bhyve-cli - Advanced Bhyve VM Management

bhyve-cli is a powerful, modular shell script for managing bhyve virtual machines on FreeBSD. It provides a structured command-line interface for the entire VM lifecycle, from creation and network setup to daily operations and system integration.

Features

• Full VM Lifecycle: Create, delete, start, stop, restart, install, clone, export, import, and resize VM disks.
• Modular Codebase: A clean, maintainable structure with commands, functions, and usage messages separated into individual files.
• Network Management: Easily manage virtual switches (bridges), add physical interfaces, and handle VLANs.
• Autostart Service (rc.d): Includes a system rc.d script to initialize the network and autostart designated VMs on boot.
• Console & Logs: Instantly access VM consoles and view real-time logs.
• ISO Management: List, download, and manage ISO installation images.

Prerequisites

• OS: FreeBSD 12.x, 13.x, 14.x
• Packages: bash, uuidgen, fetch, cu, bc
• Kernel Modules: vmm and nmdm must be loaded. Add to /boot/loader.conf to load on boot:

  vmm_load="YES"
  nmdm_load="YES"
  

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/alifgufron/bhyve-cli.git
   cd bhyve-cli

2. Install the scripts: Copy the main script and the rc.d service script to their standard locations.

   sudo cp bhyve-cli.sh /usr/local/sbin/
   sudo cp bhyve-cli /usr/local/etc/rc.d/
   sudo chmod +x /usr/local/etc/rc.d/bhyve-cli

3. Initialize bhyve-cli: Run the init command to create the necessary configuration files and directories.

   sudo bhyve-cli.sh init

Autostart on Boot

To have VMs start automatically when your system boots:

1. Enable the bhyve-cli service:

   sudo sysrc bhyve_cli_enable="YES"

2. Configure a VM for autostart: Edit the VM's configuration file (e.g., /usr/local/etc/bhyve-cli/vm.d/my-vm/vm.conf) and set AUTOSTART=yes.

On boot, the service will first initialize all network switches (switch init) and then start all VMs marked for autostart (startall).

Usage

The general command structure is: sudo bhyve-cli.sh <command> [sub-command] [options]

Examples:

# Create a new VM
$ sudo bhyve-cli.sh vm create --name my-bsd --disk-size 20 --switch bridge0

# Start the VM
$ sudo bhyve-cli.sh vm start my-bsd

# List all VMs and their status
$ sudo bhyve-cli.sh list

# Access the VM's console
$ sudo bhyve-cli.sh vm console my-bsd

# List all network switches
$ sudo bhyve-cli.sh switch list

Main Commands

• init: Initializes the configuration for bhyve-cli.
• list: Lists all created VMs and their current status (running, stopped).
• vm: The primary command for all VM-specific actions.
  • vm create, vm delete, vm install, vm start, vm stop, vm restart, vm console, vm info
• switch: Manages virtual network switches (bridges).
  • switch add, switch list, switch destroy
• iso: Manages installation ISO images.
  • iso list, iso download, iso delete
• startall: Starts all VMs that have AUTOSTART=yes in their config.
• stopall: Stops all currently running VMs.

For detailed usage of any command, use the --help flag: sudo bhyve-cli.sh <command> --help