Provided by: qemu-system-common_6.2+dfsg-2ubuntu6.26_amd64 
NAME
qemu-storage-daemon - QEMU storage daemon
SYNOPSIS
qemu-storage-daemon [options]
DESCRIPTION
qemu-storage-daemon provides disk image functionality from QEMU, qemu-img, and qemu-nbd in a long-running
process controlled via QMP commands without running a virtual machine. It can export disk images, run
block job operations, and perform other disk-related operations. The daemon is controlled via a QMP
monitor and initial configuration from the command-line.
The daemon offers the following subset of QEMU features:
• Block nodes
• Block jobs
• Block exports
• Throttle groups
• Character devices
• Crypto and secrets
• QMP
• IOThreads
Commands can be sent over a QEMU Monitor Protocol (QMP) connection. See the
qemu-storage-daemon-qmp-ref(7) manual page for a description of the commands.
The daemon runs until it is stopped using the quit QMP command or SIGINT/SIGHUP/SIGTERM.
Warning: Never modify images in use by a running virtual machine or any other process; this may destroy
the image. Also, be aware that querying an image that is being modified by another process may encounter
inconsistent state.
OPTIONS
Standard options:
-h, --help
Display help and exit
-V, --version
Display version information and exit
-T, --trace [[enable=]PATTERN][,events=FILE][,file=FILE]
Specify tracing options.
[enable=]PATTERN
Immediately enable events matching PATTERN (either event name or a globbing pattern). This
option is only available if QEMU has been compiled with the simple, log or ftrace tracing
backend. To specify multiple events or patterns, specify the -trace option multiple times.
Use -trace help to print a list of names of trace points.
events=FILE
Immediately enable events listed in FILE. The file must contain one event name (as listed in
the trace-events-all file) per line; globbing patterns are accepted too. This option is only
available if QEMU has been compiled with the simple, log or ftrace tracing backend.
file=FILE
Log output traces to FILE. This option is only available if QEMU has been compiled with the
simple tracing backend.
--blockdev BLOCKDEVDEF
is a block node definition. See the qemu(1) manual page for a description of block node properties
and the qemu-block-drivers(7) manual page for a description of driver-specific parameters.
--chardev CHARDEVDEF
is a character device definition. See the qemu(1) manual page for a description of character
device properties. A common character device definition configures a UNIX domain socket:
--chardev socket,id=char1,path=/var/run/qsd-qmp.sock,server=on,wait=off
--export [type=]nbd,id=<id>,node-name=<node-name>[,name=<export-name>][,writable=on|off][,bitmap=<name>]
--export
[type=]vhost-user-blk,id=<id>,node-name=<node-name>,addr.type=unix,addr.path=<socket-path>[,writable=on|off][,logical-block-size=<block-size>][,num-queues=<num-queues>]
--export
[type=]vhost-user-blk,id=<id>,node-name=<node-name>,addr.type=fd,addr.str=<fd>[,writable=on|off][,logical-block-size=<block-size>][,num-queues=<num-queues>]
--export [type=]fuse,id=<id>,node-name=<node-name>,mountpoint=<file>[,growable=on|off][,writable=on|off]
is a block export definition. node-name is the block node that should be exported. writable
determines whether or not the export allows write requests for modifying data (the default is
off).
The nbd export type requires --nbd-server (see below). name is the NBD export name (if not
specified, it defaults to the given node-name). bitmap is the name of a dirty bitmap reachable
from the block node, so the NBD client can use NBD_OPT_SET_META_CONTEXT with the metadata context
name "qemu:dirty-bitmap:BITMAP" to inspect the bitmap.
The vhost-user-blk export type takes a vhost-user socket address on which it accept incoming
connections. Both addr.type=unix,addr.path=<socket-path> for UNIX domain sockets and
addr.type=fd,addr.str=<fd> for file descriptor passing are supported. logical-block-size sets the
logical block size in bytes (the default is 512). num-queues sets the number of virtqueues (the
default is 1).
The fuse export type takes a mount point, which must be a regular file, on which to export the
given block node. That file will not be changed, it will just appear to have the block node's
content while the export is active (very much like mounting a filesystem on a directory does not
change what the directory contains, it only shows a different content while the filesystem is
mounted). Consequently, applications that have opened the given file before the export became
active will continue to see its original content. If growable is set, writes after the end of the
exported file will grow the block node to fit.
