Virtual Machine Actions

Rebuild VM

The rebuild operation allows for the re-creation of virtual machine from a new or existing image while preserving the VM's:

• UUID

• Storage Volumes

• IP addresses (private or public)

• Network ports

If the VM utilizes ephemeral storage (local disks), rebuilding will result in the loss of data on those disks. However, if the VM uses block storage volumes or shared storage for its root disk and other data, those volumes are reattached to the rebuilt virtual machine, and data should be preserved.

Rescue / Unrescue VM

Rescue mode is a powerful operation that allows you to access and repair a non-bootable virtual machine. When activated, this action boots your virtual machine into a temporary environment using the image that was used to create the vm, with full root access to the file system. This mode is useful for:

• Troubleshooting and fixing configuration file issues

• Recovering or copying data to a remote location

• Gaining emergency access similar to single-user mode or safe mode with networking

You can rescue a virtual machine using a new or different image from the one used to create it. When you select this option in the UI, the UI shows a list of images from the image catalog, so you can choose a different image to boot from.

To enable an image to be used for rescuing VMs, add the following metadata keys to the image:

• hw_rescue_device – The type of device to attach the rescue image as (cdrom, disk, or floppy)

• hw_rescue_bus – The bus the rescue device should use (scsi, virtio, ide, or usb)

For a typical VM qcow2 image to be used as rescue image, the values you would use would be hw_rescue_device: disk and hw_rescue_bus: scsi.

Once your maintenance or recovery tasks are complete, you can return the VM to normal operation by unrescuing the VM. To do that using the UI, select the VM in the VM grid view, then choose the unrescue action from the power actions drop down menu.

Stop

Performs a graceful shutdown of the virtual machine by sending an ACPI shutdown signal to the guest operating system. The VM will attempt to shut down cleanly, allowing running processes to terminate properly and data to be flushed to disk. If the guest OS does not respond to the ACPI signal, the VM may not shut down. In such cases, use Hard Reboot instead.

Reboot

Performs a graceful restart of the virtual machine by sending an ACPI reboot signal to the guest operating system. This allows the OS to restart cleanly, preserving data integrity.

Hard Reboot

Forces an immediate restart of the virtual machine without waiting for the guest OS to shut down cleanly. This is equivalent to pressing the physical reset button on a server and immediately powers the VM back on. This action may result in data loss or corruption as running applications do not have time to shut down properly. Use only when a normal reboot fails or the VM is unresponsive.

Suspend

Saves the current running state of the virtual machine to disk, including memory contents and CPU state, then stops the VM. When resumed, the VM will continue exactly where it left off, with all applications and data in the same state.

Pause

Freezes the virtual machine execution by halting the virtual CPU without writing the state to disk. The VM's memory remains allocated in RAM, but no CPU cycles are consumed. This is a temporary state intended for short pauses.

Rename

Changes the display name of the virtual machine. This updates only the VM's label in the Private Cloud Director interface and does not affect the guest OS hostname or network identity.

Change Owner

Transfers ownership of the virtual machine to a different user account. The new owner will have full control over the VM and its associated resources. Please ensure that the new owner has available quota to take ownership of the VM before transferring ownership.

Edit Metadata

Allows you to add, modify, or remove custom key-value metadata tags associated with the virtual machine.

Resize

Allows you to choose a new flavor to resize the VM to. Resizing a VM results in the VM being rebuilt (powered off, then recreated using the source image on the same or different host) using the new flavor. Please note that the disk size of the new flavor must be larger than or equal to the current flavor.

Clone

Creates a complete copy of the virtual machine, including its disks and configuration. The new VM is independent of the original and can be modified without affecting the source VM.

Migration Priority

Sets the priority level for VM migrations triggered by Dynamic Resource Rebalancing (DRR). Higher priority migrations are processed first during automated resource rebalancing or operations. You can specify migration priority as Low, Normal, High, or Excluded. If a migration priority is not set for a VM, it defaults to Normal priority. Selecting Excluded excludes the VM from any DRR migrations.