1a - Manage Virtual Servers

Rebuild/Build Virtual Server Manually

To build/rebuild virtual server Build/rebuild virtual server and Manage public templates permissions must be enabled.

If you haven't checked the Build Virtual Server option during the VS creation process, you will have to do this manually after the VS has been created. Building a virtual server is the process of allocating physical resources to that VS.

To build a virtual server manually or rebuild the VS on the same (or another) template:

1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Virtual Servers menu.
2. Click the label of the virtual server you're interested in.
3. On the screen that appears, click the Actions button, point to Options and then click Rebuild Virtual Server.

4. On the screen that pops up, use the drop-down menu to choose a template with which to build the VS.
   
   

   

   It is not possible to rebuild a Linux-based virtual server to FreeBSD templates.

   It is not possible to rebuild a Windows-based virtual server to Linux/FreeBSD template and vice versa.

5. Move the Start VS after rebuild slider to the right if you want to have your VS started automatically after it is built.
6. Click the Rebuild Virtual Server button to finish.

Edit Virtual Server

You can edit resources for all VSs. Depending on the template it is built on, some VSs can have their CPU or RAM or both resized without needing to be powered off ("resize without reboot"). If the VS template allows resizing of the required resource without the reboot, the resize should be completed automatically: you will be returned to the VS details screen and see a message indicating the resize was successful. If the template does not allow this, you will be asked to confirm that the VS will need rebooting so that the resize can take place. On how to determine whether the template you are interested in supports resizing without the reboot of RAM or CPU, refer to the Hot Resize page.

• Windows virtual servers cannot be resized without the reboot.
• It is not possible to increase the VSs RAM beyond its max_memory value without rebooting the server. For more information, refer to Hot Resize.
• If the template on which the VS is built on has the value 'YES' for the resize without reboot option, it might denote that either CPU or RAM can be changed without rebooting the server. Some templates support the resize without reboot only for either CPU or RAM while in other templates both CPU and RAM can be changed without rebooting the server. The virtualization type also influences the resize without reboot option. For more information, refer to Hot Resize.

The Edit Virtual Server screen will differ depending on the way the VS resources were selected: either manually or using an instance package. To adjust VS resources:

1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Virtual Servers menu.
2. Click the label of the server you want to resize, to show its details screen.
3. Click the Actions button, point to Options and select the Edit Virtual Server link.

   For virtual servers built by selecting resources manually:
   
   

   • Change CPU cores, CPU priority/units and RAM values.

Setting the correct amount of CPU sockets

• • Set the total amount of virtualized CPUs and the number of sockets.
  • The value of cores_per_socket will be calculated automatically by the formula vCPUs  = cpu_sockets x cores_per_socket.
  • Thus, if you set the vCPU value 8, and the CPU sockets 2, this means that the cores_per_socket value will be set 4.

For virtual servers built using instance packages:

• • Choose the new instance package for your virtual server. Click the instance package to select it. After that, the instance package you have chosen will be highlighted in green.
  • Those instance packages that have resources incompatible with the compute zone, on which the VS is built, will be greyed out. Greyed out instance packages cannot be selected.
  • You can only choose from those instance packages that offer more disk size than the VS currently uses.
  • After you select a new instance package you can use the extra disk size to create a new disk for the VS or make the existing VS disk larger.

You can also edit the Time Zone parameter for all Windows virtual servers. After you edit the server's time zone, you need to stop and then start up the VS. Currently, the time zone is set at the compute resource side only. Therefore, users need to set the target time zone inside a Windows VS manually. Setting the correct time zone at the compute resource side helps to keep correct time inside a VS after starting it if time synchronization is not completed for some reason.

After changing VS resources you can see two prices per this VS per hour, depending on VS power status (on/off).

• • Click the Save button.

Resource	Cloned Virtual Server
Owner	The same as the origin virtual server.
Properties: hostname, password, and label	You can change the properties while cloning a KVM VS. By default, if you clone a virtual server without changing the values of the hostname, password, and label: The hostname remains the same as it is in the origin virtual server. The password acquires random values. The label is the same as the origin virtual server's label, but with Clone in the label. For example, Clone Origin Label.
Compute, data store, and network resources & zones Recipes, recipe variables, and service add-ons Firewall rules	The same as the origin virtual server. If there are no available resources on the same data store, network, and compute resource, you cannot clone a virtual server.
IP address	A random IP address is assigned from an IP range in the origin network. If a virtual server is built from an OVA template with the Other OS type or any ISO template, an IP address from the origin virtual server is assigned. After a virtual server is cloned and before you start it, you should assign a new IP address.
Swap disk	A new swap disk is created on the cloned virtual server.
Backups	The backups of the origin virtual server are not cloned.

To clone a virtual server, follow the next procedure:

1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Virtual Servers.
2. Click a label of the virtual server that you want to clone.
3. Click Actions, point to Options and then click Clone Virtual Server. 
4. In the dialog box, you can change the properties if required:
   • Label 

   • Hostname - a hostname of the virtual server. The hostname can consist of letters [A-Z a-z], digits [0-9], and dash [ - ]. For more info on hostname validation, refer to RFC documentation.

