libvirt

{{Infobox software

| name = libvirt

| logo = Libvirt logo.svg

| screenshot =

| caption =

| collapsible =

| author =

| developer = Red Hat

| released = {{start date and age|2005|12|19}}{{cite web|url=https://libvirt.org/news-2005.html|title=0.0.1: Dec 19 2005|website=libvirt|date=2017-06-16|access-date=2017-06-16|archive-date=2020-02-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220100525/https://libvirt.org/news-2005.html|url-status=dead}}

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 10.0.0

| latest release date = {{start date and age|df=yes|2024|01|15}}{{cite web

| url = https://libvirt.org/news.html

| title = libvirt releases

| website = libvirt

| date = 2022-01-14

| access-date = 2022-01-15}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| status =

| programming language = C

| operating system = Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, macOS{{cite web|url=https://libvirt.org|title=libvirt home page description}}

| platform =

| size =

| language =

| genre = Library

| license = GNU Lesser General Public License

| logo_size = 250px

| frequently updated =

}}

libvirt is an open-source API, daemon and management tool for managing platform virtualization. It can be used to manage KVM, Xen, VMware ESXi, QEMU and other virtualization technologies. These APIs are widely used in the orchestration layer of hypervisors in the development of a cloud-based solution.

Internals

File:Libvirt support.svgs and is supported by several management solutions]]

libvirt is a C library with bindings in other languages, notably in Python,{{ cite web | url=https://libvirt.org/python.html | title=Python bindings }} Perl,{{ cite web | url=https://metacpan.org/module/Sys::Virt | title=Perl bindings }} OCaml,{{ cite web | url=https://libvirt.org/ocaml/ | title=OCaml bindings }} Ruby,{{ cite web | url=https://libvirt.org/ruby/ | title=Ruby bindings }} Java,{{ cite web | url=https://www.libvirt.org/java.html | title=Java bindings }} JavaScript (via Node.js){{ cite web | url=https://www.npmjs.com/package/libvirt | title=Node.js module | date=9 January 2017 }} and PHP.{{ cite web | url=https://libvirt.org/php/ | title=PHP bindings }} libvirt for these programming languages is composed of wrappers around another class/package called libvirtmod. libvirtmod's implementation is closely associated with its counterpart in C/C++ in syntax and functionality.

=Supported Hypervisors=

LXC – lightweight Linux container system
OpenVZ – lightweight Linux container system
Kernel-based Virtual Machine/QEMU (KVM) – open-source hypervisor for Linux and SmartOS{{Cite web|url=http://dtrace.org/blogs/bmc/2011/08/15/kvm-on-illumos/|title=The Observation Deck » KVM on illumos|date=15 August 2011 }}
Xen – bare-metal hypervisor
User-mode Linux (UML) – paravirtualized kernel
VirtualBox – hypervisor by Oracle (formerly by Sun) for Windows, Linux, macOS, and Solaris
VMware ESXi and GSX – hypervisors for Intel hardware
VMware Workstation and Player – hypervisors for Windows and Linux
Hyper-V – hypervisor for Windows by Microsoft
PowerVM – hypervisor by IBM for AIX, Linux and IBM i

Bhyve – hypervisor for FreeBSD 10+{{Cite web|url=https://wiki.freebsd.org/bhyve#line-19|title=bhyve - FreeBSD Wiki|website=wiki.freebsd.org}} (support added with libvirt 1.2.2)

=User Interfaces=

Various virtualization programs and platforms use libvirt. Virtual Machine Manager, GNOME Boxes and others provide graphical interfaces. The most popular command line interface is virsh, and higher level tools such as oVirt.{{ cite web | url=https://press.redhat.com/2008/06/18/more-on-red-hat’s-virtualization-news/ | title=oVirt Virtualization Management Platform }}

Corporate

Development of libvirt is backed by Red Hat,{{ cite web | url=https://press.redhat.com/2009/09/02/innovation-without-disruption-red-hat-enterprise-linux-5-4-now-available/ | title=Innovation Without Disruption: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Now Available }} with significant contributions by other organisations and individuals. libvirt is available on most Linux distributions; remote servers are also accessible from Apple {{nowrap|Mac OS X}} and Microsoft Windows clients.{{ cite web | url=https://libvirt.org/windows.html | title=Windows availability }}