VM Actions
To apply an action on a Managed RHEL VM, go to the portal and click on the tab My Items, then click on the desired VM.
This will present the details for the selected VM, where the user can execute some predefined actions.
The actions described below are available for Managed RHEL VMs.
Advanced Reconfigure
This action is only available when the VM is in the Customer Maintenance or Temp Admin state and powered off.
The action allows you to change the service level, the location, and the storage policy.
- Information about the service level can be found here.
- Information about the storage policy can be found here.
Memory Hot-Add Maximum Growth
When using the memory hot-add functionality (which increases the amount of memory on a virtual machine without powering it off first), you are limited in terms of the maximum amount of memory you can increase at any given time. You can increase the memory by a factor of 16 from the amount the VM has been started with. For example, if you create and start a VM with 4 GB of RAM, you can increase it using hot-add up to 64 GB.
Note that you may increase the amount of memory in multiple steps if you stay below the maximum. For example, you start a VM with 4 GB of RAM, increase it to 8 GB after one day and increase it to 32 GB after another day. If you want to increase the memory above the factor of 16, you must power off the VM and start it up again. Please note that a reboot will not be sufficient, but a full power cycle is required.
There is no limitation in terms of maximum increase on powered off machines. For maximum application and operating system compatibility, it is recommended to increase memory only on powered off VMs.
Change Managed OS State
This action will change the state of the VM.
Information about the differences of the states can be found here.
When you switch into the Temp Admin state, the action will request a password for the custadm user, which will be created when the VM is switched into the Temp Admin state.
After the successful execution of the action, it is possible to log in to a Managed RHEL VM with the custadm user and the defined password.
When you want to leave the Temp Admin state, a compliance check is executed. Only if the compliance check is successful, the VM will leave the Temp Admin state, the custadm user is deleted, and the VM switches to the new desired state.
Information about the compliance check can be found in the Technical Description.
In the Temp Admin and Customer Maintenance state, the customer is responsible for the server.
- No Service-Level Agreements (SLA) guaranteed
- No Operating System monitoring provided
- As of Managed RHEL v2, the VM is also automatically patched in the Temp Admin state at the selected patch window!
In the Customer Maintenance state, the customer can perform certain actions (e.g. reconfigure vm, reboot or shut down the server) without having to switch to the Temp Admin state. The Service-Level Agreements at OS level are suspended in this state.
Connect to Remote Console
This action is only available within the vRA portal.
The action will open the remote console window in a new browser tab.
There you can see all the console output of the VM, which is especially helpful if you want to follow the boot process of the VM.
The console is also useful for analyzing boot issues.
Under no circumstances, it is allowed to change the root password within the remote console.
Connect using VMRC
This action is only available within the vRA portal.
The action will open the remote console window with the VMware Remote Console (VMRC) application. VMRC needs to be installed on your computer.
There you can see all the console output of the VM, which is especially helpful if you want to follow the boot process of the VM.
The console is also useful for analyzing boot issues.
Under no circumstances, it is allowed to change the root password within the remote console.
Create Snapshot
A snapshot captures the current state of the VM. This state can be restored at a later stage by the customer.
For a Managed RHEL VM, the snapshot can only be created in the Temp Admin state!
The procedure for creating, restoring and deleting a snapshot is described here.
Don't forget to switch the VM back to the Full Managed state after the snapshot actions.
For a Managed RHEL VM, a maximum of 3 snapshots can be generated.
After 3 days, it's no longer possible to switch back to the snapshot, and the snapshot will be deleted automatically.
Delete Snapshot
This action is only available if a snapshot was created in advance.
The action will delete a snapshot which was created with the Create Snapshot action.
Destroy VM
This action will delete the Managed RHEL VM. As long as the backup retention time is not over, the VM remains visible in the portal with the state Deleted.
Power On
This action is only available if the Managed RHEL VM is switched off.
The action will power on the Managed RHEL VM.
Reboot
This action will reboot the Managed RHEL VM.
The action is only possible if the VM is in the Customer Maintenance or Temp Admin state.
Reconfigure
This action is only available within the vRA portal.
The VM reconfiguration is only possible in the Customer Maintenance or Temp Admin state.
Disk reconfiguration tasks are only possible in the Temp Admin state.
Note that the VM will be rebooted if it's necessary (especially if CPU or Memory are removed)!
Information about the disk configuration can be found here.
Reconfigure vCPU
This action is only available within the vRA portal and if the VM is switched off.
The user can reconfigure vCPU cores, cores per socket and sockets configuration of the VM. Please note that after using this action, changing vCPU via the above 'Reconfigure' operation for the VM will be restricted and further vCPU settings of the VM can be done only via 'Reconfigure vCPU'.
Revert To Snapshot
This action is only available if a snapshot was created in advance.
The action will revert the VM to a snapshot which was created with the Create Snapshot action.
For a Managed RHEL VM, the snapshot can only be reverted if the VM is in the Temp Admin state.
After the snapshot is rolled back, the VM is off and needs to be powered on.
Show and Update Technical Contact
This action shows the contact details of the Technical Contact of the VM.
The action also provides the possibility to update the Technical Contact details.
The Technical Contact should be responsible for the application of the VM.
If there is a problem with the VM, the Managed RHEL support team can easily contact the application supervisor of the VM.
It is highly recommended to fill in the field and keep it updated in case of changes.
Shutdown
This action will shut down the Managed RHEL VM.
The action is only possible if the VM is in the Customer Maintenance or Temp Admin state.
Manage Patching Extension
Under the dropdown menu "Actions >> Manage Patching Extension" the behavior of the software updates is defined. This action manipulates the 3 behaviors; "Patching Window", "Suspension" and "On demand patching".
Patching Window
This patch window is used to patch and reboot the Operating System.
With this action, the patch window can be changed.
Information about the patching can be found here.
On demand patching
You can use the action On demand patching to immediately patch a system. This action can be executed in all states of the machine. Please note that to prevent accidental patching, it is not allowed to run on demand patching while the VMs automated patching is suspended. The VM will be put into SLA / monitoring suspension and can be rebooted multiple times during the execution.
Suspension
With this action, you can suspend the automated patching for up to 60 days (measured from the last time the system was patched). If the last patch installation was longer than 60 days ago, it is not possible to suspend the automated patching process without patching the Operating System first. If the VM has already set a patching suspension, you can extend the suspension (if still within the 60 days from last patching) or you can disable the suspension.
Set CID Status
Important for customers in the banking sector: To ensure FINMA compliance regarding CID, Swisscom must know from the customer which VM to secure. If in doubt, please contact your Customer Service Manager at Swisscom.
Click here for more information.
View Properties
This action shows custom properties for the Managed RHEL VM.
After submitting the action, the custom properties will be visible on the vRA requests detail page.