Administering virtual system instances

Each deployment of a virtual system pattern represents a running virtual system instance on the cloud environment. You can view and monitor deployed virtual system instances from the console.

1. Click Patterns > Virtual System Instances.
   The following functions are available for you to work with the list of virtual system instances:

   Refresh

   Refreshes the status of the virtual system instances and updates the fields on the Virtual System Instances page.

   Create New

   Click Create New to create a new virtual system instance.

   Filter

   Enter a term that is used to filter the virtual system instances that display on the page.

2. Select the virtual system instance that you want to administer.
3. Use the options on the Virtual System Instances pane to administer the virtual system instance:

   Toolbar options

   Stop

   Stops a started virtual system instance. Associated cloud resources are not released.

   Start

   Starts a stopped virtual system instance.

   Manage

   The Instance Console displays. You can complete the following tasks from this console:

   Attention: The Instance Console might display the Cloud Paks menu. You can ignore it.

   • Click Monitoring to view advanced monitoring details and operations for the virtual machines or middleware by selecting the corresponding submenu.
   • Click Logging to view and download the logs.
   • Click Operations to view the operations for the instance. Use this tab to update operations that are associated with the instance. The following list shows some of the operations that might be available:
     Note: Some of the following operations might not be available for all virtual system instances, and some virtual system instances might have more operations. Some operations fail if no changes are made to the displayed values before you click Submit because only the changed parameter values are passed to the operation.
     • AGENT:

       To update trace settings, enter the trace string in the Trace string applied to the agent field. Enter the trace file name, such as trace.log, in the Trace File Name field. Enter the maximum file size in the Trace Max File Size field. Enter the maximum number of trace files in the Trace Max File Number field. Click the Append to trace file check box to append the trace file. Click Submit.

     • AUTOSCALING: To pause or resume auto scaling tasks, select or clear the Pause check box and click Submit.
     • ChefClient: This operation is available if the instance contains a Chef client. Run a one-time command from the Execute run list once section. Run an existing recipe or update the run list from the Execute and update run list section. Enter the Run List, specify any JSON attributes that you want to override, and click Submit.
     • DBPROXY_POLICY: Use this operation to update the database proxy configuration for virtual instances that were deployed with the DB Proxy Policy. Expand the Fundamental node and select options to upload a new database rule set file to the database proxy, update the access credentials for the target database, or update the proxy database port number. Click Submit to save your changes. For more information, see Updating the DB Proxy Policy configuration.
     • Firewall: This operation is available if the instance contains a Connect In or Connect Out component. Specify ports to open in the firewall for inbound and outbound TCP connections.
       Important: Changes made by using the Firewall operation do not persist across restarts of the virtual machine. Use the start.py script for the plug-in to open ports that must be open after a restart.
     • Image: This operation is available if the instance contains a base scaling policy. Add or remove nodes, or modify the virtual processor count or memory size. You can also modify the scaling policy settings for the instance.
     • MAINTENANCE: Use this tab to install maintenance fixes. For more information about installing fixes, see the Related tasks section.
     • MONITORING: To connect or disconnect the operating system and workload monitoring agents to the monitoring service that is defined in the service registry, select or clear the Connect check box. Click Submit. To start or stop monitoring of the WebSphere® Message Broker, click Submit.
     • NETWORKREDIRECTORPOLICY: Use this operation to add, modify, or delete configuration settings for the Network Redirector Policy that was deployed as part of this pattern instance. Expand the Network Redirector Connections node to display the connections, addresses, and ports that are defined. You can modify the redirection address and port information to redirect network flow to another destination, and add or delete configuration settings as needed. Click Submit to save your changes.
     • SSH: To add or update the virtual machine SSH public key, type the public key in the Public Key field and click Submit. To remove the virtual machine SSH public keys, click Submit.
   • Click Links to view the endpoint links for the instance.

   Maintain

   Note: These actions are not available if you are not a hardware administrator, or you are not a user with minimum write permissions and not assigned to the instance.

