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 September 25, 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.address Ta string Ta localhost Ta 128Hostname, IP address, or IPv6 address for the debug server. 129.It Va gdb.port Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 130TCP port number for the debug server. 131If this is set to a non-zero value, a debug server 132will listen for connections on this port. 133.It Va gdb.wait Ta bool Ta false Ta 134If the debug server is enabled, wait for a debugger to connect 135before starting the guest. 136.It Va rtc.use_localtime Ta bool Ta true Ta 137The real time clock uses the local time of the host. 138If this is set to false, the real time clock uses UTC. 139.It Va uuid Ta string Ta Ta 140The universally unique identifier (UUID) to use in the guest's 141System Management BIOS System Information structure. 142If an explicit value is not set, a valid UUID is generated from 143the host's hostname and the VM name. 144.It Va virtio_msix Ta bool Ta true Ta 145Use MSI-X interrupts for PCI VirtIO devices. 146If set to false, MSI interrupts are used instead. 147.It Va config.dump Ta bool Ta false Ta 148If this value is set to true after 149.Xr bhyve 8 150has finished parsing command line options, 151then 152.Xr bhyve 8 153will write all of its configuration variables to stdout and exit. 154No VM will be started. 155.El 156.Ss x86-Specific Settings 157.Bl -column "x86.vmexit_on_pause" "integer" "Default" 158.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 159.It Va x86.mptable Ta bool Ta true Ta 160Generate an MPTable. 161.It Va x86.x2apic Ta bool Ta false Ta 162Configure guest's local APICs in x2APIC mode. 163.It Va x86.strictio Ta bool Ta false Ta 164Exit if a guest accesses an I/O port that is not emulated. 165By default, writes are ignored and reads return all bits set. 166.It Va x86.strictmsr Ta bool Ta true Ta 167Inject a general protection fault if a guest accesses a Model Specific 168Register (MSR) that is not emulated. 169If this is false, writes are ignored and reads return zero. 170.It Va x86.vmexit_on_hlt Ta bool Ta false Ta 171Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 172.Dv HLT 173instruction. 174This allows idle guest CPUs to yield the host CPU. 175.It Va x86.vmexit_on_pause Ta bool Ta false Ta 176Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 177.Dv PAUSE 178instruction. 179.El 180.Sh DEVICE SETTINGS 181Device settings are stored under a device node. 182The device node's name is set by the parent bus of the device. 183.Ss PCI Device Settings 184PCI devices are described by a device node named 185.Dq pci . Ns Ar bus . Ns Ar slot . Ns Ar function 186where each of 187.Ar bus , 188.Ar slot , 189and 190.Ar function 191are formatted as decimal values with no padding. 192All PCI device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 193.Dq device 194which specifies the device model to use. 195The following PCI device models are supported: 196.Bl -tag -indent 197.It Li hostbridge 198Provide a simple PCI-Host bridge device. 199This is usually configured at pci0:0:0 and is required by most guest 200operating systems. 201.It Li ahci 202AHCI storage controller. 203.It Li e1000 204Intel e82545 network interface. 205.It Li fbuf 206VGA framebuffer device attached to VNC server. 207.It Li lpc 208LPC PCI-ISA bridge with COM1-COM4 16550 serial ports, 209a boot ROM, 210and an optional debug/test device. 211This device must be configured on bus 0. 212.It Li hda 213High Definition audio controller. 214.It Li nvme 215NVM Express (NVMe) controller. 216.It Li passthru 217PCI pass-through device. 218.It Li uart 219PCI 16550 serial device. 220.It Li virtio-9p 221VirtIO 9p (VirtFS) interface. 222.It Li virtio-blk 223VirtIO block storage interface. 224.It Li virtio-console 225VirtIO console interface. 226.It Li virtio-input 227VirtIO input interface. 228.It Li virtio-net 229VirtIO network interface. 230.It Li virtio-rnd 231VirtIO RNG interface. 232.It Li virtio-scsi 233VirtIO SCSI interface. 234.It Li xhci 235Extensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI) USB controller. 236.El 237.Ss USB Device Settings 238USB controller devices contain zero or more child USB devices 239attached to slots. 240Each USB device stores its settings in a node named 241.Dq slot. Ns Va N 242under the controller's device node. 243.Va N 244is the number of the slot to which the USB device is attached. 245Note that USB slot numbers begin at 1. 246All USB device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 247.Dq device 248which specifies the device model to use. 249The following USB device models are supported: 250.Bl -tag -indent 251.It Li tablet 252A USB tablet device which provides precise cursor synchronization 253when using VNC. 254.El 255.Ss Block Device Settings 256Block devices use the following settings to configure their backing store. 257These settings are stored in the configuration node of the respective device. 258.Bl -column "sectorsize" "logical[/physical]" "Default" 259.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 260.It path Ta string Ta Ta 261The path of the file or disk device to use as the backing store. 262.It nocache Ta bool Ta false Ta 263Disable caching on the backing file by opening the backing file with 264.Dv O_DIRECT . 265.It nodelete Ta bool Ta false Ta 266Disable emulation of guest trim requests via 267.Dv DIOCGDELETE 268requests. 269.It sync Ta bool Ta false Ta 270Write changes to the backing file with synchronous writes. 271.It direct Ta bool Ta false Ta 272An alias for 273.Va sync . 274.It ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 275Disable writes to the backing file. 276.It sectorsize Ta Va logical Ns Op / Ns Va physical Ta Ta 277Specify the logical and physical sector size of the emulated disk. 278If the physical size is not specified, 279it is equal to the logical size. 280.El 281.Ss Network Backend Settings 282Network devices use the following settings to configure their backend. 