States of VApps and VMs

It is important that administrators clearly understand the different states that virtual appliances and VMs can have in the Abiquo platform and the differences between them. In order to change the state of VMs, users will require the Perform virtual machine actions privilege.

Privilege: Perform virtual machine actions

API Feature

In the API the valid VM states are: NOT_ALLOCATED, ALLOCATED, CONFIGURED, ON, PAUSED, OFF, LOCKED and UNKNOWN. See VirtualMachineResource An additional state for protecting VMs by locking them against user actions is the MAINTENANCE state.

Virtual Machine States

State	Description
Not Allocated	The VM does not exist on the cloud node; it is just a template of the VM to be deployed and it only exists in Abiquo. The physical machine and other resources are not allocated in the cloud node and it is not consuming resources. For example, if you add a VM template to a virtual appliance with a VM that is deployed, the VM you just created is not deployed and its state is not allocated. If you undeploy a virtual appliance, then all the VMs in the virtual appliance will be undeployed, and these VMs will be in the not allocated state.
Allocated	The VM does not exist on the cloud node but a physical machine or provider has been assigned to it. When you deploy a VM, the first step in the deploy process is the resource scheduling or allocation. After resource allocation, the VM is in the allocated state. This state is usually a short step in the deploy process.
Configured	The VM exists on the cloud node. Resources such as network and volumes are allocated to it on the physical machine or in the provider. After the VM is configured in the hypervisor or provider, the VM is in the configured state. This state is usually a short step in the deploy process.
On	The final step in the deploy process is to power on the VM. A VM in the on state is exists in the cloud node and is running.
Paused	The VM exists on the cloud node and the VM is suspended.
Off	The VM exists in the cloud node but it is not running. Resources are still allocated in the cloud node.
Locked	An operation is being performed on the VM. The status bar shows LOCKED but it is covered by the progress notification. VMs awaiting workflow review will be locked with the progress notification "Waiting to be reviewed"
Unknown	The platform does not have information about the current state of the VM but the machine exists on the cloud node. VMs may be put in the UNKNOWN state if there is an issue with a connection to the hypervisor or provider, To delete a VM in the unknown state, you need the "Delete unknown virtual machine" privilege and also access to the enterprise or the "Administer all enterprises privilege". The platform does not display VMs in the UNKNOWN state and their resources on the dashboard and it does not count them in allocation limits for CPU, RAM, and storage.
Maintenance	The administrator can lock or protect a VM for maintenance when it is in any of the deployed states of on, paused, or off. See Protect a VM

Additional VM state in Microsoft Azure

State

Description

Off - Deallocated

The VM exists in Azure but it is deallocated. This means:

It is powered off
It is not consuming any CPU or RAM costs
It does not have any IP addresses assigned to it in Azure

The deallocated state is not an Abiquo VM state, but Abiquo recognizes this state in Azure after a hard power off. A VM in the deallocated state will have the "deallocated" attribute set to "true".

Virtual Appliance States

The virtual appliance states are calculated from the VM states as described below. The state name in the table has the color code for the Virtual appliance in each state.

State	Description
o Empty	There are no VMs in the virtual appliance
o Deployed	All of the VMs are not in the Undeployed state. All the VMs exist in the hypervisor or provider and none are in the Unknown or Locked state. Resources are allocated in the cloud node.
o Undeployed	All the VMs are in the Undeployed state. None of the VMs exist in the hypervisor or provider, and none are in the Unknown or Locked state. The virtual appliance can be seen as a template. Resources are not allocated in the cloud node.
o Partially deployed	This state occurs when a virtual appliance that is in the Deployed state is modified, for example, by adding a new VM. This state indicates that the configuration of the virtual appliance in the cloud node is different to the configuration of the virtual appliance in the Abiquo Server (database). To update the cloud node with the changes, click Deploy all VMs.
o Locked	One or more of the VMs is in the Locked state and none is in the Unknown state. Note: Virtual appliances awaiting workflow review will be locked with VM state Waiting to be reviewed
o Unknown	Some or all of the VMs are in the Unknown state. The virtual appliance state is unknown when the VM states cannot be recovered from the hypervisor or provider. To continue working with this virtual appliance, the system administrator must take action.

Some of these states are shown in the virtual appliances lists in following screenshot:

Deployed State and Powered Off Virtual Machines

The fact that all the VMs in a virtual appliance are powered off does not imply that the virtual appliance is undeployed. A deployed virtual appliance is always consuming resources because the VMs exist in the cloud nodes. An undeployed virtual appliance is not consuming resources. In Microsoft Azure a deployed VM in the "Off - deallocated" state is not consuming cloud resources