What is default-mgmt-dvm?

[bigmachine22]

In Qubes OS Global config, under default disposable template there is a drop down option that appears entitled default-mgmt-dvm. Nowhere else in my qubes/whonix box do I see a cube named default-mgmt-dvm … not in the qubes App/Templates menu’s or in Qube Manager. What exactly is the default-mgmt-dvm and why does it only show up in the Global config? When do and don’t I use the default-mgmt-dvm as a default disposable template? Could you tell me much more about this?

[FranklyFlawless]

Answered in a separate topic:

@apparatus

it’s just a DVM that is used to run different internal Qubes OS tasks outside of dom0. default_dispvm is for user to configure and use and it may not satisfy the requirements to be used for running management tasks so they created separate management_dispvm for this that is not supposed to be used by user.

QSB #45: Insecure default Salt configuration

@system

To fix this problem, we are implementing two changes:

1. Adding the “management_dispvm” VM property, which specifies the DVM Template that should be used for management, such as Salt configuration. TemplateBasedVMs inherit this property from their parent TemplateVMs. If the value is not set explicitly, the default is taken from the global “management_dispvm” property. The VM-specific property is set with the qvm-prefs command, while the global property is set with the qubes-prefs command.

2. Creating the “default-mgmt-dvm” DVM Template, which is hidden from the menu (to avoid accidental use), has networking disabled, and has a black label (the same as TemplateVMs). This VM is set as the global “management_dispvm”.