6.3

Table Of Contents
Working With Actions That Use Power Off Allowed
Some of the actions provided with vRealize Operations Manager require the virtual machines to shut down
or power o, depending on the conguration of the target machines, to run the actions. You should
understand the impact of the Power O Allowed option before running the actions so that you select the
best options for your target virtual machines.
Power Off and Shut Down
The actions that you can run on your vCenter Server instances include actions that shut down virtual
machines and actions that power o virtual machines. It also includes actions where the virtual machine
must be in a powered o state to complete the action. Whether the virtual machine is shut down or powered
o depends on how it is congured and what options you select when you run the action.
The shut down action shuts down the guest operating system and then powers o the virtual machine. To
shut down a virtual machine from vRealize Operations Manager, the VMware Tools must be installed and
running on the target objects.
The power o action turns the virtual machine o without regard for the state of the guest operating system.
In this case, if the virtual machine is running applications, your user could lose data. After the action is
nished, for example, modifying the CPU count, the virtual machine is returned to the power state it was in
when the action began.
Power Off Allowed and VMware Tools
For the actions where you are increasing the CPU count or the amount of memory on a virtual machine,
some operating systems support the actions if the Hot Plug is congured on the virtual machine, but for
other operating systems, the virtual machine must be in a powered o state to change the conguration. To
accommodate this need where the VMware Tools are not running, the Set CPU Count, Set Memory, and Set
CPU Count and Memory actions include the Power O Allowed option.
If you select Power O Allowed, and the machine is running, the action veries whether VMware Tools is
installed and running.
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If VMware Tools are installed and running, the virtual machine is shut down before completing the
action.
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If VMware Tools are not running or not installed, the virtual machine is powered o without regard for
the state of the operating system.
If you do not select Power O Allowed and you are decreasing the CPU count or memory, or the hot plug is
not enabled for increasing the CPU count or memory, the action does not run and the failure is reported in
Recent Tasks.
Power Off Allowed When Changing CPU Count or Memory
When you run the actions that change the CPU count and the amount of memory, you must consider several
factors to determine if you want to use the Power O Allowed option. These factors include whether you are
increasing or decreasing the CPU or memory and whether the target virtual machines are powered on. If
you increasing the CPU or memory values, whether hot plug is enabled also aects how you apply the
option when you run the action.
How you use Power O Allowed when you are decreasing the CPU count or the amount of memory
depends on the power state of the target virtual machines.
Chapter 1 Monitoring Objects in Your Managed Environment by Using vRealize Operations Manager
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