Common VM Instance Management Operations

After a VM instance has been created, various operations allow you to stop, modify, or delete it.

Stop a VM Instance

To stop a VM instance:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instances view.

2. From the displayed list, select a VM instance.

3. In top toolbar, click Stop.

The VM instance will stop, and its status will change from Active to Shutoff.

sudo shutdown --poweroff

Modify a VM Instance

Modification of size and other parameters associated with a VM instance can only be done when the VM instance is in shutoff state.

To modify a VM instance:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instances view.

2. From the displayed list, select the VM instance to be modified.

   The VM’s detail screen displays.

3. If the VM not in the Shutoff state, in the VM’s top toolbar, click Stop.

4. In top toolbar, click Modify.

5. In the Modify VM dialog, you can modify the following:

   • Instance Type: Defines the amount of compute resources of the VM instance (CPU and RAM).

     Note

     Instance Type is modifiable only when the VM is shut down.

   • Firmware Type: The software that provides low-level control of computing device hardware.

     One of:

     • BIOS: The legacy Basic Input/Output System. The first software that runs after a computer starts, BIOS performs hardware initialization during the booting process and provides runtime services for operating systems, applications and IO devices (keyboard, mouse, display).

     • UEFI: The newer Unified Extensible Firmware Interface, that replaces legacy BIOS. UEFI has more features. Its main advantages are faster boot times, better security, and larger disk support.

     Note

     Firmware Type is modifiable only when the VM is shut down.

   • Protect from deletion: Protects the VM instance from accidental deletion.

   • VNC Admin Access: Determines whether admins can access the VM’s VNC console.

Deleting VM Instances

A VM instance may only be deleted in Shutoff status.

To delete a VM instance:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instances view.

2. From the displayed list, select the VM instance to be deleted. The selected VM instance details appear at the bottom of the window.

3. If the VM instance is running, click Stop.

4. In top toolbar, click Delete.

5. The following appears: Are you sure you want to delete the VM?. Click OK.

Managing Networks for a VM Instance

VM instances cannot be created without a network, but networking changes can be made after creation. One network can be attached to numerous VM instances, and one VM instance can be attached to numerous networks.

Attaching Networks to VM Instances

1. Navigate to the Networking > Networks Interfaces view.

2. From the displayed list, select a network.

3. In the top toolbar, click Attach.

4. The Attach Network window is displayed with the VM instance list.

5. Select the VM instance to which the network should be attached and click OK.

The selected VM instance is now attached to this network, in addition to the network to which it was attached during creation.

Detaching Networks from VM Instances

Before detaching a network from a running VM instance, it is recommended to stop the instance. The network can be detached using the Networking view or Compute view.

To detach network using the Networking view:

1. Navigate to the Networking > Networks Interfaces view.

2. From the displayed list, select a network.

3. In the Networks view, select the VMs tab and then click Detach. The Network is detached from the current VM.

To detach network using the Compute GUI:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instance view.

2. From the displayed list, select the VM instance to be detach from a network.

3. In the Actions menu, select Detach. The VM instances will be detached from the network.

Adding Storage to VM Instances

During VM instance creation, volumes can be attached to a VM instance. If additional storage is required after VM instance creation, new volumes can be created and attached to the VM instance, or the boot volume size may be extended.

See the zCompute Volumes, Snapshots and Protection Groups overview video:

Create New Volumes

To create a new volume:

1. Navigate to the Storage > Block Storage view.

2. Click +.

3. In the Create Volume window, enter volume name, description, Volume Type, size, and protection group.

4. Click OK.

Adding Volumes

To attach an additional volume to a VM instance:

1. Navigate to the Storage > Block Storage view.

2. From the diplayed volume list, select the volume to attach to a VM instance.

3. In the top toolbar, click Attach. The Attach icon is available only for unmapped volumes.

4. In the Attach Volume window, select the VM instance to which the volume should be attached.

5. Click OK.

6. The VM instance must now be stopped and restarted. To stop the VM instance, navigate to Compute > Instances. Select the VM instance to be stopped and click Stop in the top toolbar.

7. Once the VM instance is stopped, click Start.

Extend the size of the volume

The size of an existing volume can be extended after creation whether or not it is attached to a VM instance. This can be performed using either the GUI or CLI.

