Info Output Explained

An overview of the information shown when using the vm info and vm switch info commands. Note that these commands can accept a guestname/switch, but will output details for all guests/switches if one isn't provided.

vm info guest

------------------------
Virtual Machine: fbsd
------------------------
  state: running (33508)
  datastore: default
  loader: bhyveload
  uuid: e5881af2-53ed-11e6-b442-50e549369bc6
  uefi: no
  cpu: 2
  memory: 256M
  memory-resident: 21311488 (20.324M)

  console-ports
    com1: tmux/fbsd

  network-interface
    number: 0
    emulation: virtio-net
    virtual-switch: public
    fixed-mac-address: 58:9c:fc:01:a1:ce
    fixed-device: -
    active-device: tap2
    desc: vmnet-fbsd-0-public
    mtu: 1500
    bridge: bridge0
    bytes-in: 206873 (202.024K)
    bytes-out: 850 (850.000B)

  virtual-disk
    number: 0
    device-type: file
    emulation: virtio-blk
    options: -
    system-path: /data/vm/fbsd/disk0.img
    bytes-size: 21474836480 (20.000G)
    bytes-used: 379974656 (362.372M)

Main Details

State

Whether the guest is running or not, and the PID of the bhyve process if it is running locally

Datastore

The name of the vm-bhyve datastore this guests is stored in. Datastores allow you to use multiple ZFS datasets, or other filesystems, to store virtual machines.

Loader

For non-uefi guests, this is the type of kernel loader configured. This will either by grub or bhyveload.

UUID

The guests automatically assigned UUID. We create a static UUID when a guest is created, although this can be modified in the guest configuration file is required.

UEFI

Whether this guest is configured for UEFI or not. If it should use the BIOS compatibility firmware, this should be set to csm.

CPU

The number of CPUs assigned to this guest

Memory

The amount of system RAM assigned to this guest

Memory Resident

The amount of host memory currently used by this guest.

Console Ports

This section lists the various console or graphics ports configured for this guest. For com ports it will either show the /dev/nmdm device connected, or will list the tmux session if tmux is enabled (1.2 only). For the graphical (vnc) console it will show the IP & port that the VNC server is listening on.

Network Interfaces

Number

The index of this interface, which relates to the networkX configuration options.

Emulation

The type of network hardware emulation being used. This is usually virtio-net, although FreeBSD 12 also has support for e1000 which emulates a basic Intel Gigabit adaptor.

Virtual Switch

The virtual switch this interface is set to connect to.

Fixed MAC Address

The MAC address for this interface. We assign a static MAC address to all virtual interfaces at runtime, although this can be changed in the guest configuration file if required.

Fixed Device

If this interface has been configured to use a specific tap device, this will be shown here. Sometimes you may need manual control over a network interface, and so do not want one generated dynamically. You can do this by creating an interface manually, then setting the guest to use it with the networkX_device guest configuration option.

Active Device

This is the tap device currently being used by this guest. If a static device has been configured, this should be the same as the fixed device above. By default we dynamically create tap devices as runtime and the device created for this interface will be shown here.

Desc

The description of the interface. We assign a specific description to the interface which is used as an internal identifier. This is made up of vmnet followed by the guest name, interface number and switch name.

MTU

The MTU of this interface. When creating interfaces, vm-bhyve tries to match the MTU to that of the virtual switch it is connecting to.

Bridge

Each virtual switch relates to a simple bridge interface on the system. This shows the name of that interface.

Bytes In

The number of bytes that have been received by this interface.

Bytes Out

The number of bytes that have been sent by this interface.

Virtual Disks

Number

The internal index of this interface, which relates to the diskX options in the guest configuration file.

Device Type

The type of storage being used for this disk on the host. This will either by a sparse file (file), ZVOL or custom.

Emulation

The type of disk device to emulate, which is normally virtio-blk or ahci-hd.

Options

Any additional disk options that have been configured. Bhyve allows users to configure various options, such as setting the sectorsize of the virtual disk, and whether it is read-only.

System Path

The path to this disk image on the host system

Bytes Size

The full size of the disk image in bytes

Bytes Used

The number of bytes actually allocated by the guest.

vm switch info

------------------------
Virtual Switch: public
------------------------
  type: auto
  ident: bridge0
  vlan: -
  nat: -
  physical-ports: re0
  bytes-in: 628193006 (599.091M)
  bytes-out: 1421559466 (1.323G)

  virtual-port
    device: tap1
    vm: win2

Main Details

Type

The type of virtual switch. auto means the switch is managed by vm-bhyve and the bridge device is created automatically. manual switches allow you to use a bridge interface that you configure yourself via rc.conf.

Ident

The actual bridge interface that this switch relates to. Under the hood virtual switches are implemented as simple bridges.

VLAN

If a VLAN number has been set for the virtual switch, it will be shown here.

NAT

Whether NAT has been enabled for this virtual switch.

Physical Ports

A list of the physical network interfaces on the host that have been assigned to this switch. These interfaces will have been added to the bridge by vm-bhyve.

Bytes In

The number of bytes received by this switch.

Bytes Out

The number of bytes sent by this switch.

Virtual Port

A virtual port entry is displayed for each virtual machine that is currently connected to the switch.

Device

The tap device that is connected to this switch.

VM

This name of the virtual machine that this interface is in use by.