283The backend is responsible for passing packets between the device model 284and a desired destination. 285Configuring a backend requires setting the 286.Va backend 287variable to one of the following values: 288.Bl -tag 289.It tap Ns Va N 290Use the named 291.Xr tap 4 292interface as the backend. 293.It vmnet Ns Va N 294Use the named 295.Xr vmnet 4 296interface as the backend. 297.It netgraph 298Use a 299.Xr netgraph 4 300socket hook as the backend. 301This backend uses the following additional variables: 302.Bl -column "peerhook" "Format" "Default" 303.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 304.It Va path Ta string Ta Ta 305The name of the 306.Xr netgraph 4 307destination node. 308.It Va peerhook Ta string Ta Ta 309The name of the destination hook. 310.It Va socket Ta string Ta Ta 311The name of the created 312.Xr ng_socket 4 313node. 314.It Va hook Ta string Ta vmlink Ta 315The name of the source hook on the created 316.Xr ng_socket 4 317node. 318.El 319.It netmap: Ns Va interface 320Use 321.Xr netmap 4 322on a network interface as the backend. 323.It vale Ns Va bridge : Ns Va port 324Use a port on a 325.Xr vale 4 326bridge as the backend. 327.El 328.Ss UART Device Settings 329.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 330.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 331.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 332Backend device for the serial port. 333Either the pathname of a character device or 334.Dq stdio 335to use standard input and output of the 336.Xr bhyve 8 337process. 338.El 339.Ss Host Bridge Settings 340.Bl -column "vendor" "integer" "Default" 341.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 342.It Va vendor Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 343PCI vendor ID. 344.It Va devid Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 345PCI device ID. 346.El 347.Ss AHCI Controller Settings 348AHCI controller devices contain zero or more ports each of which 349provides a storage device. 350Each port stores its settings in a node named 351.Dq port. Ns Va N 352under the controller's device node. 353The 354.Va N 355values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 356In addition to the block device settings described above, each 357port supports the following settings: 358.Bl -column "model" "integer" "generated" 359.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 360.It Va type Ta string Ta Ta 361The type of storage device to emulate. 362Must be set to either 363.Dq cd 364or 365.Dq hd . 366.It Va nmrr Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 367Nominal Media Rotation Rate, also known as RPM. 368A value 1 of indicates a device with no rate such as a Solid State Disk. 369.It Va ser Ta string Ta generated Ta 370Serial number of up to twenty characters. 371A default serial number is generated using a hash of the backing 372store's pathname. 373.It Va rev Ta string Ta 001 Ta 374Revision number of up to eight characters. 375.It Va model Ta string Ta Ta 376Model number of up to forty characters. 377Separate default model strings are used for 378.Dq cd 379and 380.Dq hd 381device types. 382.El 383.Ss e1000 Settings 384In addition to the network backend settings, 385Intel e82545 network interfaces support the following variables: 386.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 387.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 388.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 389MAC address. 390If an explicit address is not provided, 391a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 392.El 393.Ss Frame Buffer Settings 394.Bl -column "password" "[IP:]port" "127.0.0.1:5900" 395.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 396.It Va wait Ta bool Ta false Ta 397Wait for a remote connection before starting the VM. 398.It Va rfb Ta Oo Ar IP Ns : Oc Ns Ar port Ta 127.0.0.1:5900 Ta 399TCP address to listen on for remote connections. 400The IP address must be given as a numeric address. 401IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets and 402support scoped identifiers as described in 403.Xr getaddrinfo 3 . 404A bare port number may be given in which case the IPv4 405localhost address is used. 406.It Va vga Ta string Ta io Ta 407VGA configuration. 408More details are provided in 409.Xr bhyve 8 . 410.It Va w Ta integer Ta 1024 Ta 411Frame buffer width in pixels. 412.It Va h Ta integer Ta 768 Ta 413Frame buffer height in pixels. 414.It Va password Ta string Ta Ta 415Password to use for VNC authentication. 416This type of authentication is known to be cryptographically weak and is not 417intended for use on untrusted networks. 418.El 419.Ss High Definition Audio Settings 420.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 421.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 422.It Va play Ta path Ta Ta 423Host playback device, 424typically 425.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 426.It Va rec Ta path Ta Ta 427Host recording device, 428typically 429.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 430.El 431.Ss LPC Device Settings 432The LPC bridge stores its configuration under a top-level 433.Va lpc 434node rather than under the PCI LPC device's node. 435The following nodes are available under 436.Va lpc : 437.Bl -column "pc-testdev" "Format" "Default" 438.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 439.It Va bootrom Ta path Ta Ta 440Path to a boot ROM. 441The contents of this file are copied into the guest's 442memory ending just before the 4GB physical address. 