oVirt MCP Server

Manage oVirt/RHV virtualization infrastructure via MCP. Provides 186 tools for VMs, hosts, clusters, networks, storage, templates, snapshots, disks, events,...

Security Scan

The skill appears to be documentation for an oVirt MCP server and its tools, but the runtime instructions ask you to install external software and provide oVirt credentials while the registry metadata declares no required installs or environment variables — an incoherence worth reviewing before use.

Purpose & Capability

The skill's name/description match its documented capabilities (managing oVirt/RHV via MCP). However the registry metadata declares no required environment variables or credentials while the SKILL.md clearly instructs setting OVIRT_ENGINE_URL, OVIRT_ENGINE_USER, and OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD to operate — a mismatch between declared requirements and actual needed capabilities.

Instruction Scope

SKILL.md is focused on oVirt operations (VMs, hosts, storage, RBAC, etc.) and does not ask the agent to read unrelated host files. It does, however, instruct installing and running an external MCP server process (ovirt-engine-mcp) and shows embedding credentials in JSON config examples — both of which expand runtime scope and raise operational/credential-handling concerns.

Install Mechanism

The registry lists no install spec, but SKILL.md tells users/agents to pip install a package (ovirt-engine-mcp-server) or clone a GitHub repo. That means the skill relies on third-party code fetched at install/run time even though no install mechanism was declared in metadata — this discrepancy increases risk because the runtime will depend on external packages and source code that the registry metadata did not surface.

Credentials

No required env vars are declared in the registry, yet SKILL.md requires OVIRT_ENGINE_URL, OVIRT_ENGINE_USER, and OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD (and provides examples). Requesting an admin password is reasonable for managing oVirt, but omitting these from declared requirements is an incoherence and means users might not realize they must supply sensitive credentials. The examples also show putting passwords in JSON configs — avoid embedding secrets in config files.

Persistence & Privilege

always:false (good). The instructions run a long-lived MCP server (ovirt-engine-mcp) that receives JSON-RPC over stdio; this is expected for MCP integration but does create a persistent local process that will hold credentials and network access. That persistent presence is not declared in metadata and could expose credentials if the service is misconfigured or run in an untrusted environment.

What to consider before installing

This skill is documentation for an oVirt MCP server and is not itself code, but the SKILL.md instructs installing and running external software that requires oVirt credentials. Before installing or running: 1) Verify the upstream package/repository (PyPI package and GitHub repo) and review its source; 2) Treat OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD as a secret — use environment variables or a secrets manager, do not embed passwords in JSON config files; 3) Run the MCP server in an isolated environment (sandbox/container) if you don't fully trust the package; 4) Prefer least-privilege oVirt account for automation (avoid full admin credentials where possible); 5) If you expect automated agent invocation, confirm that exposing a local MCP server and its RPC interface is acceptable in your environment; 6) Ask the skill author or registry maintainer why required env vars and install steps were omitted from the declared metadata — this mismatch is the primary reason for caution.

MCP server for oVirt/RHV virtualization management. 186 tools covering the full infrastructure lifecycle.

Version: 0.1.0 | License: MIT | Author: Joey Ma (@imjoey)

Quick Start

Install

pip install ovirt-engine-mcp-server

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/imjoey/ovirt-engine-mcp-server.git
cd ovirt-engine-mcp-server
pip install -e .

Configure

Environment variables (recommended):

export OVIRT_ENGINE_URL="https://ovirt-engine.example.com"
export OVIRT_ENGINE_USER="admin@internal"
export OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD="your-password"

Or create a config.yaml:

OVIRT_ENGINE_URL: https://ovirt-engine.example.com
OVIRT_ENGINE_USER: admin@internal
# OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD should be set via environment variable

Run

ovirt-engine-mcp

Claude Desktop / OpenClaw Integration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ovirt": {
      "command": "ovirt-engine-mcp",
      "env": {
        "OVIRT_ENGINE_URL": "https://ovirt-engine.example.com",
        "OVIRT_ENGINE_USER": "admin@internal",
        "OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD": "your-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

docker build -t ovirt-engine-mcp-server .
docker run -e OVIRT_ENGINE_URL=... -e OVIRT_ENGINE_USER=... -e OVIRT_ENGINE_PASSWORD=... ovirt-engine-mcp-server

Architecture

MCP Client (Claude / OpenClaw / etc.)
        │  stdio (JSON-RPC)
        ▼
  MCP Server (server.py)
  ┌─────────────────────────────┐
  │  OvirtMCP (ovirt_mcp.py)    │  ← Core SDK wrapper (ovirtsdk4)
  │  186 methods               │
  ├─────────────────────────────┤
  │  Extension Modules:         │
  │  NetworkMCP · ClusterMCP    │
  │  TemplateMCP · DataCenterMCP│
  │  HostExtendedMCP            │
  │  StorageExtendedMCP         │
  │  DiskExtendedMCP            │
  │  EventsMCP · AffinityMCP    │
  │  RbacMCP · VmExtendedMCP    │
  │  TemplateExtendedMCP        │
  │  QuotaMCP · SystemMCP       │
  └─────────────────────────────┘
        │
        ▼
  oVirt Engine REST API

