3.16.6 Start Virtual Machine
Function
Turns on the power to multiple virtual servers in a VMware vSphere environment.
This service template assumes the following server:
• vCenter server
This is a server on which VMware vCenter Server is installed.
• vCenter control server
This is a server on which VMware vSphere PowerCLI is installed.
• Virtual server
This is a virtual server managed by the vCenter server and VMware vSphere ESX.
The following provides an overview of the processing.
(1) Obtains the power status of each virtual server.
(2) If a virtual server's power status is off, the service template turns it on.
(3) Sends an ICMP echo request to verify that a virtual server has started.
The service template performs the above processing on the specified group of virtual servers in parallel.
When a virtual server is being started, the service template waits for the amount of time (in seconds) specified in the vmware.checkPowerStateInterval property and performs an operation to determine if the power is on, which it does up to the number of times specified in the vmware.checkPowerStateCount property. If the default values are not suitable, specify values that are suitable for your environment.
Prerequisites
For the latest support information about [Required product for the system]/[Required products for the service template execution system]/[Prerequisite product OS running in the system executing the service template], see the release notes.
[Required product for the system]
JP1/Automatic Operation 12-00 or later
[Required products for the service template execution system]
(1) Required product for the vCenter server
• VMware vCenter Server 7.0, 6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5, 5.1, 5.0, 4.1, or 4.0
(2) VMware vSphere ESXi (or VMware ESX Server) that manages virtual servers
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0, 6.7, 6.5, 6.0, 5.5, 5.1 or 5.0 or VMware ESX Server 4.1 or 4.0
(3) Required product for the vCenter control server
• VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release1, 6.0 Release3, 6.0 Release1, 5.8 Release1, 5.5 Release2, 5.5 Release1, 5.1 Release2, 5.0
• VMware PowerCLI 6.5 Release1
• VMware PowerCLI 6.5.1, 6.5.4
· VMware PowerCLI 10.1.0, 10.1.1, 11.3.0, 12.0.0, 12.1.0
[Prerequisite product OS running in the system executing the service template]
(1)Prerequisite OS of the virtual server
The following OSs are supported, based on the required products for the vCenter server and the required products for the VMware vSphere ESXi (or VMware ESX Server)/vCenter control server that manages the virtual server.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2016 Standard/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2019 Standard/Datacenter
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 (32-bit x86),Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 (64-bit x86_64)(for vCenter4.1 or later; not supported by vCenter4.0)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 7 (64-bit x86_64)
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 8 (64-bit x86_64)
• CentOS 6 (64-bit x86_64)
• CentOS 7 (64-bit x86_64)
• CentOS 8 (64-bit x86_64)
(2) Required OS for the vCenter control server
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard/Enterprise/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2012 Standard/Datacenter, Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2016 Standard/Datacenter
• Windows Server 2019 Standard/Datacenter
[Usage conditions of prerequisite products in the system executing the service template]
(1) VMware vSphere ESXi (or VMware ESX Server) is managed by VMware vCenter Server.
(2) Each virtual server name is unique among the vCenter servers.
(3) The firewall of the target virtual server is set to allow for responses to ICMP (ECHO).
(4) VMwareTools is installed on the target virtual server.
Cautions
(1) The VMware vSphere ESXi (or VMware ESX Server) that is to be started cannot be specified. Start the service template on VMware vSphere ESXi (or VMware ESX Server) that contains virtual servers.
(2) Adjust the ICMP echo timeout value (common.icmpEchoTimeout property) as appropriate for the local environment.
(3) Depending on the state of the system environment, the virtual server might successfully start but the network connection check might fail, possibly causing the task to end abnormally.
Check the task log to see if an error has occurred with the network connection check (the component "Obtain the IP address of a virtual server" (vsphereGetVMIPaddress) or the component "Send ICMP echo request message" (osSendIcmp)).
If an error has occurred in these components, check if the virtual server has started.
(4) If a large number of IP addresses (#1) are set for the NIC of the virtual server, an error might occur in the component "Send ICMP echo request message" and the task might end abnormally. Check that the total length of the IP addresses set for the NIC is within 1,024 characters.
#1: The following addresses are to be set. For example, if 64 or less addresses are set for IPv4 only, no problem will occur.
- IPv4 (maximum length is 16 characters)
- IPv4 (maximum length is 36 characters)
- IPv4 and IPv6 set by DHCP
Execution privilege
(1) The user who will be connecting to VMware vCenter Server needs the following permissions:
Role with read-only and power-on permissions for the target virtual server, or system administrator role
(2) The user who will be connecting to vCenter operation server must have the following permissions:
Built-in Administrator
Version
03.00.00
Tags
Control VM,VMware vSphere
Property list
The following shows the list of the property groups set in the property:
|
Property group |
Description |
Initial display |
|---|---|---|
|
Virtual system environment information |
Specify the VMware vCenter Server information. |
Y |
|
Virtual server information |
Specify the information for the virtual server to be started. |
Y |
|
Run-time options |
These are properties related to checking the status when starting the virtual server. Modify as necessary. |
N |
The following shows the list of the properties to be displayed in the "Service Definition" window:
- (Legend)
-
R: The property must be specified.
