diff --git a/docs/formatdomain.html.in b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
index 02ce7924cc..2d8ba64fe6 100644
--- a/docs/formatdomain.html.in
+++ b/docs/formatdomain.html.in
@@ -1272,19 +1272,21 @@
model even if the destination host contains more capable CPUs for
the running instance of the guest; but shutting down and restarting
the guest may present different hardware to the guest according to
- the capabilities of the new host. Beware, due to the
- way libvirt detects host CPU and due to the fact libvirt does not
- talk to QEMU/KVM when creating the CPU model, CPU configuration
- created using host-model
may not work as expected. The
- guest CPU may differ from the configuration and it may also confuse
- guest OS by using a combination of CPU features and other parameters
- (such as CPUID level) that don't work. Until these issues are fixed,
- it's a good idea to avoid using host-model
and use
- custom
mode with just the CPU model from host
- capabilities XML.
- Since 1.2.11 PowerISA allows
- processors to run VMs in binary compatibility mode supporting an
- older version of ISA. Libvirt on PowerPC architecture uses the
+ the capabilities of the new host. Prior to libvirt 3.2.0 and QEMU
+ 2.9.0 detection of the host CPU model via QEMU is not supported.
+ Thus the CPU configuration created using host-model
+ may not work as expected.
+ Since 3.2.0 and QEMU 2.9.0 this mode
+ works the way it was designed and it is indicated by the
+ fallback
attribute set to forbid
in the
+ host-model CPU definition advertised in
+ domain capabilities XML.
+ When fallback
attribute is set to allow
+ in the domain capabilities XML, it is recommended to use
+ custom
mode with just the CPU model from the host
+ capabilities XML. Since 1.2.11 PowerISA
+ allows processors to run VMs in binary compatibility mode supporting
+ an older version of ISA. Libvirt on PowerPC architecture uses the
host-model
to signify a guest mode CPU running in
binary compatibility mode. Example:
When a user needs a power7 VM to run in compatibility mode
@@ -1307,6 +1309,15 @@
a migration is attempted then the guest may hang or crash upon
resuming execution on the destination host.
+
+ Both host-model
and host-passthrough
modes
+ make sense when a domain can run directly on the host CPUs (for
+ example, domains with type kvm
). The actual host CPU is
+ irrelevant for domains with emulated virtual CPUs (such as domains with
+ type qemu
). However, for backward compatibility
+ host-model
may be implemented even for domains running on
+ emulated CPUs in which case the best CPU the hypervisor is able to
+ emulate may be used rather then trying to mimic the host CPU model.
model