Error Handling

All errors return structured JSON with error code, message, and retry guidance:

Code	Retryable	Description
CONNECTION_ERROR	✅	Failed to connect to oVirt Engine
NOT_FOUND	❌	Requested resource not found
PERMISSION_DENIED	❌	Insufficient permissions
VALIDATION_ERROR	❌	Invalid input parameters
TIMEOUT	✅	Operation timed out
SDK_ERROR	✅	oVirt SDK internal error

Retry strategy: Only retry on retryable: true errors. Use exponential backoff (1s → 2s → 4s). NOT_FOUND and PERMISSION_DENIED require user intervention.

Available Tools

186 tools across 27 categories. Each reference file is self-contained with its own index:

File	Tools	Covers
vm.md	35	VM lifecycle, pools, checkpoints, snapshots
host.md	19	Host management, fencing, iSCSI
cluster.md	11	Clusters, CPU profiles
datacenter.md	5	Data centers
instance-types.md	2	Instance types
storage.md	16	Storage domains, connections, iSCSI bonds
disk.md	13	Disk lifecycle, snapshots, move, resize
network.md	16	Networks, VNIC profiles, QoS, MAC pools
template.md	8	Template lifecycle, disk/NIC lists
system.md	6	System info, jobs
events.md	11	Events, bookmarks, alerts
rbac.md	24	Users, groups, roles, permissions, tags, filters
quota.md	7	Data center quotas
affinity.md	13	Affinity groups and labels

Quick Category Reference

Category	Count	Key Tools
VM Core	9	vm_list, vm_create, vm_start, vm_stop, vm_delete
VM Extended	16	vm_migrate, vm_console, vm_cdrom_*, vm_watchdog_*, vm_pin_to_host
VM Pools	5	vm_pool_list, vm_pool_create, vm_pool_update, vm_pool_delete
VM Checkpoints	4	vm_checkpoint_list/create/restore/delete
Snapshots	4	snapshot_list/create/restore/delete
Disks Core	3	disk_list, disk_create, disk_attach
Disks Extended	9	disk_get, disk_resize, disk_move, disk_sparsify, disk_export
Networks	9	network_list/create/update/delete, nic_list/add/remove
VNIC Profiles	5	vnic_profile_list/create/update/delete/get
Network Filters & QoS	3	network_filter_list, mac_pool_list, qos_list
Hosts Core	3	host_list, host_activate, host_deactivate
Hosts Extended	16	host_add, host_fence, host_iscsi_*, host_install, host_nic_*
Clusters	10	cluster_list/create/update/delete, cluster_cpu_load, cluster_memory_usage
CPU Profiles	2	cpu_profile_list, cpu_profile_get
Data Centers	5	datacenter_list/create/update/delete/get
Storage Core	8	storage_list/create/delete/attach/detach/stats
Storage Extended	10	storage_refresh, storage_import_vm, storage_files, iscsi_bond_list
Templates Core	2	template_list, template_vm_create
Templates Extended	6	template_get/create/delete/update, template_disk_list, template_nic_list
Instance Types	2	instance_type_list, instance_type_get
Affinity Groups	7	affinity_group_list/create/update/delete/add_vm/remove_vm
Affinity Labels	6	affinity_label_list/create/delete/assign/unassign
Events	11	event_list, event_search, event_alerts/errors/warnings, event_summary
RBAC	24	user_*, group_*, role_*, permission_*, tag_*, filter_list
Quotas	7	quota_list/create/update/delete, quota_*_limit_list
System & Jobs	6	system_get, job_list, job_cancel, system_statistics

Common Workflows

Create VM from Template

1. template_list → find template ID
2. cluster_list → find cluster ID
3. template_vm_create(name, template, cluster, ...)
4. vm_start(name_or_id)

Migrate VM

1. vm_list(status="up") → find running VM
2. host_list() → find target host
3. vm_migrate(name_or_id, target_host)

Create Snapshot & Restore

1. snapshot_create(name_or_id, description="before-patch")
2. ... perform changes ...
3. snapshot_restore(name_or_id, snapshot_id)  # if needed

Storage Health Check

1. storage_list → list all domains
2. storage_stats(name_or_id) → check each domain
3. event_errors → check for storage-related errors

RBAC Audit

1. permission_list(resource_type="cluster", resource_id="...") → list perms
2. user_list → list users
3. tag_list → list tags

Requirements

• Python >= 3.10
• oVirt Engine 4.4+
• Dependencies: mcp>=1.0.0, ovirtsdk4>=4.6.0, pyyaml>=6.0, requests>=2.31.0, colorlog>=6.8.0

Development

# Install dev dependencies
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Run tests
pytest tests/ -v

# Lint
ruff check src/ tests/

Related Projects

• oVirt — Open-source virtualization management
• ovirtsdk4 — Official oVirt Python SDK
• Model Context Protocol — The MCP specification