   Click Maintain to put the virtual system instance in maintenance mode. Use maintenance mode when you apply fixes or other upgrades to virtual systems. When a virtual system instance is in maintenance mode, you can stop and start the individual role virtual machines within the application without activating the recovery or scaling policies. After you are finished with the instance in maintenance mode, click Resume to remove the instance from maintenance mode.

   When an instance is running in maintenance mode, it runs as normal; however some accommodations are made so that the instance can be maintained while it is running. An instance that is in maintenance mode has several features that are suppressed such as auto scaling and auto recovery, and you can manually start and stop virtual machines. When a virtual system instance is running in maintenance mode, click Stop to initiate scripts that ensure that middleware that is running on the virtual machine can be stopped safely.

   Resume

   Resumes a stopped virtual system instance.

   Delete

   Removes the virtual system instance from the cloud. All associated cloud resources are released, and the virtual system instance is no longer a factor in placement decisions.

   Refresh

   Refreshes the status of the virtual system instance and updates the fields on the Virtual System Instances pane.

   Details for the selected virtual system instance

   Name

   Shows the name of the virtual system instance.

   ID

   Shows the ID associated with the deployment.

   Status

   Shows the status and health status of the deployment. Click Store to store the virtual system instance to release all resources. The status values are listed in the following table:

   Table 1. Possible status values for a deployment

   Status	Deployment description	Virtual machine description
   Error	An error occurred during deployment. Check the logs and determine the cause of the error before you redeploy the virtual application.	The virtual machine status.
   Failed	The deployment process could not be started because of either the application configuration or a failure that is occurring in the infrastructure cloud.	The virtual machine did not start successfully.
   Installing	Not applicable	The components of the virtual application are being provisioned on the virtual machine.
   Launching	The virtual system is being deployed.	The virtual machine is being provisioned on the infrastructure cloud.
   Not_Ready	The virtual system instance is in maintenance mode.	The Not_Ready status does not apply to virtual machines.
   Queuing	The deployment is scheduled for a date and time in the future.
   Registering	The virtual machine is being deployed by registering it with the hypervisor.
   Running	Resources are actively running in the infrastructure cloud.	The components of the virtual system are running on the virtual machine and can be accessed.
   Saferunning	For more information, see Agent is running in safe mode.
   Starting	The virtual machine is started.
   Stopped	The virtual system instance is stopped. The virtual system can be made available again by starting the instance.	The virtual machine is stopped and it can be restarted. Note: The virtual machines in Stopped state are not displayed under the Manage > Logging.
   Stopping	The virtual system instance is stopping.	The virtual machine is being stopped.
   Stored	The virtual system instance is stored. No processor, memory, network, or data resources are reserved for stored instances. The virtual system can be started only if resources are available.	The virtual machine is stored. It can be started only if resources are available.
   Storing	The virtual system instance is storing.	The virtual machine is being stored.
   Terminated	The virtual system instance resources are deleted. History files are retained.	The virtual machine is deleted and resources were released.
   Terminating	The virtual system instance resources are being deleted.	The virtual machine is being deleted and its resources are released.
   Transferring	Transferring the image to the hypervisor.
   Unknown	Status cannot be determined by IBM® Workload Deployer or IBM WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance.
   Unknown status	Status cannot be determined by IWD or WCA.

   Created by

   Shows the user who deployed the virtual system instance.

   Created on

   Specifies the date and time when the virtual system instance was created.

   In cloud group

   Shows the cloud group for the virtual system instance.

   Running in environment profile

   Shows the environment profile, if any, that was used to deploy the virtual system instance by providing a link to that profile. Click the link to display details for that environment profile.

   Pattern Details

   Expand to display the pattern details.

   Priority

   Specifies the priority of the deployment (such as Low, Medium, or High).

   Select a deployment priority to change the deployment priority values for a High, Medium, or Low priority deployment:

   • Platinum - High(16) Medium(8) Low(4)
   • Gold - High(12) Medium(6) Low(3)
   • Silver - High(8) Medium(4) Low(2)
   • Bronze - High(4) Medium(2) Low(1)

   The deployment priorities available are determined by the environment profile used for the virtual system instance. For more information, see the Related tasks section.

