1.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 2021 John H. Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.org> 4.\" 5.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 6.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 7.\" are met: 8.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 9.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 10.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 11.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 12.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 13.\" 14.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 15.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 16.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 17.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 18.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 19.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 20.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 21.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 22.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 23.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 24.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 25.\" 26.Dd March 18, 2021 27.Dt BHYVE_CONFIG 5 28.Os 29.Sh NAME 30.Nm bhyve_config 31.Nd "bhyve configuration variables" 32.Sh DESCRIPTION 33.Xr bhyve 8 34uses a hierarchical tree of configuration variables to describe global and 35per-device settings. 36Internal nodes in this tree do not have a value, 37only leaf nodes have values. 38This manual describes the configuration variables understood by 39.Xr bhyve 8 . 40If additional variables are defined, 41.Xr bhyve 8 42will ignore them and will not emit errors for unknown variables. 43However, these additional variables can be referenced by other 44variables as described below. 45.Sh VARIABLE VALUES 46Configuration variable values are stored as strings. 47A configuration variable value may refer to one or more other 48configuration values by name. 49Instances of the pattern 50.Sq % Ns Pq Ar var 51are replaced by the value of the configuration variable 52.Va var . 53To avoid unwanted expansion, 54.Sq % 55characters can be escaped by a leading 56.Sq % . 57For example, 58if a configuration variable 59.Va disk 60uses the value 61.Pa /dev/zvol/bhyve/%(name) , 62then the final value of the 63.Va disk 64variable will be set to the path of a ZFS volume whose name matches 65the name of the virtual machine on the pool 66.Pa bhyve . 67.Pp 68Some configuration variables may be interpreted as a boolean value. 69For those variables the following case-insensitive values may be used to 70indicate true: 71.Pp 72.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact 73.It 74true 75.It 76on 77.It 78yes 79.It 801 81.El 82.Pp 83The following values may be used to indicate false: 84.Pp 85.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact 86.It 87false 88.It 89off 90.It 91no 92.It 930 94.El 95.Pp 96Some configuration variables may be interperted as an integer. 97For those variables, 98any syntax supported by 99.Xr strtol 3 100may be used. 101.Sh GLOBAL SETTINGS 102.Ss Architecture Neutral Settings 103.Bl -column "memory.guest_in_core" "integer" "Default" 104.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 105.It Va name Ta string Ta Ta 106The name of the VM. 107.It Va cpus Ta integer Ta 1 Ta 108The total number of virtual CPUs. 109.It Va cores Ta integer Ta 1 Ta 110The number of virtual cores in each virtual socket. 111.It Va threads Ta integer Ta 1 Ta 112The number of virtual CPUs in each virtual core. 113.It Va sockets Ta integer Ta 1 Ta 114The number of virtual sockets. 115.It Va memory.guest_in_core Ta bool Ta false Ta 116Include guest memory in core file. 117.It Va memory.size Ta string Ta 256M Ta 118Guest physical memory size in bytes. 119The value must be formatted as described in 120.Xr expand_number 3 . 121.It Va memory.wired Ta bool Ta false Ta 122Wire guest memory. 123.It Va acpi_tables Ta bool Ta false Ta 124Generate ACPI tables. 125.It Va destroy_on_poweroff Ta bool Ta false Ta 126Destroy the VM on guest-initiated power-off. 127.It Va gdb.port Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 128TCP port number for the debug server. 129If this is set to a non-zero value, a debug server 130will listen for connections on this port. 131.It Va gdb.wait Ta bool Ta false Ta 132If the debug server is enabled, wait for a debugger to connect 133before starting the guest. 134.It Va rtc.use_localtime Ta bool Ta true Ta 135The real time clock uses the local time of the host. 136If this is set to false, the real time clock uses UTC. 137.It Va uuid Ta string Ta Ta 138The universally unique identifier (UUID) to use in the guest's 139System Management BIOS System Information structure. 140If an explicit value is not set, a valid UUID is generated from 141the host's hostname and the VM name. 142.It Va virtio_msix Ta bool Ta true Ta 143Use MSI-X interrupts for PCI VirtIO devices. 144If set to false, MSI interrupts are used instead. 