guidestorageReviewed March 6, 2026

Pool and volume workflows

These workflows cover the storage commands operators reach for most often. Create and start a directory pool pool define as Use pool define as to create the pool definition before you build or start it. pool start Use po

volumestorage pooldir poollvm pool

These workflows cover the storage commands operators reach for most often.

Create and start a directory pool

BASH

virsh pool-define-as images dir --target /var/lib/libvirt/images
virsh pool-build images
virsh pool-start images
virsh pool-autostart images

`pool-define-as`

Use pool-define-as to create the pool definition before you build or start it.

`pool-start`

Use pool-start when the pool is already defined but not yet active on the host.

`pool-list`

Use pool-list --all to verify whether the storage backend exists, is active, and is marked for autostart.

Create a volume

BASH

virsh vol-create-as images vm01.qcow2 40G --format qcow2
virsh vol-info --pool images vm01.qcow2

`vol-create-as`

vol-create-as creates a named volume inside the chosen pool with an explicit size and format.

`vol-info`

Use vol-info when you need to confirm the volume metadata before attaching or resizing it.

`vol-list`

Use vol-list to inspect all known volumes in a pool before cleanup or reattachment work.

LVM-backed pool checks

BASH

vgs
lvs
virsh pool-info fast-lvm
virsh vol-list fast-lvm

Attach or grow storage carefully

Always inspect the guest XML and the host-side path together before you extend or replace a disk. Storage mistakes are usually harder to undo than networking mistakes.

guidestorageReviewed March 6, 2026

Pool and volume workflows

volumestorage pooldir poollvm pool

These workflows cover the storage commands operators reach for most often.

Create and start a directory pool

BASH

virsh pool-define-as images dir --target /var/lib/libvirt/images
virsh pool-build images
virsh pool-start images
virsh pool-autostart images

`pool-define-as`

Use pool-define-as to create the pool definition before you build or start it.

`pool-start`

Use pool-start when the pool is already defined but not yet active on the host.

`pool-list`

Use pool-list --all to verify whether the storage backend exists, is active, and is marked for autostart.

Create a volume

BASH

virsh vol-create-as images vm01.qcow2 40G --format qcow2
virsh vol-info --pool images vm01.qcow2

vgs
lvs
virsh pool-info fast-lvm
virsh vol-list fast-lvm

Attach or grow storage carefully

Always inspect the guest XML and the host-side path together before you extend or replace a disk. Storage mistakes are usually harder to undo than networking mistakes.