3.6. Managing Virtual Machines¶

3.6.1. Creating and Deleting Virtual Machines¶

Before you proceed to creating VMs, check that you have these:

• A guest OS source (see Managing Images):

  • a distribution ISO image of a guest OS to install in the VM,

  • a boot volume template, or

  • a boot volume.

    Note

    To obtain a boot volume, create a volume as described in Managing Volumes, attach it to a VM, install an operating system in it, then detach it from the VM.

• A storage policy for volumes (see Managing Storage Policies).

• (Optional) A flavor (see Managing Flavors).

• (Optional) One or more virtual networks (see Managing Virtual Networks).

To create a VM, do the following:

1. On the COMPUTE > VIRTUAL MACHINES tab, click Create VM. A window will open where you will need to specify VM parameters.

   

2. Specify a name for the new VM.

3. In Deploy from, choose Volume if you have a boot volume or want to create one. Otherwise, choose Image.

4. Depending on your choice, click the pencil icon in the Volumes or Image section and do one of the following:

   • In the Images window, select the ISO image or template and click Done.

     

     Then, in the Volumes window, make sure the default boot volume is large enough to accommodate the guest OS and click Done.

   • In the Volumes window, do one of the following:

     • If you have prepared a volume with an installed guest OS, click Attach, find and select the volume, and click Done.

       

     • Otherwise, click Add new. In the Add volume window, specify a name, size in GB, and select a storage policy from the drop-down list. Click Add.

       

     The top volume in the list is considered bootable. So the first created or attached volume becomes the boot volume by default.

5. Optionally, in the Volumes window, click Add new or Attach new to create or attach any other volumes you need.

   

   To select a volume as bootable, place it first in the list by clicking the up arrow button next to it.

6. In the Flavor window, choose a flavor and click Done.

   

7. In the network window, click Add virtual network, search for a virtual network interface, select it, and click Done.

   

8. Back in the Create virtual machine window, click Deploy to create and boot the VM.

9. If you are deploying the VM from an ISO image (not a boot volume template or volume with a pre-installed guest OS), select the VM, click Console, and install the guest OS using the built-in VNC console.

To remove a VM, select it, click the ellipsis button next to it, Delete, and Remove. You cannot delete running VMs.

3.6.2. Running, Shutting Down, and Rebooting Virtual Machines¶

To start, shut down, reboot, or hard reboot a VM, click the ellipsis button next to it and click the desired action.

The start, shutdown, and reboot operations are equivalent to powering up, shutting down, and soft-rebooting a computer, respectively. The hard reboot operation is equivalent to cutting off and restoring power, then starting a computer.

3.6.3. Suspending, Resuming, and Rebuilding Virtual Machines¶

Virtuozzo Infrastructure Platform allows you to suspend a running VM by saving its current state to a special file. Later on, you can restore VM’s state by resuming it. Suspending VMs may prove useful, for example, if you need to restart the host but do not want to:

• quit the applications currently running in the VM,
• spend time on restarting the guest OS.

To rebuild a VM means to redeploy it from the chosen image keeping the same ID, flavor, network interfaces (IP and MAC addresses), and all the volumes except the boot one.

To suspend, resume, or rebuild a VM, click the ellipsis button next to it and click Suspend, Resume, or Rebuild, respectively.

3.6.4. Reconfiguring and Monitoring Virtual Machines¶

To monitor virtual machine’s CPU, storage, and network usage, select the VM and open the Overview tab. To download the VM’s console log, click the ellipsis button next to it and Download console log.

To reconfigure a VM, select it and, on the Configuration tab, click the pencil icon next to a parameter you need to change. You cannot do the following:

• change, detach, or delete the boot volume;

• shrink volumes;

• modify network interfaces when the VM is running;

• downsize the flavor when the VM is running.

  Note

  You can upsize the flavor when the VM is running if the guest OS supports RAM and CPU hotplugging. Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 do not support either CPU or RAM hotplugging; standard editions of Windows Server do not support RAM hotplugging; and Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 do not support CPU hotplugging.