     • Password - password for the virtual server. It can consist of 6-99 symbols, including letters [A-Z a-z], digits [0-9], dash [ - ], underscore [ _ ], and the following special characters: ~ ! @ # $ * _ - + = ` \\ { } [ ] : ; ' , . ? /. You can use both lower and uppercase letters. If you don't enter a password, it will be generated automatically.

     • Password confirmation - repeat the password to confirm it

     • Encrypt password - move the slider to the right to encrypt your password

5. Click Clone Virtual Server to confirm the action. 

After you confirm the action, several transactions are run to complete the cloning process. You can check a status of each transaction in Activity Log of the virtual server. After the virtual server is cloned, it is powered off until you start it. 

 

Autoscale Virtual Server

 

VS autoscaling allows you to change the RAM, CPU and disk size settings of a virtual server automatically. VS resources scaling is based on rules you specify. For example, you can set up a rule that will add 1000MB of memory to a VS if RAM usage has been above 90% for the last 10 minutes - but add no more than 5000MB in total in 24 hours. You can set autoscaling down settings alongside with autoscaling up.

 

• For Linux-based VSs and VS primary disks only.
• Disk usage autoscaling is applicable for VS primary disk only.
• Autoscaling for CPU cores is currently not implemented, it is implemented only for CPU units and CPU shares. 
• If the VS is based on a template that allows resizing without the reboot - see the Edit Virtual Server section – then the VSs RAM or CPU or both can be increased without rebooting the VS. The resources that can be resized without reboot depend on the template and the virtualization type. Some templates support the resize without reboot only for either CPU or RAM. Disk space autoscaling requires a VS reboot.
• If you autoscale a VS's memory to a value greater than current VS RAM x 16 (which is a max_memory parameter in a configuration file and database), the VS will be rebooted anyway, regardless of the template it is built on.
• Make sure a VS can be reached via SSH. Otherwise, the autoscaling client installation will fail.
• Starting with version 4.2, OnApp uses Zabbix for autoscaling. Monitis will be used for autoscaling of servers built using OnApp versions previous to 4.2 until you switch autoscaling off for such server(s). If you decide to switch autoscaling back on, autoscaling will be implemented using Zabbix. Zabbix also will be used for autoscaling of newly created VSs.
• Note that Monitis support for OnApp autoscaling will come to its end of life on June 30th, 2019 and will be unavailable for use.
• When autoscaling down is enabled, it will reduce the VS memory and disk size to the minimum, indicated in a template, on which this VS is built. CPU usage can be reduced to the minimum CPU priority allowed by the system(1%).

 

To configure autoscaling settings:

1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Virtual Servers menu.
2. Click the label of the appropriate VS.
3. On the page that follows, click the Overview tab, and then click Autoscaling.
4. Click the required tab - Memory Usage, Disk Usage or CPU Usage - to see the statistics for each type of resources.
5. Below you will see UP and DOWN autoscaling options. Move the slider to the right to add the autoscaling rule or move it to the left to remove the rule.
6. Add autoscaling rules as explained below:
   
   Set autoscale up options:
   
   • Time - select a specific time period in which scaling will be executed. 
   • If RAM usage is above X% for a specific time period, add Y MB – but no more than Z MB in a 24 hour period.
   • If CPU usage is above X % for a specific time period, add Y% - but no more than Z% in a 24 hour period.
   • If disk usage is above X % for a specific time period, add Y GB - but no more than Z GB in a 24 hour period.
   
   Set autoscale down options:
   
   • Time - select a specific time period in which scaling will be executed
   • If RAM usage is below X% for a specific time period, remove Y MB.
   • If CPU usage is below X % for a specific time period, remove Y%.
   • If disk usage is below X % for a specific time period, remove Y GB.
7. Click Apply.

Clicking the Apply button does not activate autoscaling if the Autoscale slider at the VS overview page is disabled. You can configure autoscaling rules, press the Apply button, these rules will be saved and will start working only after the Autoscale slider at VS overview page is enabled. Also, you can disable the Autoscale slider, autoscaling will stop working, but the configuration of rules will be saved in case you want to activate them in future.

 

Delete Virtual Server

 

Shut down the virtual server before destroying it. If you are deleting a VS that is running, the VS will be deleted after the time set in Timeout Before Shutting Down VSs configuration parameter.
To remove the virtual server from the cloud:

1. Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Virtual Servers menu.
2. On the screen that appears, you'll see the list of all virtual servers in the cloud. Click the label of the virtual server you want to delete.
3. On the virtual server's screen, click the Actions button, point to Options, then select Delete Virtual Server.
4. Move the Move Last Backup to My Templates if it is present slider to the right if you want to save the last VS's backup as a template.
5. Move the Destroy All Existing Backups slider to the right if you want to remove all existing backups of this virtual server.

IMPORTANT:

• You won't be able to restore a virtual server after deleting it.
• Deleting a virtual server removes all data stored on that virtual server. To save the data stored on the virtual server, back up your virtual server and select the Move Last Backup to My Templates if it is present box when following the instructions described in this section.
• To delete a virtual server together with its backups, the user needs to have the Destroy any backup or Destroy own backup permission enabled. Otherwise, the backups of the VS deleted by the user will remain in the system.