O: The property can be omitted. However, the property might be mandatory depending on what is specified for other properties. See the Description of each property.
|
Property key |
Property name |
Description |
I/O type |
Shared |
Required |
Property group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
vmware.targetHost |
Host name of VMware vCenter control server |
Specify the host name or IP address of the server (a server with vSphere PowerCLI installed) that will be used to control VMware vCenter. You cannot specify an IPv6 address. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.vCenterServerName |
VMware vCenter server name |
Specify the host name or IP address of the VMware vCenter server. You cannot specify an IPv6 address. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.userName |
User name for VMware vCenter Server connection |
Specify the user name to use when connecting to the VMware vCenter server. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.password |
Password for VMware vCenter Server connection |
Specify the password to use when connecting to the VMware vCenter server. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.portNumber |
Port number for VMware vCenter Server connection |
Specify the port number to use when connecting to the VMware vCenter server (specifically, the port number of the VMware vCenter server's Web service). If you omit this property, the default value of the VMware vCenter server applies. |
Input |
Disabled |
O |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.protocol |
Protocol for VMware vCenter Server connection |
Specify the protocol to use when connecting to the VMware vCenter server. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual system environment information |
|
vmware.checkPowerStateCount |
Power status check count |
Specify the number of times the service attempts to check the power status to confirm that the virtual server has started. The maximum wait time is determined by this property and the property that defines the power status check interval. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Run-time options |
|
vmware.checkPowerStateInterval |
Power status check interval |
Specify the interval at which the service attempts to acquire the power status to confirm that the virtual server has started. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Run-time options |
|
common.icmpEchoTimeout |
Timeout period for ICMP echo requests |
Specify in milliseconds how long the service waits for a reply to an ICMP echo request sent to confirm startup of a virtual server. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Run-time options |
The following shows the list of the properties to be displayed on the "Service Definition" window and the "Submit Service" window:
|
Property key |
Property name |
Description |
I/O type |
Shared |
Required |
Property group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
vmware.foreachVmName |
Virtual server name(s) |
Specify the virtual server name or names. Specify server names as they appear in VMware vCenter Server, not by host name. Separate multiple virtual servers with commas. The maximum number of virtual servers you can specify is 99. |
Input |
Disabled |
R |
Virtual server information |
The following shows the list of the properties to be displayed in the "Task Details" window only:
|
Property key |
Property name |
Description |
I/O type |
Shared |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
common.taskResult |
Results of repeating tasks |
This property contains the results of each task (as "true" or "false"), in a comma-delimited format. |
Output |
Disabled |
The following shows the restrictions on inputs to the properties displayed in the "Service Definition" window:
|
Property key |
Characters that can be input |
|---|---|
|
vmware.targetHost |
A maximum of 256 characters can be entered. Characters that can be used include alphanumeric characters, as well as . and -. |
|
vmware.vCenterServerName |
A maximum of 256 characters can be entered. Characters that can be used include alphanumeric characters, as well as . and -. |
|
vmware.userName |
A maximum of 512 characters can be entered. Characters that can be used include alphanumeric characters and symbols. It cannot include <, >, |, ;, &, ', ", *, ?, [, ], `, /, :, =, , , +, %. |
|
vmware.password |
A maximum of 127 characters can be entered. Characters that can be used include alphanumeric characters and symbols. It cannot include <, >, |, ;, &, ', ", *, ?, [, ], `, %. |
|
vmware.portNumber |
Integer between 1 and 65535 can be entered. |
|
vmware.protocol |
Select one of the following values: http,https |
|
vmware.checkPowerStateCount |
Integer between 1 and 3600 can be entered. |
|
vmware.checkPowerStateInterval |
Integer between 1 and 60 can be entered. |
|
common.icmpEchoTimeout |
Integer between 1 and 214783647 can be entered. |
The following shows the restrictions on inputs to the property displayed on the "Service Definition" window and the "Submit Service" window:
|
Property key |
Characters that can be input |
|---|---|
|
vmware.foreachVmName |
A character string of no more than 1024 characters can be entered. It cannot include <, >, |, ;, &, ', ", *, ?, [, ], ` or %. |
Flow specification details
The following table shows the detailed specification of the flow:
|
Hierarchy |
Display name |
Plug-in |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Plug-in name |
Description |
Error recovery method |
||
|
1 |
powerOnVM_vSphere |
Repeated Execution Plug-in |
Sets the power status of multiple virtual servers to ON. |
Eliminate the cause of the error, and then re-execute the service. |