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Cisco UCS Director Microsoft SCVMM Integration Guide, Release 4.0

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Book Title

Cisco UCS Director Microsoft SCVMM Integration Guide, Release 4.0

Chapter Title

Managing the VM Lifecycle

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Updated:
February 15, 2014

Chapter: Managing the VM Lifecycle

Managing the VM Lifecycle

This chapter contains the following sections:

Managing the VM Life Cycle

Administrators can perform post-provisioning life cycle management actions on VMs.

These actions are broadly classified into four categories:

  • VM power management—Power on, power off, pause, resume, shutdown guest, standby, reset, and reboot
  • VM resizing—resize VM, resize VM disk
  • VM snapshot management—Create, revert, mark golden, delete snapshot, delete all snapshots
  • Other VM actions—Create VM disk, delete VM disk, repair a VM, add vNIC, delete vNIC, save state, discard saved state, view details, stack view, assign VM, assign VM credentials, launch VM client, request inventory collection
    Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
    Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
    Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
    Step 4   To perform an action on a cloud, either click a cloud and click a button, or right-click the cloud and choose from the drop-down menu.

    Assigning a VM

    The administrator can assign a VM to a group/vDC, and modify the VM category if needed. The provisioning time, termination time, and VM label can also be assigned.

      Step 1   Click Virtual and choose Compute.
      Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
      Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
      Step 4   Click Assign VM.
      Step 5   In the Assign VM dialog box, complete the following fields:
      Name Description

      VM Name field

      Name of the VM (non-editable).

      User Group field

      Choose the user group.

      vDC drop-down list

      Choose the vDC.

      Category drop-down list

      Choose the category.

      VM User Label field

      VM user label, if required.

      Set Provision Time check box

      Check the check box if you want to set the provisioning time.

      If checked, continue to Step 6.

      Set Termination Time check box

      Check the check box if you want to set the provisioning time.

      If checked, continue to Step 6.

      Comments field

      Comments.
      Step 6   If you checked the option for Set Provision Time or Set Termination Time, complete the additional date and time fields.
      Step 7   Click Assign.

      Create a VM Disk

      You can create a new VM disk for a selected VM. The disk can be either created from scratch, or from an existing hard disk in the library.

        Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
        Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
        Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
        Step 4   Click Create VM Disk.
        Step 5   In the Create VM Disk dialog box, complete the following fields:
        Name Description

        VM Name field

        Name of the VM (non-editable).

        Enter Disk Name field

        The disk name.

        Disk drop-down list

        Choose to create a new virtual hard disk or create from an existing one.

        If creating from an existing hard disk, continue to Step 6.

        Select SCSI Controller drop-down list

        Choose the SCSI controller.

        Select disk typedrop-down list

        Choose the disk type (dynamic or fixed).

        Disk Size (GB) field

        Disk size, in gigabytes.
        Step 6   If creating from an existing hard disk, complete the Choose Hard Disk drop-down field.
        Step 7   Click Create.

        Managing VM Power

        Managing a VM's power functions involves actions such as power on, power off, suspend power, reset or reboot the VM, and more.

          Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
          Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
          Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.

          The VM Task dialog box appears.
          Step 4   In the VM Task dialog box, complete the following fields:
          Name Description

          VM Name field

          Name of the VM.

          Task field

          Selected power management task.

          Comments field

          Enter comments if required.

          Schedule Action field

          Specify either to power on the VM now, or at a specific date and time.

          Note   

          The following actions appear in Similar field's Comments and Schedule Actions panes:
          Name Description

          Power Off

          Power off the VM.

          Suspend

          Place the VM in a suspended state.

          Shutdown Guest

          Shut down the Guest OS on the VM.

          Standby

          Move the VM to standby state.

          Reset

          Perform a hard reset of the VM.

          Reboot

          Perform a soft reboot of the VM.
          Step 5   Click Proceed.

          Resizing a VM

          You can modify the CPU count and memory for a VM, and optionally choose to enable dynamic memory.

            Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
            Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
            Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
            Step 4   Click Resize VM.
            Step 5   In the Resize VM dialog box, complete the following fields:
            Name Description

            New CPU Count drop-down list

            Choose the new CPU count.

            Enable Dynamic Memorycheck box

            Check the check box if you want to enable dynamic memory.

            If checked, continue to Step 6.

            New Memory drop-down list

            Choose the new memory allocation.
            Step 6   Complete the additional fields for dynamic memory:
            Name Description

            New Startup Memory field

            The new startup memory allocation.

            New Maximum Memory (MB) field

            The new maximum memory allocation.

            New Memory Buffer(%) field

            The new memory buffer allocation, specified as a percentage.

            This is the memory Hyper-V attempts to assign to the VM, compared to the amount of memory actually needed by the applications and services running inside it.
            Step 7   If creating from an existing hard disk, complete the Choose Hard Disk drop-down field.
            Step 8   Click Resize.

            Resizing a VM Disk

              Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
              Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
              Step 3   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
              Step 4   Click a cloud, and click VM Disk Resize.
              Step 5   In the Resize VM Disk dialog box, complete the following fields:
              Name Description

              Select Disk drop-down list

              Choose the disk to resize.

              New Size(GB) field

              The new disk size, in gigabytes.
              Step 6   Click Resize.