145.It Va config.dump Ta bool Ta false Ta 146If this value is set to true, 147then 148.Xr bhyve 8 149will write all of its configuration variables to stdout and exit 150after it has finished parsing command line options. 151.El 152.Ss x86-Specific Settings 153.Bl -column "x86.vmexit_on_pause" "integer" "Default" 154.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 155.It Va x86.mptable Ta bool Ta true Ta 156Generate an MPTable. 157.It Va x86.x2apic Ta bool Ta false Ta 158Configure guest's local APICs in x2APIC mode. 159.It Va x86.strictio Ta bool Ta false Ta 160Exit if a guest accesses an I/O port that is not emulated. 161By default, writes are ignored and reads return all bits set. 162.It Va x86.strictmsr Ta bool Ta true Ta 163Inject a general protection fault if a guest accesses a Model Specific 164Register (MSR) that is not emulated. 165If this is false, writes are ignored and reads return zero. 166.It Va x86.vmexit_on_hlt Ta bool Ta false Ta 167Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 168.Dv HLT 169instruction. 170This allows idle guest CPUs to yield the host CPU. 171.It Va x86.vmexit_on_pause Ta bool Ta false Ta 172Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 173.Dv PAUSE 174instruction. 175.El 176.Sh DEVICE SETTINGS 177Device settings are stored under a device node. 178The device node's name is set by the parent bus of the device. 179.Ss PCI Device Settings 180PCI devices are described by a device node named 181.Dq pci Ns Ar bus . Ns Ar slot . Ns Ar function 182where each of 183.Ar bus , 184.Ar slot , 185and 186.Ar function 187are formatted as decimal values with no padding. 188All PCI device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 189.Dq device 190which specifies the device model to use. 191The following PCI device models are supported: 192.Bl -tag -indent 193.It Li hostbridge 194Provide a simple PCI-Host bridge device. 195This is usually configured at pci0:0:0 and is required by most guest 196operating systems. 197.It Li ahci 198AHCI storage controller. 199.It Li e1000 200Intel e82545 network interface. 201.It Li fbuf 202VGA framebuffer device attached to VNC server. 203.It Li lpc 204LPC PCI-ISA bridge with COM1-COM4 16550 serial ports, 205a boot ROM, 206and an optional debug/test device. 207This device must be configured on bus 0. 208.It Li hda 209High Definition audio controller. 210.It Li nvme 211NVM Express (NVMe) controller. 212.It Li passthru 213PCI pass-through device. 214.It Li uart 215PCI 16550 serial device. 216.It Li virtio-9p 217VirtIO 9p (VirtFS) interface. 218.It Li virtio-blk 219VirtIO block storage interface. 220.It Li virtio-console 221VirtIO console interface. 222.It Li virtio-net 223VirtIO network interface. 224.It Li virtio-rnd 225VirtIO RNG interface. 226.It Li virtio-scsi 227VirtIO SCSI interface. 228.It Li xhci 229Extensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI) USB controller. 230.El 231.Ss USB Device Settings 232USB controller devices contain zero or more child USB devices 233attached to slots. 234Each USB device stores its settings in a node named 235.Dq slot. Ns Va N 236under the controller's device node. 237.Va N 238is the number of the slot to which the USB device is attached. 239Note that USB slot numbers begin at 1. 240All USB device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 241.Dq device 242which specifies the device model to use. 243The following USB device models are supported: 244.Bl -tag -indent 245.It Li tablet 246A USB tablet device which provides precise cursor synchronization 247when using VNC. 248.El 249.Ss Block Device Settings 250Block devices use the following settings to configure their backing store. 251These settings are stored in the configuration node of the respective device. 252.Bl -column "sectorsize" "logical[/physical]" "Default" 253.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 254.It path Ta string Ta Ta 255The path of the file or disk device to use as the backing store. 256.It nocache Ta bool Ta false Ta 257Disable caching on the backing file by opening the backing file with 258.Dv O_DIRECT . 259.It nodelete Ta bool Ta false Ta 260Disable emulation of guest trim requests via 261.Dv DIOCGDELETE 262requests. 263.It sync Ta bool Ta false Ta 264Write changes to the backing file with synchronous writes. 265.It direct Ta bool Ta false Ta 266An alias for 267.Va sync . 268.It ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 269Disable writes to the backing file. 270.It sectorsize Ta Va logical Ns Op / Ns Va physical Ta Ta 271Specify the logical and physical sector size of the emulated disk. 272If the physical size is not specified, 273it is equal to the logical size. 274.El 275.Ss Network Backend Settings 276Network devices use the following settings to configure their backend. 277The backend is responsible for passing packets between the device model 278and a desired destination. 279Configuring a backend requires setting the 280.Va backend 281variable to one of the following values: 282.Bl -tag 283.It tap Ns Va N 284Use the named 285.Xr tap 4 286interface as the backend. 