Using the GUI

1. Navigate to the Storage > Block Storage view.

2. From the displayed list, select the name of the volume to extend.

3. In the More menu, click Extend.

4. In the Extend Volume window, specify the new size of the volume in GB. Note: The size cannot be decreased.

5. Click OK. The volume will be extended to its new size.

Using the CLI

1. If the volume is not attached to a VM instance, it may be extended to a new size greater than the previous size by entering the following:

   volume extend volume_id size
   

2. If the volume is attached to a VM instance, use the ‘vm resize’ command, as follows:

   vm resize vm_id [--volume-id VOLUME_ID] [--disk-size DISK_SIZE]
   

If the volume is attached to a VM instance, there is no need to stop and restart the VM instance after extension. Nevertheless, depending on the software application running on the VM instance, user action such as resizing partitions, logical volumes, and/or file systems may be necessary before the new capacity can be used.

Volume Types

From version 23.08, zCompute simplifies storage management with Volume Types that provide users with a range of options to meet their storage requirements, balancing factors such as performance, cost, and specific workload demands.

By abstracting the underlying storage infrastructure, Volume Types simplify storage management and allow users to focus on selecting the appropriate type for their zCompute needs.

Different Volume Types offer varying levels of maximum input/output operations per second (IOPS) and throughput, which determine the storage performance. Higher performance volumes are typically associated with faster data transfer rates and lower latency, enabling applications to handle demanding workloads or perform intensive operations.

Changing a volume’s type (retyping)

One or multiple volumes can be retyped in an online operation.

When a volume is created, its specified Volume Type determines the volume’s performance attributes and the particular platform (storage class) that hosts it.

At a later stage, various considerations could drive a decision to change a volume’s Volume Type.

For example, a user wants a volume for a particular application to have increased performance. Assuming that the volume is hosted on an HDD storage class, one possible performance improvement decision could be to change the volume’s Volume Type to a Volume Type for volumes hosted on an SSD storage class. In the background, the volume retype operation effectively runs a process that configures a destination volume with all of its updated attributes on the new type of hosting platform, and migrates the volume from the source hosting platform to the destination.

To change the Volume Type for an individual volume or multiple volumes:

1. Navigate to Storage > Block Storage.

   The list of volumes displays.

2. Select the volumes to retype by marking their checkboxes in the volumes list.

   If multiple volumes are selected, the Change Volume Type option appears in the top menu bar.

   For an individual volume, the Change Volume Type option appears in the top menu bar’s More submenu.

3. Click Change Volume Type.

   In the Change Volume Type dialog, from the dropdown select the new Volume Type to apply.

   Note

   If multiple volumes were selected, a message displays an alert indicating the number of volumes that will be affected by the volume retype operation.

   Hovering over the alert symbol displays the list of the affected volumes.

4. Click OK to confirm changing the Volume Type.

Associating Security Groups with VM Instances

Security Groups can be associated with a VM instance after creation, in addition to the association included in the Create VM Instance wizard.

To associate a security group with a VM instance after creation:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instances view.

2. From the displayed list, select a VM instance.

3. Click More > Attach > Security Group.

4. In the Attach Security Groups window, select the desired security group from the pull down list.

5. Click OK. The VM instance is now associated with the selected security group.

Recovering Windows VM Instances

If storage or network drivers do not inject properly for a Windows-based VM instance which was imported from VMware or Hyper-V, the VM instance will not start properly (it will start in a blue screen). When this happens, the VM instance must first be recovered.

Driver Recovery Mode allows starting a VM with legacy IDE virtual hardware.

This is useful for such VMs that don’t have the required VirtIO drivers installed, and because of that fail to boot (for example, VMs imported from other platforms). As most Linux distributions have VirtIO drivers available even with older versions, this feature is mostly useful with Windows VMs that for some reason don’t have the VirtIO drivers installed.

To recover a Windows VM Instance:

1. Navigate to the Compute > Instances view.

2. From the Instances list, select the VM instance to be recovered.

3. Click More > Driver Recovery Mode.

4. Click OK in the VM Driver Recovery Mode confirmation window.

   The storage and network drivers will be installed on the VM instance.

5. Click Start to restart the VM instance.