Management Tools

From KVM
Revision as of 16:09, 12 June 2009 by Iggy (talk | contribs) (table-ified info)
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There are a several options available to manage kvm virtual machines:

  • First of all, you can manage kvm simply by running the binary file qemu-system_x86_64 (or just "kvm" depending on distribution). Check the man page for arguments (man qemu-system-x86_64).
  • The "Virtual Machine Manager" application (virt-manager for short package name) is a desktop user interface for managing virtual machines.
  • GKVM is a lightweight management tool that can manage kvm virtual machines.
  • Any management tool built on libvirt can manage kvm virtual machines.
  • kvmadm is a minimalistic set of command-line tools to control multi-user utilization of KVM.
  • Proxmox VE is an easy to use virtualization platform for running virtual appliances and virtual machines: including bare-metal installer and web-based management interface.
  • ConVirt is an intuitive, graphical management console providing comprehensive life cycle management for Virtual Machines and virtualization infrastructures. As of version 0.9.1, Convirt has basic support for KVM.
  • OpenNebula is an open source virtual infrastructure engine that enables the dynamic deployment and re-allocation of virtual machines on a pool of physical resources.


Name URL Description UI Type Last Updated Notes
Plain old qemu/kvm [1] You can run qemu/kvm straight from the command line cli active kvm|qemu-kvm) for more info
Virtual Machine Manager (virt-manager) [2] A desktop user interface for managing virtual machines desktop active uses libvirt
GKVM [3] a gnome user interface for KVM desktop 2007-08-01
kvmadm [4] a minimalistic set of command-line tools to control multi-user utilization of KVM cli 2007-09-25
Proxmox VE [5] an easy to use Open Source virtualization platform for running Virtual Appliances and Virtual Machines web active
ConVirt [6] an intuitive, graphical management console providing comprehensive life cycle management for Virtual Machines and virtualization infrastructures web? active basic support for kvm added in 0.9.1; formerly known as xenman
OpenNebula [7] an open source virtual infrastructure engine cli & xml-rpc active cloud computing managment; uses libvirt