Using virsh on a KVM host

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.2 KVM guest

You can use the virsh console command on a KVM host to access an sclp or virtio based terminal on a KVM guest.

Figure 1. Using virsh to access a KVM guest console

Figure 1, shows a KVM guest with three device drivers that can provide a console. The terminal that is accessed by the virsh console command depends on the guest configuration. For details, see KVM Virtual Server Management, SC34-2752.

In a common setup, the virsh console command opens a connection to the device that is provided by the SCLP VT220 terminal device driver. This device also becomes associated with the generic /dev/console device node.

Whether your Linux® instance uses this device as the device to which Linux kernel messages are written depends on the Linux configuration. Use the console= parameter to control which devices are activated to receive Linux kernel messages (see in Console kernel parameter syntax).