NOTE: Saves the RAM (not including disk) of a running guest to a “state file” at the specified filename, so that it can be restored later.

Once saved, the domain will no longer be running on the system, thus the memory allocated for the domain will be free for other domains to use. See Restore Guest how to restore from this state file.

Optional parameters:

• --xml FILEPATH - Usually omitted, but can be used to supply an alternative XML file for use on the restored guest with changes only in the host-specific portions of the domain XML.
  • For example, it can be used to account for file naming differences that are planned to be made via disk snapshots of underlying storage after the guest is saved. If you forgot to provide this, you can make use of save-image-define later to achieve the same effect. You may also wish to refer to save-image-dumpxml and save-image-edit.
• --bypass-cache - the save will avoid the file system cache, although this may slow down the operation.
• --running | --paused - Normally, restoring a saved image will decide between running or paused based on the state the domain was in when the save was done; passing either the --running or --paused flag will allow overriding which state the restore should use.
• --verbose.

Progress may be monitored using domjobinfo virsh command and canceled with domjobabort (or just Ctrl-C).