Record your hypervisor clusters, the servers that host them, and every virtual machine and virtual appliance on them: where each runs now, what it runs, its size and its addresses.

Overview

A host is a server, or hyperconverged storage, with its Hypervisor set: VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Proxmox VE, XCP-ng, Nutanix AHV or Other. A cluster groups hosts (a vSphere, Nutanix AHV, Proxmox VE, Hyper-V or XCP-ng cluster) and holds the virtual machines that move between them. A host on its own needs no cluster.

A virtual machine or virtual appliance (a firewall, load balancer or controller delivered as a VM) belongs to a cluster, or to a standalone host, and can name the host it runs on now. Its Status is one you record: Active (in service), Inactive (kept but not in use: powered off on purpose, a cold standby, a template) or Decommissioned. TekStacks does not watch the machine, so the status says what you decided, not whether it is powered on right now. Moving it to another host is kept in its history, so you can see where it ran last month.

Virtual machines are not equipment: they have no asset tag or label, are never assigned, lent, racked or cabled, and do not count toward your plan's equipment. Clusters and virtual machines are on every plan.

• Infrastructure, Clusters lists each cluster with its platform, location and how many hosts and virtual machines it has.
• A cluster's page shows the vCPUs and memory given to its virtual machines against its hosts' own cores and memory, its management address, its hosts and its virtual machines with their status, operating system and addresses.
• Infrastructure, Virtual machines lists them with their status, cluster and host, operating system, size and addresses. Filter by Status, Kind or Cluster. Decommissioned ones are left out unless you filter for them.
• A virtual machine's page shows its details, its addresses, the documentation pages that link to it, the changes that touched it, its Vault secrets, its license seats and its history.
• A host's own equipment page has a Virtual machines section listing what runs on it, with its cluster.

Search finds virtual machines by name, hostname or operating system, and clusters by name, under Infrastructure.

Requirements

• Plan: any plan. Recording addresses on a virtual machine needs Network documentation, since addresses live in subnets.
• Role: to see clusters and virtual machines, See VLANs, subnets and addresses (every built in role by default). To add and change them, Add, edit and delete VLANs, subnets and addresses (Admin, Manager and Technician by default). Setting a server's hypervisor and cluster on its equipment page needs Edit equipment.

Make a server a host

1. Open the server (or the storage) and click Edit.
2. Under Details, choose its Hypervisor. Fill in CPU cores and RAM too, so cluster pages can total its capacity.
3. Choose its Cluster, or leave None, a standalone host.
4. Save.

You can also add a host from the cluster's page with Add host, which offers this client's hosts that are in no cluster.

Add a cluster

1. Open Infrastructure, then Clusters, and click Add cluster.
2. Enter its Name and choose its Platform.
3. Optionally choose its Location and enter its Management address, such as your vCenter, Prism or Proxmox web address, and Notes.
4. Save, then add its hosts.

Add a virtual machine

1. Open Infrastructure, then Virtual machines, and click Add virtual machine.
2. Choose the Kind: Virtual machine or Virtual appliance.
3. Enter its Name as the hypervisor lists it.
4. Choose its Cluster and the host it Runs on, or for a standalone host leave the cluster empty and choose its Host.
5. Optionally enter its Hostname, Operating system (or an appliance's Product) and Version, an appliance's Vendor, its vCPUs, Memory and Disks, any custom fields and Notes.
6. Save.

To record an address, open the virtual machine and click Add address under Addresses, then choose the subnet and enter the address. You can also choose the virtual machine when you record an address on a subnet's page (see Subnets and IP addresses).

Move or decommission one

• To record a move, click Edit and choose the host it Runs on now. Its history shows the old and new host.
• When it is gone for good, click Decommission and confirm. It is kept, with its history, cluster and host, and left out of the lists. Turn on Release its addresses to free them in their subnets. To bring one back, edit it and set it Active again.

Notes

Note: A host keeps its hypervisor and its cluster while virtual machines depend on them. Move them to another host first, or the change is refused with their names.

Note: A cluster is never deleted. Archive it so it is no longer offered; its hosts and virtual machines keep it.

Note: Custom fields can apply to Virtual machines (see Custom fields), and a per device license can give a seat to a virtual machine (see Software and licenses).

Note: Link a virtual machine from a documentation page by its name in double brackets, such as [[FS-02]].

Troubleshooting

The host I want is not offered. Only servers and storage with a Hypervisor set are hosts. Edit the equipment and set it. With a cluster chosen, only that cluster's hosts are offered.

Add address is missing. Addresses live in subnets, which need Network documentation on your plan and permission to change network records.

Taking a host out of its cluster was refused. That cluster's virtual machines run on it. Edit them to run on another host first.