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Remote access

Manage VMware VMs

View the virtual machines of an ESXi host or vCenter live, power them on and off, and manage their snapshots.

On a VMware ESXi host or vCenter, you can view the virtual machines live, change their power state, and manage their snapshots without leaving octoja. No agent runs on the host itself: the monitoring device queries it through the VMware API with the VMware credentials stored on the device.

Prerequisites

  • The host is added as a network device of type ESXi or vCenter with VMware credentials; see Add a Network Device Without an Agent.
  • The monitoring device is online and can reach the host.
  • Your group grants the Run Maintenance device action for the host so you can see the VM list. For power actions and snapshots it also grants VMware management. An administrator assigns both under Administration → Groups → Device Access → Allowed actions.
  • For power actions and snapshots, the VMware account stored on the device needs the corresponding privileges in vSphere.

View virtual machines

  1. Open the host under Devices. The page opens on the Device Info tab.
  2. Scroll to the Virtual Machines section. The list shows Name, Power state, CPU usage and Memory; powered-on and busy VMs are at the top. Use Search VMs… to filter by name, operating system or IP address.
  3. Expand a VM to see details such as the operating system, IP address, VMware Tools status, uptime, vCPUs, guest disks and network adapters.

Below the list, Datastores shows usage, free space and capacity for each datastore. The view refreshes itself about every 15 seconds.

If the host cannot be reached at the moment, octoja shows Showing last collected inventory. This is the latest state collected by the monitoring device; no actions are possible then.

Change the power state

The buttons in the Actions column depend on the VM's state. Hover over an icon to see its label.

StateAvailable actions
Powered onShut Down Guest and Restart Guest (only while VMware Tools is running in the guest), Power Off, Restart, Suspend
Powered off or SuspendedPower On

octoja runs Power On immediately. You confirm all other actions with Apply in the Confirm power operation dialog. octoja reports the result as a notification.

Shut Down Guest and Restart Guest ask the guest operating system to do so through VMware Tools. The message only confirms the request; the VM changes its state afterwards.

Warning: Use Shut Down Guest or Restart Guest whenever possible. Power Off cuts the VM's power immediately, and Restart hard-resets it. In both cases the guest cannot shut down cleanly and unsaved data can be lost.

Manage snapshots

  1. Click Snapshots in the VM's row. The dialog lists the existing snapshots; Current marks the snapshot the VM is currently based on.
  2. To create a snapshot, click Take snapshot, enter a Name and optionally a Description (optional), and click Create. If needed, select Include the virtual machine's memory or Quiesce guest file system (needs VMware Tools); both options are off by default.
  3. To go back to a snapshot, click Revert next to it and confirm with Confirm.
  4. To remove a snapshot, click Delete and confirm with Confirm. octoja deletes only this snapshot, not the ones below it.

Warning: Revert discards all changes to the VM since the selected snapshot. Deleted snapshots cannot be restored.

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