287.It vmnet Ns Va N 288Use the named 289.Xr vmnet 4 290interface as the backend. 291.It netgraph 292Use a 293.Xr netgraph 4 294socket hook as the backend. 295This backend uses the following additional variables: 296.Bl -column "peerhook" "Format" "Default" 297.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 298.It Va path Ta string Ta Ta 299The name of the 300.Xr netgraph 4 301destination node. 302.It Va peerhook Ta string Ta Ta 303The name of the destination hook. 304.It Va socket Ta string Ta Ta 305The name of the created 306.Xr ng_socket 4 307node. 308.It Va hook Ta string Ta vmlink Ta 309The name of the source hook on the created 310.Xr ng_socket 4 311node. 312.El 313.It netmap: Ns Va interface 314Use 315.Xr netmap 4 316on a network interface as the backend. 317.It vale Ns Va bridge : Ns Va port 318Use a port on a 319.Xr vale 4 320bridge as the backend. 321.El 322.Ss UART Device Settings 323.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 324.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 325.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 326Backend device for the serial port. 327Either the pathname of a character device or 328.Dq stdio 329to use standard input and output of the 330.Xr bhyve 8 331process. 332.El 333.Ss Host Bridge Settings 334.Bl -column "vendor" "integer" "Default" 335.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 336.It Va vendor Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 337PCI vendor ID. 338.It Va device Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 339PCI device ID. 340.El 341.Ss AHCI Controller Settings 342AHCI controller devices contain zero or more ports each of which 343provides a storage device. 344Each port stores its settings in a node named 345.Dq port. Ns Va N 346under the controller's device node. 347The 348.Va N 349values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 350In addition to the block device settings described above, each 351port supports the following settings: 352.Bl -column "model" "integer" "generated" 353.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 354.It Va type Ta string Ta Ta 355The type of storage device to emulate. 356Must be set to either 357.Dq cd 358or 359.Dq hd . 360.It Va nmrr Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 361Nominal Media Rotation Rate, also known as RPM. 362A value 1 of indicates a device with no rate such as a Solid State Disk. 363.It Va ser Ta string Ta generated Ta 364Serial number of up to twenty characters. 365A default serial number is generated using a hash of the backing 366store's pathname. 367.It Va rev Ta string Ta 001 Ta 368Revision number of up to eight characters. 369.It Va model Ta string Ta Ta 370Model number of up to forty characters. 371Separate default model strings are used for 372.Dq cd 373and 374.Dq hd 375device types. 376.El 377.Ss e1000 Settings 378In addition to the network backend settings, 379Intel e82545 network interfaces support the following variables: 380.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 381.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 382.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 383MAC address. 384If an explicit address is not provided, 385a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 386.El 387.Ss Frame Buffer Settings 388.Bl -column "password" "[IP:]port" "127.0.0.1:5900" 389.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 390.It Va wait Ta bool Ta false Ta 391Wait for a remote connection before starting the VM. 392.It Va rfb Ta Oo Ar IP Ns : Oc Ns Ar port Ta 127.0.0.1:5900 Ta 393TCP address to listen on for remote connections. 394The IP address must be given as a numeric address. 395IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets and 396support scoped identifiers as described in 397.Xr getaddrinfo 3 . 398A bare port number may be given in which case the IPv4 399localhost address is used. 400.It Va vga Ta string Ta io Ta 401VGA configuration. 402More details are provided in 403.Xr bhyve 8 . 404.It Va w Ta integer Ta 1024 Ta 405Frame buffer width in pixels. 406.It Va h Ta integer Ta 768 Ta 407Frame buffer height in pixels. 408.It Va password Ta string Ta Ta 409Password to use for VNC authentication. 410This type of authentication is known to be cryptographically weak and is not 411intended for use on untrusted networks. 412.El 413.Ss High Definition Audio Settings 414.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 415.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 416.It Va play Ta path Ta Ta 417Host playback device, 418typically 419.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 420.It Va rec Ta path Ta Ta 421Host recording device, 422typically 423.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 424.El 425.Ss LPC Device Settings 426The LPC bridge stores its configuration under a top-level 427.Va lpc 428node rather than under the PCI LPC device's node. 429The following nodes are available under 430.Va lpc : 431.Bl -column "pc-testdev" "Format" "Default" 432.