Be able to identify each KVM/libvirt component's role and run virsh pool commands correctly. The single most important thing: KVM (the kernel module) provides hardware-assisted virtualization, QEMU emulates devices, and libvirt manages both.
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Domain overview
This domain covers KVM/QEMU full virtualization on Linux and the libvirt management layer: hardware-assisted CPU virtualization, storage pools, networking, and the daemon/management stack. Questions test component roles, required packages and kernel modules, valid libvirt pool types, and lifecycle commands, so you must know which piece does what rather than just recognize terms.
Exam objectives
KVM kernel module providing hardware-assisted virtualization via Intel VT-x or AMD-V CPU extensions
QEMU device emulation and libvirt/virt-manager management stack roles and dependencies
libvirt storage pool types such as dir, logical, disk, fs, netfs, iscsi, and gluster
virsh pool lifecycle commands including pool-define, pool-build, pool-start, pool-destroy, pool-delete
Assuming QEMU alone performs hardware-assisted virtualization; the KVM kernel module is the component that uses VT-x/AMD-V, while QEMU handles emulation.
Confusing pool-destroy with pool-delete: destroy only stops the pool, while delete removes its underlying storage contents.
Forgetting that the CPU virtualization extension must be enabled in firmware and exposed to the host before KVM guests can run.
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Which THREE of the following are valid Libvirt storage pool types?
2Which command is used to list all defined virtual networks in Libvirt?
3You are configuring a Xen guest that requires direct hardware access to a specific network interface card. Which configuration parameter in the guest domain configuration file must be specified to enable PCI passthrough?
4You are configuring a QEMU-KVM guest to use VirtIO-net. Which parameter in the QEMU command line correctly enables the virtio-net-pci device with a tap interface named tap0?
5When managing storage pools using virsh, which command would you use to list all defined storage pools, including those that are inactive?
6Which hypervisor type is considered 'Type 1' virtualization?
7What is the primary function of the libvirtd daemon?
8You need to convert a raw disk image to QCOW2 format to enable snapshotting. Which command is correct?
9You want to optimize disk I/O performance for a KVM guest. Which bus type should you configure in the libvirt domain XML for the virtual disk?
10In a Xen environment, which command would you use to change the number of VCPUs allocated to a running domain 'dom1' to 4?
11You are using libvirt to manage a QEMU VM. You want to pass a specific host USB device with vendor ID 1234 and product ID 5678 to the guest. Which XML element is used inside the <devices> block to define this?
12Which libvirt network type uses a bridge on the host to connect virtual machines directly to the physical network?
13In the context of virtualization, what does 'ballooning' refer to?
14A VM is hanging because of a specific hardware emulation bug in QEMU. You need to enable the 'qxl' video device to see if it resolves display issues. What is the XML tag to define the video device in the domain config?
15Which file system format is specifically designed for QEMU/KVM to support advanced features like copy-on-write, snapshots, and compression?
16How do you define a new libvirt virtual network from an XML file named 'net.xml'?
17Which command is used to display the XML configuration of a running VM domain named 'webserver'?
18You want to limit the bandwidth of a virtual network interface. Which XML element within <interface> allows you to configure this?
19What does the term 'KVM' stand for?
20You are using QEMU to emulate an ARM architecture on an x86 host. Which binary would you typically use to execute this?
21You need to attach a new block device to a running VM. What virsh command achieves this?
22What is the purpose of the 'virt-install' tool?
23Which option for 'qemu-img create' allows you to create a preallocated image?
24Which component is responsible for the actual hardware-assisted virtualization in KVM?
25You need to change the MAC address of a network interface for a virtual machine. Where is this configured?
26You are configuring a virtual network with a static IP address for a VM. Where do you define the DHCP host entry in the libvirt network XML?
27Which of these is a valid virtualization storage pool type supported by libvirt?
28How can you force a refresh of a libvirt storage pool named 'isos'?
29Which QEMU-KVM feature allows you to save the state of a VM to a file and resume it later?
30What is the purpose of 'virt-top'?
