Cloudstack

Some important considerations before using the cloud. Please read carefully.

• If the virtual machine is going to be commissioned create it inside of a project so other people can manage it when you are gone. Virtual machines owned by expired accounts not inside projects will be erased.

• If the virtual machine is going to be commissioned and you want it to be accessible from the exterior then you must request a redirection in the proxy web. If the virtual machine is not in a project this redirection can only be requested for six non-extendable months.

• Read the responsible Cloud use guide to learn some important aspects of the resource allocation.

• Default users and passwords for virtual machines can be found in the template list page. Change them as soon as possible to avoid others accessing your machines.

• By default, virtual machine network interfaces CAN'T reach the exterior. Check how to configure traffic from the virtual machine to the exterior.

• There are no automatic backups made of the virtual machines. A monthly copy of the machine can be requested but it implies to poweroff the machine during the process. There is more information at the end of this same page.

• Since the august 2017 upgrade it is possible to resize a disk or to choose a custom root disk size when creating the virtual machine. If you fill in the field or increase the disk size further ahead you'll need to extend the partitioning scheme to the new free space¹⁾²⁾.

• If using additional data disks, you'll have to format and add them manually. Disks are not preformatted.

• The integrated web console is very slow, but works better with Chrome than with Firefox. It is recommended to use this console only for first configuration and troubleshooting. Configure remote access using RDP for Windows and SSH or VNC for Linux as soon as possible.
• Some Linux images (it happens in Ubuntu Server 14.04 (Outdated)) can run out of space in /boot after a few months of running time, because of unattended upgrades and not removing older kernels. Check the free space in /boot and if needing assistance to fix the problem get in touch with the admins. This problem can even prevent the machines from booting.

It is possible to send emails from the virtual machines using the SMTP server of the USC, but to do so it is mandatory to register the machine as a server in the university. Speak with the admins (citius.tic@usc.es) to get the details.

We strongly advise against using external SMTP servers as Gmail in production environments.

Apache Cloudstack is an open source program designed to implement and manage big networks of virtual machines as a computing platform in the cloud with high availability and scalability of type Infraestructure as a service. This allows the CiTIUS researchers to create and manage virtual machines and networks by themselves. More info in the Cloudstack project page .

It is necessary to request activation using the requests and problem reporting form. To access use http://cloudstack.citius.usc.es/. If having trouble accessing using the VPN service use http://172.16.242.200/client/ instead.

Access credentials are the same as for the rest of CiTIUS services. Domain must be left with its default value, usuarios.

Once authenticated, you'll see the Cloudstack's main page:

To log out choose the Logout option in the upper right in the dropdown menu with your username. To end session globally in the domain doesn't affect the Cloudstack session.

Resources in the cloud are scarce. Please, check the responsible use guide before starting.

• Create and destroy a VM
• Network configuration
• Connect to the VM
• VM basic options
• Disk management:add capacity,etc.

• Teamwork (Create a project)
• Create a template from a VM
• Snapshots
• Import a VirtualBox VM

• As a reference, check the Cloudstack manual .

By default VMs are not backed up. Take whatever precautions you see appropriate. It is possible to make monthly backups of VMs. It must be requested filling the requests and problem reporting form indicating for each VM:

• Name of the VM.
• Day of the month to do the backup.

Before making the backup the VM will be shutdown if it was powered on. In that case it will be powered on again after the backup. This process will happen between 3:00 and 7:00. It will take between 10 and 30 minutes depending on disk size. Please note that any required service the VM provides must be configured to autostart after boot.

This backup copy can only be employed in case of a disaster, they are not a first access copy.