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 433.It Va bootrom Ta path Ta Ta 434Path to a boot ROM. 435The contents of this file are copied into the guest's 436memory ending just before the 4GB physical address. 437If a boot ROM is present, a firmware interface device is 438also enabled for use by the boot ROM. 439.It Va com1 Ta node Ta Ta 440Settings for the COM1 serial port device. 441.It Va com2 Ta node Ta Ta 442Settings for the COM2 serial port device. 443.It Va com3 Ta node Ta Ta 444Settings for the COM3 serial port device. 445.It Va com4 Ta node Ta Ta 446Settings for the COM4 serial port device. 447.It Va pc-testdev Ta bool Ta false Ta 448Enable the PC debug/test device. 449.El 450.Ss NVMe Controller Settings 451Each NVMe controller supports a single storage device. 452The device can be backed either by a memory disk described by the 453.Va ram 454variable, or a block device using the the block device settings described above. 455In addition, each controller supports the following settings: 456.Bl -column "ioslots" "Format" "Default" 457.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 458.It Va maxq Ta integer Ta 16 Ta 459Maximum number of I/O submission and completion queue pairs. 460.It Va qsz Ta integer Ta 2058 Ta 461Number of elements in each I/O queue. 462.It Va ioslots Ta integer Ta 8 Ta 463Maximum number of concurrent I/O requests. 464.It Va sectsz Ta integer Ta Ta 465Sector size. 466Can be one of 512, 4096, or 8192. 467Devices backed by a memory disk use 4096 as the default. 468Devices backed by a block device use the block device's sector size 469as the default. 470.It Va ser Ta string Ta Ta 471Serial number of up to twenty characters. 472A default serial number is generated using a hash of the device's PCI address. 473.It Va eui64 Ta integer Ta Ta 474IEEE Extended Unique Identifier. 475If an EUI is not provided, a default is generated using a checksum of the 476device's PCI address. 477.It Va dsm Ta string Ta auto Ta 478Whether or not to advertise DataSet Management support. 479One of 480.Dq auto , 481.Dq enable , 482or 483.Dq disable . 484The 485.Dq auto 486setting only advertises support if the backing store supports 487resource freeing, for example via TRIM. 488.It Va ram Ta integer Ta Ta 489If set, allocate a memory disk as the backing store. 490The value of this variable is the size of the memory disk in megabytes. 491.El 492.Ss PCI Passthrough Settings 493.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 494.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 495.It Va bus Ta integer Ta Ta 496Host PCI bus address of device to pass through. 497.It Va slot Ta integer Ta Ta 498Host PCI slot address of device to pass through. 499.It Va func Ta integer Ta Ta 500Host PCI function address of device to pass through. 501.El 502.Ss VirtIO 9p Settings 503Each VirtIO 9p device exposes a single filesystem from a host path. 504.Bl -column "sharename" "Format" "Default" 505.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 506.It Va sharename Ta string Ta Ta 507The share name exposed to the guest. 508.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 509The path of a directory on the host to export to the guest. 510.It Va ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 511If true, the guest filesystem is read-only. 512.El 513.Ss VirtIO Console Device Settings 514Each VirtIO Console device contains one or more console ports. 515Each port stores its settings in a node named 516.Dq port. Ns Va N 517under the controller's device node. 518The 519.Va N 520values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 521Each port supports the following settings: 522.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 523.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 524.It Va name Ta string Ta Ta 525The name of the port exposed to the guest. 526.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 527The path of a UNIX domain socket providing the host connection for the port. 528.El 529.Ss VirtIO Network Interface Settings 530In addition to the network backend settings, 531VirtIO network interfaces support the following variables: 532.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 533.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 534.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 535MAC address. 536If an explicit address is not provided, 537a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 538.It Va mtu Ta integer Ta 1500 Ta 539The largest supported MTU advertised to the guest. 540.El 541.Ss VirtIO SCSI Settings 542.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 543.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 544.It Va dev Ta path Ta Ta 545The path of a CAM target layer (CTL) device to export: 546.Pa /dev/cam/ctl Ns Oo Ar pp . Ns Ar vp Oc . 547.It Va iid Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 548Initiator ID to use when sending requests to the CTL port. 549.El 550.Sh SEE ALSO 551.Xr expand_number 3 , 552.Xr getaddrinfo 3 , 553.Xr strtol 3 , 554.Xr netgraph 4 , 555.Xr netmap 4 , 556.Xr ng_socket 4 , 557.Xr tap 4 , 558.Xr vale 4 , 559.Xr vmnet 4 , 560.Xr bhyve 8 561