With Machine Shutdown/Power Off, Virtual Machines (VMs) can be run, shut down, and powered off in an active environment. This is designed to provide VMs with comprehensive management capabilities that are similar to physical machines. Scenarios can be simulated to where instructors can power down and disconnect VMs from the network, while an environment or multiple environments are running.
This could happen, for example, if you need to simulate a failure, outage, or cyber security disaster.
Action buttons allow you to perform many basic control activities on the selected environment, directly from the Environment Details page.
- Clicking Shut Down will power off the selected machine (s). This action will invoke a ‘graceful’ shutdown.
- Powering off a VM enables you to stop any activity, and store the environment in its current state.
- Powering on a VM reactivates the environment after it has been suspended.
To enable these action buttons:
- Go to the Environment Details screen, via Edit Environment > Edit Hardware..
- For each VM that you want to enable, select Enable machine power off/shutdown.
- Click Save Changes to save your changes..
The availability of an action will depend on the current status of the environment and CloudShare operation logic. For example, in order to power on a VM, it must already be in powered off status. These settings are enabled from the Project Details > Permissions page.
To shut down a VM:
From the Environment Details page, click Shut Down to power off selected machines.
This action will invoke a ‘graceful’ shutdown. You can see this in the VM display area of the Viewer, as illustrated below.
The Forced Power Off action functions as an interrupted shutdown.
You can also power on certain VMs manually, by clicking Power On.
Note: Machines that are powered down will remain down until manually powered on.