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 April 20, 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 after 147.Xr bhyve 8 148has finished parsing command line options, 149then 150.Xr bhyve 8 151will write all of its configuration variables to stdout and exit. 152No VM will be started. 153.El 154.Ss x86-Specific Settings 155.Bl -column "x86.vmexit_on_pause" "integer" "Default" 156.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 157.It Va x86.mptable Ta bool Ta true Ta 158Generate an MPTable. 159.It Va x86.x2apic Ta bool Ta false Ta 160Configure guest's local APICs in x2APIC mode. 161.It Va x86.strictio Ta bool Ta false Ta 162Exit if a guest accesses an I/O port that is not emulated. 163By default, writes are ignored and reads return all bits set. 164.It Va x86.strictmsr Ta bool Ta true Ta 165Inject a general protection fault if a guest accesses a Model Specific 166Register (MSR) that is not emulated. 167If this is false, writes are ignored and reads return zero. 168.It Va x86.vmexit_on_hlt Ta bool Ta false Ta 169Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 170.Dv HLT 171instruction. 172This allows idle guest CPUs to yield the host CPU. 173.It Va x86.vmexit_on_pause Ta bool Ta false Ta 174Force a VM exit when a guest CPU executes the 175.Dv PAUSE 176instruction. 177.El 178.Sh DEVICE SETTINGS 179Device settings are stored under a device node. 180The device node's name is set by the parent bus of the device. 181.Ss PCI Device Settings 182PCI devices are described by a device node named 183.Dq pci Ns Ar bus . Ns Ar slot . Ns Ar function 184where each of 185.Ar bus , 186.Ar slot , 187and 188.Ar function 189are formatted as decimal values with no padding. 190All PCI device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 191.Dq device 192which specifies the device model to use. 193The following PCI device models are supported: 194.Bl -tag -indent 195.It Li hostbridge 196Provide a simple PCI-Host bridge device. 197This is usually configured at pci0:0:0 and is required by most guest 198operating systems. 199.It Li ahci 200AHCI storage controller. 201.It Li e1000 202Intel e82545 network interface. 203.It Li fbuf 204VGA framebuffer device attached to VNC server. 205.It Li lpc 206LPC PCI-ISA bridge with COM1-COM4 16550 serial ports, 207a boot ROM, 208and an optional debug/test device. 209This device must be configured on bus 0. 210.It Li hda 211High Definition audio controller. 212.It Li nvme 213NVM Express (NVMe) controller. 214.It Li passthru 215PCI pass-through device. 216.It Li uart 217PCI 16550 serial device. 218.It Li virtio-9p 219VirtIO 9p (VirtFS) interface. 220.It Li virtio-blk 221VirtIO block storage interface. 222.It Li virtio-console 223VirtIO console interface. 224.It Li virtio-input 225VirtIO input interface. 226.It Li virtio-net 227VirtIO network interface. 228.It Li virtio-rnd 229VirtIO RNG interface. 230.It Li virtio-scsi 231VirtIO SCSI interface. 232.It Li xhci 233Extensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI) USB controller. 234.El 235.Ss USB Device Settings 236USB controller devices contain zero or more child USB devices 237attached to slots. 238Each USB device stores its settings in a node named 239.Dq slot. Ns Va N 240under the controller's device node. 241.Va N 242is the number of the slot to which the USB device is attached. 243Note that USB slot numbers begin at 1. 244All USB device nodes must contain a configuration variable named 245.Dq device 246which specifies the device model to use. 247The following USB device models are supported: 248.Bl -tag -indent 249.It Li tablet 250A USB tablet device which provides precise cursor synchronization 251when using VNC. 252.El 253.Ss Block Device Settings 254Block devices use the following settings to configure their backing store. 255These settings are stored in the configuration node of the respective device. 256.Bl -column "sectorsize" "logical[/physical]" "Default" 257.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 258.It path Ta string Ta Ta 259The path of the file or disk device to use as the backing store. 260.It nocache Ta bool Ta false Ta 261Disable caching on the backing file by opening the backing file with 262.Dv O_DIRECT . 263.It nodelete Ta bool Ta false Ta 264Disable emulation of guest trim requests via 265.Dv DIOCGDELETE 266requests. 267.It sync Ta bool Ta false Ta 268Write changes to the backing file with synchronous writes. 269.It direct Ta bool Ta false Ta 270An alias for 271.Va sync . 272.It ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 273Disable writes to the backing file. 274.It sectorsize Ta Va logical Ns Op / Ns Va physical Ta Ta 275Specify the logical and physical sector size of the emulated disk. 276If the physical size is not specified, 277it is equal to the logical size. 278.El 279.Ss Network Backend Settings 280Network devices use the following settings to configure their backend. 281The backend is responsible for passing packets between the device model 282and a desired destination. 283Configuring a backend requires setting the 284.Va backend 285variable to one of the following values: 286.Bl -tag 287.It tap Ns Va N 288Use the named 289.Xr tap 4 290interface as the backend. 