A shut-off VM with TPM state, as every Windows 11 VM, was refused for
migration: the state is a file of the source host, and an offline move
would start it there with a new TPM. Such a VM now migrates as a shut-off
VM with disks to copy does: its UEFI variables are copied, it is started
paused, its CPUs never run, migrates live, which carries the TPM state,
and is shut off on the destination. A shut-off VM with a saved state is
refused before any of that, for every way it moves: started paused, it
would resume and then lose the saved memory.
The clone tab says that a clone gets a new, empty TPM, and the destroy
page that the TPM state goes with the VM.
The Disks tab has a Move button for each disk: it opens a dialog to
choose another storage pool of the same host, and the move runs as a job.
- Running or paused VM: libvirt copies the disk with a block job
(TRANSIENT_JOB, as the VM is persistent) into a file it creates in the
pool, then pivots. The pivot names the copy in both the running and
the next start's definition.
- Shut-off VM: the volume is copied into the pool and the copy named in
the definition.
The source file goes then, unless a VM or volume of any compute uses it
(shared storage holds it for every host that mounts it), a compute
cannot be read, or the delete fails: the job lists such a file under
"Left behind", and the move stands.
A disk moves when:
- the VM is defined and running, paused or shut off, without snapshots,
a saved state or a block job;
- the disk is a writable, unshared, unencrypted raw or qcow2 file of a
storage pool, without a backing file, and the same file in both
definitions;
- the pool keeps disk files, is another directory, and has no file of
that name (libvirt would write into it).
Otherwise it is refused with the reason before anything changes.
The job claims the VM and the file's name in both pools. A cancel aborts
the block copy, and ends the job cancelled once the VM is back on its
file. A failed move deletes the copy it made, unless a definition names
it (a lost reply after the pivot); a file there before the copy began is
never deleted. Recovery after a stopped worker
ends a copy left mirroring, matched by its destination, and reads the
outcome from the definitions.
Superusers only, like the other disk edits.
A migration needed every disk on storage both hosts share: it was refused
when the destination lacked a disk file, and a file of the same name
there was taken for the VM's own disk.
The Migrate tab now lists the VM's disk files for the chosen destination.
For each disk it offers the destination's pools that keep disk files
(directory, filesystem and NFS pools). A disk on storage both hosts share
can also stay where it is.
A directory counts as shared when both hosts have it as a storage pool
and a marker file created on the source exists on the destination. A
directory the probe cannot tell is never taken as shared.
libvirt copies the chosen disks during the migration: migrate3 with
NON_SHARED_DISK for those targets, and destination and persistent
definitions naming the new paths, where libvirt creates the files.
- A shut-off VM is started paused for the copy and shut off on the
destination; its CPUs never run. Its UEFI variables are copied first,
as the destination would start from the firmware's template. If the
migration fails, the VM is shut off on the source again.
- Refused before anything changes, each disk with its reason:
- a disk neither shared nor given a pool, also one only the next
start's definition has;
- CD-ROM images, read-only or encrypted disks, formats other than raw
and qcow2, and disks with a backing file;
- a pool that is not of disk files, or that has a file of that name,
which libvirt would reuse and overwrite;
- two disks copied to one file.
- The job claims each copy's name in its pool, and the source volume.
- A failed or cancelled migration deletes the copies libvirt made, and
the UEFI variables copy, unless a VM on the destination has them.
- The source files stay and are named in the log. With "Delete the
source files of copied disks" they go, except one another VM or volume
uses; a failed delete is logged and the migration stands.
The NVRAM sharing check uses the same probe: a shut-off move stops when
it cannot be told, and the source file stays.
The API's migrate call takes disk_pools ({target: pool}) and
delete_source.
The move copies the VM's NVRAM file to the destination with libvirt
streams (unless both hosts share the NVRAM directory) and removes the
copy if the move fails; the source's file goes with the existing
cleanup. The undefine keeps the file, as libvirt refuses to undefine a
VM with NVRAM otherwise. A VM with TPM state is still refused.
