BHYVECTL(8)

hey bestie 💖 this is the bhyvectl(8) page, straight from the System Manager's Manual, and we're gonna make it make sense. periodt. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

bhyvectl — control utility for bhyve instances. that's the whole vibe. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

bhyvectl --vm=<vmname> [--create] [--destroy] [--get-stats]
         [--inject-nmi] [--force-reset] [--force-poweroff]
         [--checkpoint=<file>] [--suspend=<file>]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so the bhyvectl command is literally the control utility for active bhyve(8) virtual machine instances. think remote control, but for VMs. 🎀

The user-facing options are as follows:

• --vm=<vmname> — operate on the virtual machine <vmname>. 💅
• --create — create the specified VM. ✨
• --destroy — destroy the specified VM. 💀
• --get-stats — retrieve statistics for the specified VM. 📊
• --inject-nmi — inject a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) into the VM. ⚡
• --force-reset — force the VM to reset. 🔄
• --force-poweroff — force the VM to power off. 🔌
• --checkpoint=<file> — save a snapshot of a virtual machine. The guest memory contents are saved in the file given in <file>. The guest device and vCPU state are saved in the file <file>.kern. 🫶
• --suspend=<file> — save a snapshot of a virtual machine similar to --checkpoint. The virtual machine will terminate after the snapshot has been saved. 🧚

Note: most bhyvectl flags are intended for querying and setting the state of an active instance. These commands are intended for development purposes, and are not documented here. A complete list can be obtained by executing bhyvectl without any arguments. 🙈

🎀 EXIT STATUS 🎀

The bhyvectl utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs. simple as that. ✨

🦋 EXAMPLES 🦋

destroy the VM called fbsd10:

bhyvectl --vm=fbsd10 --destroy

Running VMs will be visible in /dev/vmm/. 👀

💅 COMPATIBILITY 💅

real talk: the snapshot file format is not yet stable and is subject to future changes. Backwards compatibility support for the current snapshot file format is not guaranteed when future changes are made. so don't count on it forever, bestie. 😭

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

bhyve(8), bhyveload(8). go read those too. 💖

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

The bhyvectl command first appeared in FreeBSD 10.1. iconic. 👑

🍓 AUTHORS 🍓

The bhyvectl utility was written by Peter Grehan and Neel Natu. legends. 🫶

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💖 that's the whole page, bestie — from the Debian manual page, dated May 8, 2025, for BHYVECTL(8). periodt. 💅