291.It vmnet Ns Va N 292Use the named 293.Xr vmnet 4 294interface as the backend. 295.It netgraph 296Use a 297.Xr netgraph 4 298socket hook as the backend. 299This backend uses the following additional variables: 300.Bl -column "peerhook" "Format" "Default" 301.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 302.It Va path Ta string Ta Ta 303The name of the 304.Xr netgraph 4 305destination node. 306.It Va peerhook Ta string Ta Ta 307The name of the destination hook. 308.It Va socket Ta string Ta Ta 309The name of the created 310.Xr ng_socket 4 311node. 312.It Va hook Ta string Ta vmlink Ta 313The name of the source hook on the created 314.Xr ng_socket 4 315node. 316.El 317.It netmap: Ns Va interface 318Use 319.Xr netmap 4 320on a network interface as the backend. 321.It vale Ns Va bridge : Ns Va port 322Use a port on a 323.Xr vale 4 324bridge as the backend. 325.El 326.Ss UART Device Settings 327.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 328.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 329.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 330Backend device for the serial port. 331Either the pathname of a character device or 332.Dq stdio 333to use standard input and output of the 334.Xr bhyve 8 335process. 336.El 337.Ss Host Bridge Settings 338.Bl -column "vendor" "integer" "Default" 339.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 340.It Va vendor Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 341PCI vendor ID. 342.It Va devid Ta integer Ta 0x1275 Ta 343PCI device ID. 344.El 345.Ss AHCI Controller Settings 346AHCI controller devices contain zero or more ports each of which 347provides a storage device. 348Each port stores its settings in a node named 349.Dq port. Ns Va N 350under the controller's device node. 351The 352.Va N 353values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 354In addition to the block device settings described above, each 355port supports the following settings: 356.Bl -column "model" "integer" "generated" 357.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 358.It Va type Ta string Ta Ta 359The type of storage device to emulate. 360Must be set to either 361.Dq cd 362or 363.Dq hd . 364.It Va nmrr Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 365Nominal Media Rotation Rate, also known as RPM. 366A value 1 of indicates a device with no rate such as a Solid State Disk. 367.It Va ser Ta string Ta generated Ta 368Serial number of up to twenty characters. 369A default serial number is generated using a hash of the backing 370store's pathname. 371.It Va rev Ta string Ta 001 Ta 372Revision number of up to eight characters. 373.It Va model Ta string Ta Ta 374Model number of up to forty characters. 375Separate default model strings are used for 376.Dq cd 377and 378.Dq hd 379device types. 380.El 381.Ss e1000 Settings 382In addition to the network backend settings, 383Intel e82545 network interfaces support the following variables: 384.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 385.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 386.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 387MAC address. 388If an explicit address is not provided, 389a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 390.El 391.Ss Frame Buffer Settings 392.Bl -column "password" "[IP:]port" "127.0.0.1:5900" 393.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 394.It Va wait Ta bool Ta false Ta 395Wait for a remote connection before starting the VM. 396.It Va rfb Ta Oo Ar IP Ns : Oc Ns Ar port Ta 127.0.0.1:5900 Ta 397TCP address to listen on for remote connections. 398The IP address must be given as a numeric address. 399IPv6 addresses must be enclosed in square brackets and 400support scoped identifiers as described in 401.Xr getaddrinfo 3 . 402A bare port number may be given in which case the IPv4 403localhost address is used. 404.It Va vga Ta string Ta io Ta 405VGA configuration. 406More details are provided in 407.Xr bhyve 8 . 408.It Va w Ta integer Ta 1024 Ta 409Frame buffer width in pixels. 410.It Va h Ta integer Ta 768 Ta 411Frame buffer height in pixels. 412.It Va password Ta string Ta Ta 413Password to use for VNC authentication. 414This type of authentication is known to be cryptographically weak and is not 415intended for use on untrusted networks. 416.El 417.Ss High Definition Audio Settings 418.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 419.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 420.It Va play Ta path Ta Ta 421Host playback device, 422typically 423.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 424.It Va rec Ta path Ta Ta 425Host recording device, 426typically 427.Pa /dev/dsp0 . 428.El 429.Ss LPC Device Settings 430The LPC bridge stores its configuration under a top-level 431.Va lpc 432node rather than under the PCI LPC device's node. 433The following nodes are available under 434.Va lpc : 435.Bl -column "pc-testdev" "Format" "Default" 436.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 437.It Va bootrom Ta path Ta Ta 438Path to a boot ROM. 439The contents of this file are copied into the guest's 440memory ending just before the 4GB physical address. 