Access VM: Supported Modes
When a VM is created from a template or ISO, all template tags must be copied to VM. Certain tags are interpreted in a special way when a user wants to get an access to a VM.
There are three access modes currently supported: VNC, SSH, HTTP.
VNC console access mode. This mode does not allow passing certain arguments inside and is provided natively by CloudStack. VNC mode assumes that a user applies local OS authentication method, e.g. console login for Unix, UI-based login for Windows. Anyway, a user needs to know certain credentials - a login and a password.
Templates may be password enabled, so when a VM is created and started they generate a password and return it back. In case a VM is created as stopped, the password is generated at the VM start later. Basically, our system supports storing this password into the "csui.vm.password" tag.
Another thing a user should know is a login which may differ from template to template, e.g. in Windows - Administrator or even Администратор, for UNIX-based - root, administrator, ubuntu, centos, etc. It can be any name, actually. When creating VMs, users do not know that name beforehand. In the CloudStack-UI we implemented a feature - Access VM component - that helps a user to get acknowledged of the credentials to type in to get access to the VM via VNC console. This component provides access credentials for those access modes that are enabled for a VM. See details below.
SSH access mode. This mode is the default option for Unix. This access mode is defined by template tags:
csui.vm.auth-mode = SSH
csui.vm.ssh.login = login
csui.vm.ssh.password = password
csui.vm.ssh.port = port
HTTP access mode. This mode is useful for templates with ready to use web systems deployed, like Wordpress, etc. It is regulated by next variables:
csui.vm.auth-mode = HTTP
csui.vm.http.protocol = HTTP|HTTPS
csui.vm.http.port =
csui.vm.http.path =
csui.vm.http.login =
csui.vm.http.password =
In certain cases all three access modes may coexist. E.g. for template tags:
csui.vm.auth-mode=HTTP,SSH
csui.vm.http.protocol=HTTP
csui.vm.http.login=Admin
csui.vm.http.password=zabbix
csui.vm.ssh.port=22
csui.vm.ssh.login=appliance
csui.vm.ssh.password=zabbix
Access VM component allows a user to obtain all necessary credentials to access a VM in the final dialog box shown after VM creation, or later when a user selects a corresponding action in the VM Action box. Access VM component is implemented by defining the special template or machine tags. These tags determine the view and content of the Access VM dialog box. For today, we support three VM access modes: VNC, SSH, HTTP.
- Access VM component for accessing a machine via VNC console extends the CloudStack feature enabling a template owner to determine a login to access a machine.
- Access VM component for accessing a machine via SSH allows a user to get all necessary credentials to access a VM with SSH. In case the WebShell plugin is enabled, a user can SSH to VM in a browser.
- Access VM component for accessing a machine via HTTP is useful for templates with ready to use web systems deployed, such as SugarCRM or Wordpress. This tab in the dialog box provides a user with all necessary details to access a machine in a browser.
All three modes can be used for one machine at the same time. In this case, all three tabs - VNC console, SSH, HTTP - will be active in the dialog box.