Adding Disk Space

If you need to increase the disk size on your Virtual Machine (VM), submit the Contact Us (Requests) form to request the increase. Be sure to include:

• name of your VM
• existing disk size
• requested new size.

Once your request is closed, you will need to configure your operating system (OS) to utilize the free space on your hard disk.

For a Windows system, see Extend a Basic Volume.
For a Linux system, see How to Resize a Partition using fdisk.

Adding or Removing Memory

If you need to change your memory size, use the Contact Us (Requests) form to request the change to your Virtual Machine (VM). Be sure to include:

• name of your VM
• amount of memory to add or subtract

VM Snapshots

VM Snapshot is a copy of the virtual machine’s disk file at a given point in time. Snapshots alone are not to be used as a backup method at NCSU. The ideal use of snapshot is for major OS or application update in which there is risk. The snapshot will allow for a restore method in the event of failure or corruption during the upgrade.

Due to storage considerations, snapshot requests are evaluated and managed by Platform Compute Staff and expected to be deleted or recreated after 7 days. If you need a snapshot use the Contact Us (Requests) form to request a snapshot or submit an email to oit_platform@help.ncsu.edu. Please include:

• name of your VM
• time to initiate the snapshot
• or if to restore or delete an existing snapshot

Changing the Virtual Machine Power State

The power state of a virtual machine indicates whether the virtual machine is active and functional.
To change the power state :

1. Go to Inventory > Virtual Machine.
2. From the menu, select the virtual machine and the power option.
3. From the Command area, select (Power on).
4. From the right-click menu, select the appropriate power option.

Power Options

• Power on
  Powers on the virtual machine and boots the guest OS (if installed).
• Power off
  Powers off the virtual machine. The virtual machine does not attempt to shut down the guest OS gracefully.
• Suspend
  Pauses the virtual machine activity. All virtual machine operations are frozen until you issue a Resume command.
• Resume
  Allows virtual machine activity to continue and releases the Suspend state.
• Reset
  Shuts down the guest OS and restarts it.
• Shut Down
  Graceful shut down of the OS.
• Reboot
  Graceful Reboot of the OS.

Connecting to your Virtual Machine

There are three methods to connect to your Virtual Machine (VM). You may need to connect to the NC State Virtual Private Networking Service to access these:

• vSphere Web Client (HTML 5)
  This allows you to connect from your web browser (Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer). The HTML 5 client has a few limitations.

The Fat client was deprecated with Vcenter 6.5,

Determine your MAC address

A Machine Access Control (MAC) address is the unique identifier used to physically deliver packets to your host.  It may also be referred to as the “physical” or “hardware” address for a network card. To locate the MAC address of your hosts:

1. Login to vSphere (See Connecting to your Virtual Machine above).
2. In the “Search” bar (upper right corner), enter the name of your virtual machine.
3. From the dropdown menu of matching items, select your VM.
4. In the “VM Hardware” section, expand the Network Adapter.
   This displays your MAC address, status, and VLAN connection information.

Installing or Reinstalling the OS on your Virtual Machine

The default method for OS deployment is to utilize one of these:

• Linux Web Kickstart environment
• WolfTech Windows Deployment Service environment.

The first time you power on your machine, it should network boot and give you the option to install an OS from one of these two services.

If you need an OS other than what either of these services provides, you can attach an ISO to the VM and boot from it.

If you need installation OS assistance, please contact the Hosted Systems group.

Installing the Avamar Backup Agent

1. Download the Avamar Agent for your OS.
2. Follow the on-screen instructions to install it.
3. When prompted for a server name, enter:
   an00.unity.ncsu.edu
4. Once the Avamar Agent has been installed, use the Contact Us (Requests) form to request the system be added to the backup schedule.

Installing VMware Tools

VMware Tools are a series of drivers that improve the performance of your Virtual Machine (VM).

For Windows

Once you have joined the WolfTech domain, the VMware Tools are usually installed automatically via SCCM.

For Linux

Installing the open-vm-tools package from your package manager is all you need to do.

 

SCCM Groups to use for VMware

For VMware Tools

• <Your-OU>-EX-VMware-VMware Tools-<latest-published-version>
  or
• <Your-OU>-EX-VMware-VMware Tools-<latest-published-version>-SS
  (SS is for Self-Service and will require a manual reboot).

For Avamar Backup Agent

• Please contact oit_platform@help.ncsu.edu to get started.
• Image level backups are enabled for majority of OIT hosted virtual machines with the exception of databases or extremely large VMs.  To be enabled for your VMs a brief consult to set the appropriate schedules will needed to before enabling for your specific VMs.  No local Avamar agents are required for majority of VMs.