Manage the power state of VMs that use VM Runtime on Google Distributed Cloud

This document is intended for application owners that run Google Distributed Cloud. This document shows you how to manage the power state of virtual machines (VMs) that use VM Runtime on Google Distributed Cloud.

You can stop, start, and restart VMs as needed to support the lifecycle of your applications. For example, you may want to change the number of assigned vCPUs or amount of memory. After you edit the configuration of your VM, you must cycle the power state to apply the changes.

Before you begin

To complete this document, you need access to the following resources:

• A VM that runs in one of your clusters. If needed, create a VM in Google Distributed Cloud .
• The virtctl client tool installed as a plugin for kubectl . If needed, install the virtctl client tool .

Stop a VM

When you stop a VM, compute resources such as CPU and memory are freed from the underlying host. The VM is shut down.

To stop a VM that's in a running state, use the following steps.

1. Use kubectl to stop a VM:

      
   kubectl  
   virt  
   stop  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM that you want to stop.

2. Check the STATUS of your VM:

      
   kubectl  
   get  
   gvm  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   The following example output shows the VM in a Stopped state:

      
   NAME  
   STATUS  
   AGE  
   IP  
   vm1  
   Stopped  
   1m  
    192 
   .168.2.72 
   

Start a VM

To start a VM that's in a stopped state, use the following steps.

1. Use kubectl to start a VM:

      
   kubectl  
   virt  
   start  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM that you want to start.

2. Check the STATUS of your VM:

      
   kubectl  
   get  
   gvm  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   The following example output shows the VM in a Running state:

      
   NAME  
   STATUS  
   AGE  
   IP  
   vm1  
   Running  
   1m  
    192 
   .168.2.72 
   

Restart a VM

To restart a VM that's in a running state, use the following steps.

1. Use kubectl to restart a VM:

      
   kubectl  
   virt  
   restart  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   Replace VM_NAME with the name of the VM that you want to restart.

2. Check the STATUS of your VM:

      
   kubectl  
   get  
   gvm  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   The following example output shows the VM in a Stopping state:

      
   NAME  
   STATUS  
   AGE  
   IP  
   vm1  
   Stopping  
   7s  
    192 
   .168.2.72 
   

3. Check the STATUS of your VM again after a minute or two:

      
   kubectl  
   get  
   gvm  
    VM_NAME 
    
   

   After the VM has successfully restarted, the following example output shows the VM in a Running state again:

      
   NAME  
   STATUS  
   AGE  
   IP  
   vm1  
   Running  
   1m  
    192 
   .168.2.73 
   

   This example VM uses an ephemeral pod IP address, so the address changes when the VM restarts.

What's next

• Edit a VM in Google Distributed Cloud .
• When you no longer need VMs, Delete a VM in Google Distributed Cloud .