31You are troubleshooting a performance issue and want to pin a VM process to specific physical CPU cores. Which XML element is used?
32Which file system structure is typically used for QEMU virtual disk images when using LVM?
33You need to enable hugepages for a VM in libvirt to improve memory performance. What XML entry do you add?
34You have an active domain named 'myvm'. How do you gracefully shut it down?
35Which command is used to start a VM that has been defined?
36Which command checks the status of the libvirtd service?
37What is the default location for libvirt domain configuration XML files?
38What is the purpose of the 'virsh' tool?
39You need to add a second NIC to a VM via XML. How do you ensure the second NIC uses a different MAC address than the first one?
40Which command is used to list all active running domains?
41Which hypervisor is known for being 'Type 2'?
42What is the purpose of the virtio-balloon driver in a guest?
43What is a 'snapshot' in virtualization?
44Which utility is best for creating a new libvirt storage pool?
45What does 'QEMU' stand for?
46Which TWO of the following commands can be used to manage virtual networks in libvirt?
47Which THREE of the following steps are involved in performing a manual disk migration of a VM?
48Which TWO of the following are valid storage pool types in libvirt?
49Which THREE of the following are valid components of a libvirt domain XML configuration?
50Which TWO of the following are common ways to connect to a virtual machine's console?
51Which TWO of the following commands can be used to monitor VM resource utilization?
52Which TWO of the following are benefits of using the QCOW2 image format?
53Which THREE of the following are legitimate security concerns when managing a virtualization host?
54Which THREE of the following attributes can be defined within the <memoryBacking> XML block?
55Which TWO of the following are key features of the QEMU-KVM hypervisor?
56Which THREE of the following are necessary to enable QEMU guest agent integration?
57Which TWO of the following are valid libvirt storage pool lifecycle commands?
58Which THREE of the following are valid elements inside the <interface type='bridge'> block?
59Which TWO of the following commands are used for VM disk image management?
60Which THREE of the following XML elements are used to define a virtual disk in a domain?
61You are using QEMU to emulate an ARM architecture on an x86_64 host. You need to ensure the guest has access to the host's filesystem directly without configuring network shares. Which option is the correct way to pass a directory through to the guest?
62You are managing a Xen host and need to live-migrate a domain between two physical servers. The migration fails with a domain lock error. Which command is the standard way to initiate a live migration while ensuring the target host is prepared to receive the domain?
63A libvirt storage pool of type 'dir' contains several qcow2 images. You want to create a new snapshot of an existing VM using virsh. Which command sequence is required to create an internal snapshot of the VM's current state?
64You are configuring a virtual network in libvirt that allows VMs to communicate with each other and the host, but prevents them from accessing the external network. Which mode should you select for this network?
65You are troubleshooting a libvirt migration that fails with 'Operation not supported: Migration requires a storage pool'. You need to perform a block migration where the storage is copied to the destination host. Which command-line flag enables this functionality?
66You have a qcow2 disk image that is growing too large. You want to shrink the file size on the host while keeping the virtual disk the same size. Which steps must you perform first?
67When configuring a VM in libvirt, you want to ensure the highest performance for disk I/O. Which driver type should you select for the disk device?
68Which THREE of the following are necessary components for a successful KVM virtualization environment on Linux?
69You are migrating a running KVM guest from hostA to hostB with virsh migrate --live. The migration fails immediately with 'error: internal error: Attempt to migrate guest to the same host'. Both hosts share the same NFS storage and have identical CPU models. Which condition most likely explains this failure?
70You are configuring a KVM guest to use a paravirtualized clock and to report its IP addresses to the host so that libvirt can display them with virsh domifaddr. (Choose two.)
71A junior administrator needs to start the libvirt-managed guest 'db01' and confirm that it is running. Which pair of commands accomplishes this?
72You are configuring a KVM host that will run several guests. You want each guest to be able to communicate with other guests and the host on the same subnet, while still allowing external hosts to reach the guests directly. You decide to use a libvirt virtual network with a bridge. Which libvirt network configuration element must be present to enable direct Layer 2 connectivity between the guests and the physical LAN?
