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VM Actions

The Actions panel is the control center for each Virtual Machine. It is revealed by clicking the "Actions" collapsible header on a VM card.

The available operations are organized into three tabs: Manage, Snapshot/Overlay, and Other.

VM Actions

Manage Tab

This tab contains the most common power management and connectivity controls.

  • Start:

    • Boots the virtual machine.
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped.

  • Shutdown:

    • Sends an ACPI shutdown signal to the guest operating system, requesting a graceful shutdown.
    • Visible when the VM is Running.

  • Force Off:

    • Forcefully terminates the VM process. This is equivalent to pulling the power plug and may cause data loss.
    • Visible when the VM is Running or Paused.

  • Pause:

    • Pauses the execution of the VM, freezing its state in memory.
    • Visible when the VM is Running.

  • Resume:

    • Resumes execution of a paused VM.
    • Visible when the VM is Paused.

  • Configure:

    • Opens a detailed view of the VM's hardware configuration (CPU, Memory, Disks, Networks, etc.).

  • Web Console / Show Console:

    • Web Console: Configures and starts a secure noVNC session, allowing you to access the VM's display via a web browser. Useful for remote access without a dedicated client.
    • Show Console: appears when a session is active; clicking it opens the browser or reconnects.

  • Connect:

    • Launches the configured desktop remote viewer (e.g., virt-viewer) for a high-performance native connection to the VM's display (SPICE/VNC).

Snapshot/Overlay Tab

This tab provides advanced storage management features for version control and testing.

Snapshots

Snapshots save the state of the virtual machine (disk and memory) at a specific point in time.

  • Snapshot:

    • Creates a new snapshot. You can provide a name and description.
    • Visible when the VM is Running or Paused.

  • Restore Snapshot:

    • Reverts the VM to a selected snapshot state.
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped.

  • Del Snapshot:

    • Permanently deletes a selected snapshot.

Overlays

Overlays (or "Linked Clones" for a single disk) allow you to create a temporary writable layer on top of your base disk image. This is ideal for testing potentially destructive changes.

  • New Overlay:

    • Creates a new overlay file backed by the current disk image. Changes are written to the overlay, leaving the original disk untouched.
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped and no overlay exists.

  • Commit Disk:

    • Merges changes from the active overlay back into the base backing file.
    • Visible when the VM is Running and using an overlay.

  • Discard Overlay:

    • Deletes the overlay file, discarding all changes made since it was created, and reverts the VM to the base image.
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped and using an overlay.

  • Help:

    • Displays a guide on how to use the Overlay feature.

Other Tab

This tab contains administrative actions for the VM lifecycle.

  • Delete:

    • Permanently deletes the virtual machine. You will be prompted to choose whether to delete the associated storage (disk images) or keep them.

  • ! Clone !:

    • Creates a duplicate of the VM.
    • Linked Clone: Clones the definition but shares the disk image (saves space, fast).
    • Full Clone: Copies the entire disk image (slower, fully independent).
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped.

  • ! Migration !:

    • Moves the VM to another server managed by VirtUI Manager.
    • Requires SSH connectivity between hosts.

  • View XML / Edit XML:

    • View XML: Displays the raw Libvirt XML configuration for inspection. (Visible when Running)
    • Edit XML: Opens an editor to manually modify the VM's XML configuration. (Visible when Stopped)

  • Rename:

    • Changes the name of the virtual machine.
    • Visible when the VM is Stopped.