   To change the current deployment priority:

   1. Click Change.
   2. Select the appropriate priority.
   3. Click OK.

   Notes:

   1. The virtual system instance must be in maintenance mode to change the deployment priority. To place the virtual system instance in maintenance mode, click Maintain.
   2. In a multisystem deployment subdomain, the deployment priority is distributed to all systems in the deployment subdomain. Each system in the deployment subdomain then changes the priority of the local deployments.

   Referenced shared services

   Shows the shared services that are referenced by the virtual system instance by providing a link to the shared service instance. Click the link to display details on the shared service.

   Pattern type

   Shows that pattern type that the pattern was built from. Click Check for updates to see whether any upgrades are available. See the Related tasks section for information about installing fixes.

   From pattern

   Shows the pattern that the virtual system instance was deployed from by providing a link to the pattern. Click the link to display details about the pattern.

   Applicable for environment profile(s)

   Shows a list of multi-cloud environment profiles when the shared service instance is available to clients. Click Add environment profile(s) to make the shared service available in additional environment profiles.

   Note: Applicable for environment profile(s) is available only when the shared service is deployed in a multi-cloud environment profile and supports availability in other multi-cloud environment profiles.

   Chargeback

   Preview a list of organization profiles that are associated to this virtual system instance. You can search for the profile you want from the list of available organization profiles and select the appropriate one. When needed, from the Actions column, you can delete the selected organization profile.

   Snapshots

   Includes a link to the snapshot image, if any, that was taken for this virtual system instance. There can be only one snapshot image. The snapshot image is processed individually for each virtual machine in your instance, so it is not consistent across the virtual machines. If you want a consistent snapshot, stop your instance before creating the snapshot.

   When a snapshot is created through the console or command-line interface, all previous snapshots for the virtual machines in the instance are deleted, even snapshots that were not created by Cloud Pak System. After you create a snapshot, do not manually create a second virtual machine snapshot through the Cloud Pak System REST API. If you create this second snapshot, the next snapshot restore might use the newer virtual machine snapshot, and therefore the restored instance would be inconsistent.

   Use the following actions to work with the snapshot images:

   Note: The following actions are not available if you are not a hardware administrator, or you are not a user with minimum write permissions and not assigned to the instance.

   Create a snapshot

   Creates a new snapshot.

   Disable a snapshot

   Disables snapshots for the instance. If snapshots are disabled, no snapshot is taken before maintenance is applied.

   Enable a snapshot

   Enables snapshots for the instance if they were previously disabled.

   Manage

   Click the Restore icon to restore the snapshot image. The virtual machine will be stopped and the snapshot image restored.

   Click the Delete a snapshot icon to remove the snapshot image.

   Middleware perspective

   Shows the middleware that is running in the virtual system instance. Expand the section to view the details for that middleware.

   • Click the Endpoint link to display endpoint information. More than one endpoint is supported for a deployment with DB2; for example, an endpoint for the application developer and one for the database administrator.
   • Name shows the name of the virtual machine where the middleware is running by providing a link to the virtual machine instance. Click the link to view details on the virtual machine.
   • VM Status shows the status of the virtual machine. Click the Logs link to view logs for the virtual machine.
     Note: You can view logs if you are a hardware administrator or a user with minimum write permissions and assigned to the instance.
   • Middleware Status shows the status of the middleware that you are viewing the details for.

   Virtual machine perspective

   Shows details for the virtual machines in the virtual system instance, including health status.

   Note: You can view and download logs from Log Viewer and from Must Gather Logs if you are a hardware administrator or a user with minimum write permissions and assigned to the instance.

   History

   Show the activity history for the virtual system instance.

   Access granted to

   Specifies the user who first deployed the virtual system instance. This user is automatically granted all access to the virtual system instance as the owner. If you want more users to access this virtual system instance, you must grant access to those users.