443If a boot ROM is present, a firmware interface device is 444also enabled for use by the boot ROM. 445.It Va com1 Ta node Ta Ta 446Settings for the COM1 serial port device. 447.It Va com2 Ta node Ta Ta 448Settings for the COM2 serial port device. 449.It Va com3 Ta node Ta Ta 450Settings for the COM3 serial port device. 451.It Va com4 Ta node Ta Ta 452Settings for the COM4 serial port device. 453.It Va pc-testdev Ta bool Ta false Ta 454Enable the PC debug/test device. 455.El 456.Ss NVMe Controller Settings 457Each NVMe controller supports a single storage device. 458The device can be backed either by a memory disk described by the 459.Va ram 460variable, or a block device using the the block device settings described above. 461In addition, each controller supports the following settings: 462.Bl -column "ioslots" "Format" "Default" 463.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 464.It Va maxq Ta integer Ta 16 Ta 465Maximum number of I/O submission and completion queue pairs. 466.It Va qsz Ta integer Ta 2058 Ta 467Number of elements in each I/O queue. 468.It Va ioslots Ta integer Ta 8 Ta 469Maximum number of concurrent I/O requests. 470.It Va sectsz Ta integer Ta Ta 471Sector size. 472Can be one of 512, 4096, or 8192. 473Devices backed by a memory disk use 4096 as the default. 474Devices backed by a block device use the block device's sector size 475as the default. 476.It Va ser Ta string Ta Ta 477Serial number of up to twenty characters. 478A default serial number is generated using a hash of the device's PCI address. 479.It Va eui64 Ta integer Ta Ta 480IEEE Extended Unique Identifier. 481If an EUI is not provided, a default is generated using a checksum of the 482device's PCI address. 483.It Va dsm Ta string Ta auto Ta 484Whether or not to advertise DataSet Management support. 485One of 486.Dq auto , 487.Dq enable , 488or 489.Dq disable . 490The 491.Dq auto 492setting only advertises support if the backing store supports 493resource freeing, for example via TRIM. 494.It Va ram Ta integer Ta Ta 495If set, allocate a memory disk as the backing store. 496The value of this variable is the size of the memory disk in megabytes. 497.El 498.Ss PCI Passthrough Settings 499.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 500.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 501.It Va bus Ta integer Ta Ta 502Host PCI bus address of device to pass through. 503.It Va slot Ta integer Ta Ta 504Host PCI slot address of device to pass through. 505.It Va func Ta integer Ta Ta 506Host PCI function address of device to pass through. 507.El 508.Ss VirtIO 9p Settings 509Each VirtIO 9p device exposes a single filesystem from a host path. 510.Bl -column "sharename" "Format" "Default" 511.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 512.It Va sharename Ta string Ta Ta 513The share name exposed to the guest. 514.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 515The path of a directory on the host to export to the guest. 516.It Va ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 517If true, the guest filesystem is read-only. 518.El 519.Ss VirtIO Block Device Settings 520In addition to the block device settings described above, each 521VirtIO block device supports the following settings: 522.Bl -column "model" "integer" "generated" 523.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 524.It Va ser Ta string Ta generated Ta 525Serial number of up to twenty characters. 526A default serial number is generated using a hash of the backing 527store's pathname. 528.El 529.Ss VirtIO Console Device Settings 530Each VirtIO Console device contains one or more console ports. 531Each port stores its settings in a node named 532.Dq port. Ns Va N 533under the controller's device node. 534The 535.Va N 536values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 537Each port supports the following settings: 538.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 539.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 540.It Va name Ta string Ta Ta 541The name of the port exposed to the guest. 542.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 543The path of a UNIX domain socket providing the host connection for the port. 544.El 545.Ss VirtIO Input Interface Settings 546Each VirtIO Input device contains one input event device. 547All input events of the input event device are send to the guest by VirtIO Input interface. 548VirtIO Input Interfaces support the following variables: 549.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 550.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 551.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 552The path of the input event device exposed to the guest 553.El 554.Ss VirtIO Network Interface Settings 555In addition to the network backend settings, 556VirtIO network interfaces support the following variables: 557.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 558.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 559.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 560MAC address. 561If an explicit address is not provided, 562a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 563.It Va mtu Ta integer Ta 1500 Ta 564The largest supported MTU advertised to the guest. 565.El 566.Ss VirtIO SCSI Settings 567.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 568.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 569.It Va dev Ta path Ta Ta 570The path of a CAM target layer (CTL) device to export: 571.Pa /dev/cam/ctl Ns Oo Ar pp . Ns Ar vp Oc . 572.It Va iid Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 573Initiator ID to use when sending requests to the CTL port. 574.El 575.Sh SEE ALSO 576.Xr expand_number 3 , 577.Xr getaddrinfo 3 , 578.Xr strtol 3 , 579.Xr netgraph 4 , 580.Xr netmap 4 , 581.Xr ng_socket 4 , 582.Xr tap 4 , 583.Xr vale 4 , 584.Xr vmnet 4 , 585.Xr bhyve 8 586