73A KVM host runs a Windows guest whose virtual disk is backed by a raw image file on an NFS mount. After a host reboot, the guest fails to start with 'Permission denied' on the disk path, although the file exists and is readable by root. The host uses SELinux enforcing mode. Which action resolves the problem?
74You are managing a KVM host and need to gracefully shut down a running guest named 'dbserver'. Which virsh command should you use?
75You administer a KVM host running libvirt. A developer needs a guest to be able to communicate with the host directly over a private network without any NAT or bridging to the physical LAN. You decide to use libvirt's default virtual network. Which virsh command will display the XML definition of this default network so you can inspect its forwarding mode and DHCP range?
76You are managing a KVM host and need to create a new storage pool that uses a directory on the host filesystem to store disk images. After creating the directory /var/lib/libvirt/images/extra, you want to define and start a libvirt storage pool named 'extra-pool' that uses this directory. Which sequence of virsh commands accomplishes this?
77You need to create a new storage pool for KVM guests using the virsh command-line tool. The pool should use a directory on the host filesystem at /var/lib/libvirt/images/extra. Which command correctly defines and starts this pool?
78You are troubleshooting a KVM guest that fails to boot after you changed its XML configuration. You want to verify and correct the guest's definition without starting it. Which TWO of the following actions are appropriate? (Choose two.)
79You are troubleshooting a KVM guest that fails to start with the error 'unsupported configuration: CPU mode 'host-passthrough' requires KVM'. Which of the following is the most likely cause?
80A KVM guest is configured with a virtio-blk disk and a virtio-net device. Under heavy network load the guest CPU shows high system time inside the guest, and the host shows high context-switch rates for the QEMU process. The administrator wants to reduce per-packet I/O overhead without changing the guest OS drivers. Which change is most appropriate?
81You are setting up a KVM guest that requires very low latency for a real-time workload. You want to dedicate a physical CPU core to the guest and prevent the host from scheduling other tasks on that core. Which libvirt domain XML configuration achieves this?
82A KVM host runs libvirt with a default storage pool at /var/lib/libvirt/images. You need to create a new qcow2-backed volume named 'app-disk.qcow2' with a virtual size of 40 GB inside the pool named 'default'. Which single virsh command accomplishes this?
83You are preparing a KVM guest for a maintenance window and need to shut it down gracefully so the guest OS can flush buffers and stop services. Which virsh command should you use?
84A guest was created with a 20 GB qcow2 disk and has been running for months. The administrator wants to give the guest additional space without recreating the disk, and the guest uses a single ext4 partition with no LVM. Which approach is valid with virsh and standard tools?
85A production KVM guest uses a virtio-blk disk and experiences periodic I/O stalls during heavy write bursts. You want to switch the guest disk to virtio-scsi with multiple queues to improve parallelism without reinstalling the guest OS. Which change should you make to the domain XML?
86You need to enable and configure a UEFI firmware boot for a new KVM guest on a libvirt host. Which TWO of the following steps are required? (Choose two.)
87You are using QEMU/KVM with libvirt on a host and want to gracefully shut down a running domain named 'db01' so the guest OS performs its normal shutdown sequence. Which virsh command should you use?
88An administrator is configuring a KVM host that will run a latency-sensitive guest. The goal is to reduce scheduling jitter and improve cache locality for that guest's vCPUs. Which TWO measures are appropriate? (Choose two.)
89You are reviewing a KVM host and need to identify which of the following CPU features must be exposed to a guest to allow hardware-assisted nested virtualization inside that guest. (Choose two.)
90A KVM host uses a bridged network 'br0' with the physical NIC enslaved. You want a guest to obtain an IP address from the same DHCP server as the host's physical LAN, without NAT. Which libvirt network interface definition in the domain XML achieves this?
Be able to identify each KVM/libvirt component's role and run virsh pool commands correctly. The single most important thing: KVM (the kernel module) provides hardware-assisted virtualization, QEMU emulates devices, and libvirt manages both.
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