--monitor MONITORDEF
is a QMP monitor definition. See the qemu(1) manual page for a description of QMP monitor
properties. A common QMP monitor definition configures a monitor on character device char1:
--monitor chardev=char1
--nbd-server
addr.type=inet,addr.host=<host>,addr.port=<port>[,tls-creds=<id>][,tls-authz=<id>][,max-connections=<n>]
--nbd-server addr.type=unix,addr.path=<path>[,tls-creds=<id>][,tls-authz=<id>][,max-connections=<n>]
--nbd-server addr.type=fd,addr.str=<fd>[,tls-creds=<id>][,tls-authz=<id>][,max-connections=<n>]
is a server for NBD exports. Both TCP and UNIX domain sockets are supported. A listen socket can
be provided via file descriptor passing (see Examples below). TLS encryption can be configured
using --object tls-creds-* and authz-* secrets (see below).
To configure an NBD server on UNIX domain socket path /var/run/qsd-nbd.sock:
--nbd-server addr.type=unix,addr.path=/var/run/qsd-nbd.sock
--object help
--object <type>,help
--object <type>[,<property>=<value>...]
is a QEMU user creatable object definition. List object types with help. List object properties
with <type>,help. See the qemu(1) manual page for a description of the object properties.
--pidfile PATH
is the path to a file where the daemon writes its pid. This allows scripts to stop the daemon by
sending a signal:
$ kill -SIGTERM $(<path/to/qsd.pid)
A file lock is applied to the file so only one instance of the daemon can run with a given pid
file path. The daemon unlinks its pid file when terminating.
The pid file is written after chardevs, exports, and NBD servers have been created but before
accepting connections. The daemon has started successfully when the pid file is written and
clients may begin connecting.
EXAMPLES
Launch the daemon with QMP monitor socket qmp.sock so clients can execute QMP commands:
$ qemu-storage-daemon \
--chardev socket,path=qmp.sock,server=on,wait=off,id=char1 \
--monitor chardev=char1
Launch the daemon from Python with a QMP monitor socket using file descriptor passing so there is no need
to busy wait for the QMP monitor to become available:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import socket
sock_path = '/var/run/qmp.sock'
with socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM) as listen_sock:
listen_sock.bind(sock_path)
listen_sock.listen()
fd = listen_sock.fileno()
subprocess.Popen(
['qemu-storage-daemon',
'--chardev', f'socket,fd={fd},server=on,id=char1',
'--monitor', 'chardev=char1'],
pass_fds=[fd],
)
# listen_sock was automatically closed when leaving the 'with' statement
# body. If the daemon process terminated early then the following connect()
# will fail with "Connection refused" because no process has the listen
# socket open anymore. Launch errors can be detected this way.
qmp_sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
qmp_sock.connect(sock_path)
...QMP interaction...
The same socket spawning approach also works with the --nbd-server addr.type=fd,addr.str=<fd> and
--export type=vhost-user-blk,addr.type=fd,addr.str=<fd> options.
Export raw image file disk.img over NBD UNIX domain socket nbd.sock:
$ qemu-storage-daemon \
--blockdev driver=file,node-name=disk,filename=disk.img \
--nbd-server addr.type=unix,addr.path=nbd.sock \
--export type=nbd,id=export,node-name=disk,writable=on
Export a qcow2 image file disk.qcow2 as a vhosts-user-blk device over UNIX domain socket
vhost-user-blk.sock:
$ qemu-storage-daemon \
--blockdev driver=file,node-name=file,filename=disk.qcow2 \
--blockdev driver=qcow2,node-name=qcow2,file=file \
--export type=vhost-user-blk,id=export,addr.type=unix,addr.path=vhost-user-blk.sock,node-name=qcow2
Export a qcow2 image file disk.qcow2 via FUSE on itself, so the disk image file will then appear as a raw
image:
$ qemu-storage-daemon \
--blockdev driver=file,node-name=file,filename=disk.qcow2 \
--blockdev driver=qcow2,node-name=qcow2,file=file \
--export type=fuse,id=export,node-name=qcow2,mountpoint=disk.qcow2,writable=on
SEE ALSO
qemu(1), qemu-block-drivers(7), qemu-storage-daemon-qmp-ref(7)
COPYRIGHT
2025, The QEMU Project Developers
6.2.0 Mar 05, 2025 QEMU-STORAGE-DAEMON(1)