how to rename a VM using libvirt+KVM

run

virsh dumpxml name_of_vm > name_of_vm.xml

Undefine the old vm to prevent an error because of an duplicate UUID.

virsh undefine name-of-vm

Edit the xml file then import it.

virsh define name_of_vm.xml

Of course you will have to stop and start the vm for the changes to take effect

virsh destroy name_of_vm
virsh start name_of_vm

virsh dumpxml myvm > foo.xml
<edit foo.xml, change the name, move storage>
virsh undefine myvm
virsh define foo.xml

Source: https://www.redhat.com/archives/libvirt-users/2010-October/msg00072.html

virsh implemented domrename in release 1.2.19: Sep 02 2015. So the current best practice is just:

 virsh domrename oldname newname

As you might expect, thedomain must be stopped, but also it cannot have any snapshots.

To change many machines you can use this:

virsh shutdown old-name

Wait for above to finish and run:

virsh dumpxml old-name > old-name.xml
virsh undefine old-name

Wait for above to finish and run:

sed -i 's/<name>old-name<\/name>/<name>new-name<\/name>/g' old-name.xml
virsh define old-name.xml

Run this one-by-one for each machine. You can use this RegExp if you have a list containing old-name new-name:

([^\r\n]+?)[ \t]+([^\r\n]+)
virsh shutdown $1\n#WAIT!\nvirsh dumpxml $1 > $1.xml\nvirsh undefine $1\n\#WAIT!\nsed -i 's/<name>$1<\\/name>/<name>$2<\\/name>/g' $1.xml\nvirsh define $1.xml\n

I do it little differently and may be un-recommended method (not sure).

virsh destroy old-vm virsh edit old-vm

In the XML change

1. domain name old-vm to new-vm
2. change a char/digit in UUID save and exit.

virsh list --all

1 old-vm shut-off

2 new-vm shut-off

Now undefine the old-vm

virsh undefine old-vm