local file "FILE" to destination "DEST" in the
disk image. File owner and permissions from the original are preserved, so
you should set them to what you want them to be in the disk image.
"DEST" could be the final filename. This can be used to rename the
file on upload.
If "DEST" is a directory name (which must already exist in the
guest) then the file is uploaded into that directory, and it keeps the
same name as on the local filesystem.
See also: --mkdir, --delete, --scrub.
- --write FILE:CONTENT
- Write "CONTENT" to "FILE".
EXIT STATUS¶
This program returns 0 on success, or 1 if there was an error.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES¶
- "VIRT_TOOLS_DATA_DIR"
- This can point to the directory containing data files used for Windows
firstboot installation.
Normally you do not need to set this. If not set, a compiled-in default will
be used (something like "/usr/share/virt-tools").
This directory may contain the following files:
- "rhsrvany.exe"
- This is the RHSrvAny Windows binary, used to install a
"firstboot" script in Windows guests. It is required if you
intend to use the --firstboot or --firstboot-command options
with Windows guests.
See also: "https://github.com/rwmjones/rhsrvany"
For other environment variables, see "ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES" in
guestfs(3).
SEE ALSO¶
guestfs(3),
guestfish(1),
virt-builder(1),
virt-clone(1),
virt-rescue(1),
virt-resize(1),
virt-sparsify(1),
virt-sysprep(1),
virsh(1),
lvcreate(8),
qemu-img(1),
scrub(1),
http://libguestfs.org/, http://libvirt.org/.
AUTHORS¶
Richard W.M. Jones
http://people.redhat.com/~rjones/
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright (C) 2011-2014 Red Hat Inc.
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.