Migrate a KVM Guest Using virsh

Use the virsh utility to move a KVM guest to another host.

Ensure that the following are true before proceeding:

The KVM guest is shut down on the source host.

Note:

For live migration options, see Managed KVM Server Virtualization.
You have administrator privileges on the source and destination hosts.
The source and destination hosts must be mutually reachable over the network, and all required migration ports must be open on the destination host.
CPUs on the source and destination hosts must be compatible. If the KVM guest configuration requests a CPU model or features not available on the destination, the migrated guest might fail to start.
Shared storage (for example, NFS/iSCSI/Ceph) must be visible to both hosts, or use --copy-storage-all to transfer disks during migration.
The libvirtd service must be enabled on both hosts. See Manage the libvirtd Service.

Follow these steps to migrate a KVM guest from one host to another.

Confirm that the KVM guest is shut down on the source host:
```
sudo virsh list --all
```
If the State field in the output doesn't show the KVM guest as shut off, shut it down before proceeding:
```
sudo virsh shutdown KVM_Guest_Name
```
(Optional) If using shared storage, ensure that the KVM guest's disks are on a shared path visible to both hosts (for example, an NFS pool).
See Storage Pools: Create and Manage.
Migrate the KVM guest configuration to the destination host.
Run the following command to re-create the KVM guest configuration on the destination host so that it survives service or host reboots:
```
sudo virsh migrate --offline --persistent KVM_Guest_Name \
    qemu+ssh://destination-host/system
```
If you're not using shared storage, add --copy-storage-all to migrate the disks:
```
sudo virsh migrate --offline --persistent KVM_Guest_Name \
    qemu+ssh://destination-host/system --copy-storage-all
```
Verify that the KVM guest now exists on the destination host.
Run the following command and ensure that the migrated KVM guest appears in the list:
```
sudo virsh list --all
```
View basic information about the migrated KVM guest:
```
sudo virsh dominfo KVM_Guest_Name
```
(Optional) If storage was copied then archive or remove old disk files on the source per the organization's retention policy.