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