              Managing VM Snapshots

              You can do the following VM snapshot actions:
              • Create a snapshot
              • Revert a snapshot
              • Delete a snapshot
              • Delete all snapshots
              • Mark a snapshot as golden
              For a selected cloud on the VMs tab, choose an action from the drop-down list (or click a button):
              Name Description

              Create Snapshot

              A snapshot with a name and description.

              Revert Snapshot

              Revert back to the most recent snapshot of a VM, thereby bringing the VM back on line.

              If the VM crashes or malfunctions, you can revert back to the most recent snapshot. You can also select a specific snapshot to revert back to, if there is more than one snapshot.

              Mark Golden

              Mark a snapshot as golden.

              Marking a snapshot as golden prevents it from being accidentally deleted. The only way to delete a golden snapshot is to unmark the golden snapshot (returning it to a standard snapshot).

              Delete Snapshot

              Delete a snapshot.

              Delete all Snapshots

              Delete all snapshots for this VM.

              You can delete all of your snapshots unless a golden snapshot is present. You have to unmark the golden snapshot first before being able to delete all of your snapshots.

              Creating a VM Snapshot

              You can create a snapshot of a VM at any point in time. You can later choose to revert to this snapshot, or delete it.

                Step 1   Click the Clouds tab.
                Step 2   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
                Step 3   In the drop-down list, click Create Snapshot.
                Step 4   In the Create Virtual Machine Snapshot dialog box, complete the following fields:
                Name Description

                Snapshot Name field

                Name for the VM snapshot.

                Snapshot Description field

                Description of b the VM snapshot.
                Step 5   Click Proceed.

                Marking a Snapshot as Golden

                Marking a snapshot as golden prevents it from being accidentally deleted. The only way to delete a golden snapshot is to unmark the golden snapshot (returning it to a standard snapshot).

                  Step 1   Click the Clouds tab.
                  Step 2   Right-click on an SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
                  Step 3   In the drop-down list, click Mark Golden Snapshot.
                  Step 4   In the Mark Golden Snapshot dialog box, complete the following fields:
                  Name Description

                  Snapshot table

                  Choose a snapshot.

                  Mark As Golden Snapshot check box

                  Check the check box to designate the snapshot as a golden snapshot.
                  Step 5   Click Proceed.

                  Managing vNICs

                  You can add multiple vNICs to a VM, as well as edit, replace, and delete vNICs.

                  The available options for a vNIC are determined by the network policy mapped to the vDC that is associated with the VM.


                  Note

                  The VM is powered OFF to perform vNIC actions. It is powered ON again after the action is completed.
                    Step 1   Click Virtual Resources and choose Compute.
                    Step 2   Click the Clouds tab.
                    Step 3   Right-click on the SCVMM cloud, and click the VMs tab.
                    Step 4   Click the drop-down menu (upper right of screen).
                    Step 5   Click Add vNICs.
                    Step 6   In the Add VM vNICs dialog box, complete the following fields:
                    Name Description

                    Operation drop-down list

                    Choose Add or Replace.

                    Note   

                    You cannot add a vNIC if you exceed the vNIC limit configured in the network policy for VMs in the vDC.

                    If you chose Add, continue to Step 7.

                    VM Networks table

                    Click the icon to add, edit, or delete a vNIC.

                    Note   

                    You can only edit or delete a vNIC in the list. You cannot edit or delete pre-existing vNICs in the VM.
                    Step 7   In the Add Entry to VM Networks dialog box, check or uncheck the Use DHCP checkbox.

                    An error message appears if there is no network policy assigned to the VM network.
                    Step 8   Click Close.
                    Step 9   In the Add VM vNICs dialog box, click Submit.

                    Managing Other VM Actions

                    You can perform additional actions on VMs and VM disks:
                    • Manage VM disks—Create, resize, delete
                    • Assign a VM
                    • Resize a VM
                    • Access VM credentials
                    • Manage VM state—Save state, discard a saved state
                    • Manage vNICs—Add, replace, edit, delete
                    • Request an inventory collection
                    • Repair a VM after failure
                    • View—Details or stack view
                    For a selected cloud on the VMs tab, choose an action from the drop-down list (or click a button):
                    Name Description

                    View Details

                    View VM details.

                    Assign VM

                    Assign a VM to a group/vDC.

                    You can set the provisioning time, termination time, and label for a VM, as well as modify the VM category, if needed.

                    Stack View

                    A bird's eye view of VM information categorized by OS, VM, Hypervisor, and Infrastructure.

                    Access VM Credentials
                    Access VM web or remote desktop login credentials (Windows VMs only).
                    Note   

                    This option is only available if the administrator provides the privilege in the catalog for this VM.

                    Resize VM

                    Resize a VM.

                    You can modify the CPU count, memory, and enable dynamic memory.

                    Inventory Collection Request

                    Request an on-demand inventory collection for a selected VM. You can set the maximum time to wait for the inventory collection.

                    Save State

                    Save state of the VM.

                    Discard saved state

                    Discard a saved state of the VM.

                    Add vNIC

                    Add (or replace) vNICs to the VM.

                    Delete vNIC

                    Delete a vNIC you have added to the VM.

                    VM Disk Resize

                    Resize a VM disk.

                    You can specify a new size for a VM disk

                    .

                    Delete VM Disk

                    Delete a selected VM disk.

                    Create VM Disk

                    Create a new VM disk.

                    Repair VM Disk

                    Repair a selected VM disk. This button is available for a failed VM.

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