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QEMU Monitor Protocol Specification - Version 0.1 |
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1. Introduction |
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=============== |
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|
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This document specifies the QEMU Monitor Protocol (QMP), a JSON-based protocol |
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which is available for applications to control QEMU at the machine-level. |
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|
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To enable QMP support, QEMU has to be run in "control mode". This is done by |
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starting QEMU with the appropriate command-line options. Please, refer to the |
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QEMU manual page for more information. |
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|
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2. Protocol Specification |
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========================= |
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|
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This section details the protocol format. For the purpose of this document |
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"Client" is any application which is communicating with QEMU in control mode, |
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and "Server" is QEMU itself. |
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|
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JSON data structures, when mentioned in this document, are always in the |
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following format: |
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json-DATA-STRUCTURE-NAME |
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|
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Where DATA-STRUCTURE-NAME is any valid JSON data structure, as defined by |
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the JSON standard: |
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|
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http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4627.txt |
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|
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For convenience, json-object members and json-array elements mentioned in |
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this document will be in a certain order. However, in real protocol usage |
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they can be in ANY order, thus no particular order should be assumed. |
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2.1 General Definitions |
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----------------------- |
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2.1.1 All interactions transmitted by the Server are json-objects, always |
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terminating with CRLF |
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2.1.2 All json-objects members are mandatory when not specified otherwise |
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2.2 Server Greeting |
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------------------- |
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|
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Right when connected the Server will issue a greeting message, which signals |
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that the connection has been successfully established and that the Server is |
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waiting for commands. |
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The format is: |
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{ "QMP": { "capabilities": json-array } } |
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Where, |
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- The "capabilities" member specify the availability of features beyond the |
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baseline specification |
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|
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2.3 Issuing Commands |
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-------------------- |
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|
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The format for command execution is: |
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{ "execute": json-string, "arguments": json-object, "id": json-value } |
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Where, |
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- The "execute" member identifies the command to be executed by the Server |
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- The "arguments" member is used to pass any arguments required for the |
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execution of the command, it is optional when no arguments are required |
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- The "id" member is a transaction identification associated with the |
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command execution, it is optional and will be part of the response if |
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provided |
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|
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2.4 Commands Responses |
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---------------------- |
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|
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There are two possible responses which the Server will issue as the result |
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of a command execution: success or error. |
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2.4.1 success |
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------------- |
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The success response is issued when the command execution has finished |
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without errors. |
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The format is: |
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{ "return": json-object, "id": json-value } |
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Where, |
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- The "return" member contains the command returned data, which is defined |
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in a per-command basis or an empty json-object if the command does not |
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return data |
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- The "id" member contains the transaction identification associated |
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with the command execution (if issued by the Client) |
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2.4.2 error |
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----------- |
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The error response is issued when the command execution could not be |
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completed because of an error condition. |
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The format is: |
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{ "error": { "class": json-string, "data": json-object, "desc": json-string }, |
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"id": json-value } |
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Where, |
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- The "class" member contains the error class name (eg. "ServiceUnavailable") |
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- The "data" member contains specific error data and is defined in a |
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per-command basis, it will be an empty json-object if the error has no data |
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- The "desc" member is a human-readable error message. Clients should |
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not attempt to parse this message. |
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- The "id" member contains the transaction identification associated with |
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the command execution (if issued by the Client) |
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NOTE: Some errors can occur before the Server is able to read the "id" member, |
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in these cases the "id" member will not be part of the error response, even |
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if provided by the client. |
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2.5 Asynchronous events |
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----------------------- |
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|
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As a result of state changes, the Server may send messages unilaterally |
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to the Client at any time. They are called 'asynchronous events'. |
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The format is: |
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{ "event": json-string, "data": json-object, |
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"timestamp": { "seconds": json-number, "microseconds": json-number } } |
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Where, |
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- The "event" member contains the event's name |
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- The "data" member contains event specific data, which is defined in a |
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per-event basis, it is optional |
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- The "timestamp" member contains the exact time of when the event occurred |
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in the Server. It is a fixed json-object with time in seconds and |
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microseconds |
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For a listing of supported asynchronous events, please, refer to the |
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qmp-events.txt file. |
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3. QMP Examples |
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=============== |
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This section provides some examples of real QMP usage, in all of them |
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'C' stands for 'Client' and 'S' stands for 'Server'. |
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3.1 Server greeting |
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------------------- |
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S: {"QMP": {"capabilities": []}} |
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3.2 Simple 'stop' execution |
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--------------------------- |
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C: { "execute": "stop" } |
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S: {"return": {}} |
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3.3 KVM information |
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------------------- |
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C: { "execute": "query-kvm", "id": "example" } |
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S: {"return": {"enabled": true, "present": true}, "id": "example"} |
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3.4 Parsing error |
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------------------ |
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C: { "execute": } |
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S: {"error": {"class": "JSONParsing", "desc": "Invalid JSON syntax", "data": |
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{}}} |
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3.5 Powerdown event |
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------------------- |
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S: {"timestamp": {"seconds": 1258551470, "microseconds": 802384}, "event": |
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"POWERDOWN"} |
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4. Compatibility Considerations |
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-------------------------------- |
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In order to achieve maximum compatibility between versions, Clients must not |
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assume any particular: |
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- Size of json-objects or length of json-arrays |
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- Order of json-object members or json-array elements |
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- Amount of errors generated by a command, that is, new errors can be added |
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to any existing command in newer versions of the Server |
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Additionally, Clients should always: |
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- Check the capabilities json-array at connection time |
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- Check the availability of commands with 'query-commands' before issuing them |
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5. Recommendations to Client implementors |
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----------------------------------------- |
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5.1 The Server should be always started in pause mode, thus the Client is |
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able to perform any setup procedure without the risk of race conditions |
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and related problems |