Powering a virtual machine on and off#

Use the following steps to power a virtual machine on and off:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.

2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The Virtual Machines management section displays.

3. Select the virtual machine that you want to clone from the virtual machine list. This action opens up your individual virtual machine's details.

4. Click the Actions dropdown menu on the right-hand side.

5. In the Automate Action section, select Power VM....

6. If you select power off, the action powers down the selected virtual machine and suspends billing.

   If you select power on, the action powers up a previously off virtual machine and initiates billing.

   Note

   If you are powering on a virtual machine again, this might require review from a Rackspace VMware Support technician. For best practice and security reasons, OS updates might need to be applied before the virtual machine is returned to service, depending upon the length of time the virtual machine has been powered off. A ticket generates with this request and the Rackspace VMware Support team updates the ticket accordingly.

Rebooting a virtual machine#

Use the following steps to reboot a virtual machine:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.
2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The Virtual Machines management section displays.
3. Select the virtual machine you want to clone from the virtual machine list. This action opens up your individual virtual machine's details.
4. Click the Actions drop-down on the right hand side.
5. In the Automate Action section, select Reboot VM....
6. This automated action allows the selected Virtual Machine to be rebooted using one of the following methods:
   • Soft Reboot: Graceful shutdown and restart of your server's operating system.
   • Hard Reboot: Power cycle your server (immediate shutdown and restart). You need to select a reason for a Hard Reboot from the dropdown list.

Filtering virtual machines#

Use the following steps to filter the view of your virtual machines:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.
2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The Virtual Machines management section displays.
3. Click to filter the virtual machines by:
   • All Virtual Machines
   • Status: Online or Powered Off
   • Type: Virtual Machine, Clone, or Template
   • Region (Datacenter)
   • Hypervisor

Snapshotting a virtual machine#

A VMware snapshot is a copy of the virtual machine's disk file (VMDK) at a given point in time. Snapshots provide a change log for the virtual disk and are used to restore a VM to a particular point in time when a failure or system error occurs.

Use the following steps to snapshot a virtual machine:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.
2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The virtual machines management section displays.
3. Select the virtual machine you wish to snapshot.
4. Scroll to the Snapshots section.
5. Click Create Snapshot.
6. Enter a description for your new snapshot.

Resizing and adjusting virtual machines#

Rackspace recommends the following resource allocation ratios:

• 1:5 physical CPU to virtual CPU
• 1:1.5 physical RAM to virtual RAM

Before resizing a virtual machine, note that overallocation of resources has the potential to negatively impact the performance of the virtual machine and other virtual machines within your environment.

Use the following steps to resize and adjust a virtual machine:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.

2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The virtual machines management section appears.

3. Select the virtual machine that you want to resize from the virtual machine list. This action opens up your individual virtual machine's details.

4. Click the Actions dropdown menu on the right-hand side.

5. In the Automate Action section, select Resize VM.... This automatically shuts down your VM, applies your change, and powers the VM back on.

6. Choose the new number of vCPUs and amount of vRAM.

7. Click Resize Virtual Machine.

   Warning

   Clicking Resize Virtual Machine causes your virtual machine to power off immediately. This process takes approximately 5 minutes plus the required boot time.

Re-imaging virtual machines#

Use the following steps to request a re-image a virtual machine:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.

2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The virtual machines management section displays.

3. Select the virtual machine that you want to clone from the virtual machine list. This action opens up your individual virtual machine's details.

4. Click the Actions drop-down on the right hand side.

5. In the Automate Action section, select Re-image VM....

6. This action request reprovisions this VM with a new Guest OS version or a new Guest OS. Provide details of any needing to be retained in current VM prior to reprovisioning.

7. Click Request Re-Image.

8. This action creates a ticket to track your re-imaging.

   Warning

   You lose all data on your VM once re-imaged. Save any data you might need elsewhere. The VM will be unavailable for several hours during the re-imaging process.

Removing and deleting virtual machines#

Use the following steps to delete a virtual machine:

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.
2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The virtual machines management section appears.
3. Select the virtual machine you wish to remove from the virtual machine list. This action opens up your individual virtual machine's details.
4. Click the Actions dropdown menu on the right-hand side.
5. In the Request Action section, select Delete VM....
6. Enter any Special Instructions to include in support ticket.
7. Select Request Deletion

This action triggers a ticket for your Rackspace VMware Support team specialist to action. To track the progress of this, see the Tracking Orders section below.

Tracking orders#

If you have requested the creation of a new VM, re-imaging, or the deletion of a VM you can track your order through the MyRack portal.

1. Click the Products dropdown menu.
2. Select VMware Server Virtualization from the list. The virtual machines management section displays.
3. Select Track Orders.

If you have any concerns or questions about an action you have requested, contact your Rackspace VMware Support team specialist.