441If a boot ROM is present, a firmware interface device is 442also enabled for use by the boot ROM. 443.It Va com1 Ta node Ta Ta 444Settings for the COM1 serial port device. 445.It Va com2 Ta node Ta Ta 446Settings for the COM2 serial port device. 447.It Va com3 Ta node Ta Ta 448Settings for the COM3 serial port device. 449.It Va com4 Ta node Ta Ta 450Settings for the COM4 serial port device. 451.It Va pc-testdev Ta bool Ta false Ta 452Enable the PC debug/test device. 453.El 454.Ss NVMe Controller Settings 455Each NVMe controller supports a single storage device. 456The device can be backed either by a memory disk described by the 457.Va ram 458variable, or a block device using the the block device settings described above. 459In addition, each controller supports the following settings: 460.Bl -column "ioslots" "Format" "Default" 461.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 462.It Va maxq Ta integer Ta 16 Ta 463Maximum number of I/O submission and completion queue pairs. 464.It Va qsz Ta integer Ta 2058 Ta 465Number of elements in each I/O queue. 466.It Va ioslots Ta integer Ta 8 Ta 467Maximum number of concurrent I/O requests. 468.It Va sectsz Ta integer Ta Ta 469Sector size. 470Can be one of 512, 4096, or 8192. 471Devices backed by a memory disk use 4096 as the default. 472Devices backed by a block device use the block device's sector size 473as the default. 474.It Va ser Ta string Ta Ta 475Serial number of up to twenty characters. 476A default serial number is generated using a hash of the device's PCI address. 477.It Va eui64 Ta integer Ta Ta 478IEEE Extended Unique Identifier. 479If an EUI is not provided, a default is generated using a checksum of the 480device's PCI address. 481.It Va dsm Ta string Ta auto Ta 482Whether or not to advertise DataSet Management support. 483One of 484.Dq auto , 485.Dq enable , 486or 487.Dq disable . 488The 489.Dq auto 490setting only advertises support if the backing store supports 491resource freeing, for example via TRIM. 492.It Va ram Ta integer Ta Ta 493If set, allocate a memory disk as the backing store. 494The value of this variable is the size of the memory disk in megabytes. 495.El 496.Ss PCI Passthrough Settings 497.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 498.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 499.It Va bus Ta integer Ta Ta 500Host PCI bus address of device to pass through. 501.It Va slot Ta integer Ta Ta 502Host PCI slot address of device to pass through. 503.It Va func Ta integer Ta Ta 504Host PCI function address of device to pass through. 505.El 506.Ss VirtIO 9p Settings 507Each VirtIO 9p device exposes a single filesystem from a host path. 508.Bl -column "sharename" "Format" "Default" 509.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 510.It Va sharename Ta string Ta Ta 511The share name exposed to the guest. 512.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 513The path of a directory on the host to export to the guest. 514.It Va ro Ta bool Ta false Ta 515If true, the guest filesystem is read-only. 516.El 517.Ss VirtIO Console Device Settings 518Each VirtIO Console device contains one or more console ports. 519Each port stores its settings in a node named 520.Dq port. Ns Va N 521under the controller's device node. 522The 523.Va N 524values are formatted as successive decimal values starting with 0. 525Each port supports the following settings: 526.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 527.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 528.It Va name Ta string Ta Ta 529The name of the port exposed to the guest. 530.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 531The path of a UNIX domain socket providing the host connection for the port. 532.El 533.Ss VirtIO Input Interface Settings 534Each VirtIO Input device contains one input event device. 535All input events of the input event device are send to the guest by VirtIO Input interface. 536VirtIO Input Interfaces support the following variables: 537.Bl -column "Name" "Format" "Default" 538.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 539.It Va path Ta path Ta Ta 540The path of the input event device exposed to the guest 541.El 542.Ss VirtIO Network Interface Settings 543In addition to the network backend settings, 544VirtIO network interfaces support the following variables: 545.Bl -column "Name" "MAC address" "generated" 546.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 547.It Va mac Ta MAC address Ta generated Ta 548MAC address. 549If an explicit address is not provided, 550a MAC address is generated from a hash of the device's PCI address. 551.It Va mtu Ta integer Ta 1500 Ta 552The largest supported MTU advertised to the guest. 553.El 554.Ss VirtIO SCSI Settings 555.Bl -column "Name" "integer" "Default" 556.It Sy Name Ta Sy Format Ta Sy Default Ta Sy Description 557.It Va dev Ta path Ta Ta 558The path of a CAM target layer (CTL) device to export: 559.Pa /dev/cam/ctl Ns Oo Ar pp . Ns Ar vp Oc . 560.It Va iid Ta integer Ta 0 Ta 561Initiator ID to use when sending requests to the CTL port. 562.El 563.Sh SEE ALSO 564.Xr expand_number 3 , 565.Xr getaddrinfo 3 , 566.Xr strtol 3 , 567.Xr netgraph 4 , 568.Xr netmap 4 , 569.Xr ng_socket 4 , 570.Xr tap 4 , 571.Xr vale 4 , 572.Xr vmnet 4 , 573.Xr bhyve 8 574