How to set up so that VMs will start automatically when Host restart ?

[TonyJK]

We lost power this morning and all ESX 4 Hosts are down. When the power is back, we observe that VMs are not started up automatically.

We find we haven't enabled "Start and Stop Virtual Machines with the System". In this way, we have enabled it.

We would like to know, is it necessary to move all VMs (those we would like to get them started up automatically when the host is up) from "Manual Startup" to "Any Order" ?

Besides, as the setting is on individual ESX Host, will the setting (i.e. automatic start at any order) for a particular VM be carried over to another ESX host if is has been vMotioned ?

Thanks

[lamw]

Configuring auto power on/off is done at ESX(i) level, these settings do not carry over to another host. If your hosts is being managed by vCenter and is part of HA cluster, then you can configure the restart priority if you lose host and will restart the VMs in the order you specify. If you lose all hosts, then this won't really help and you'll need to manually power up all your VMs

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William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

Twitter: @lamw

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[TonyJK]

Dear William,

Many thanks for your advice.

I would like to clarify

1) Auto Power On / Off for VM applies to VM when the ESX Host (that VM resides on) is turned on ?

2) I just applied the latest patches on ESX 4.0 & 3.5 Hosts and the "Start and Stop VMs with the system" is disabled (it is enabled before), does it mean that we have to enable this feature when the ESX host is rebooted ?

3) If we lose all ESX Hosts (Like Power Failure), when we turn the ESX Host on (one by one), does it mean that we still have to start VMs one by one manually ?

Thanks

Tony

[lamw · Accepted solution]

1) Yes it applies per host and is not shared between any other host and by default is disabled. You need to enable it by going to configuration tab a look for "Virtual Machine startup/shutdown" and enable and set the priority/delay for your VMs

2) I personally don't use this feature, it could have been the case that the update defaulted the settings back .... it would be surprising if this was the case, I would re-enable and try to shutdown or reboot and see if this is the case. If it's the latter, I would file a ticket with VMware if you have a support contract

3) No, if everything is setup correctly and the modification of the startup/shutdown is persisted through reboots, they should automatically power up the VMs in the list you've specified.

=========================================================================

William Lam

VMware vExpert 2009

VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at:

Twitter: @lamw

VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators

VMware Developer Comuunity

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

[CEMScales]

Sorry to butt in but is there a way that when you want to reboot/shutdown your ESXi it will automatically shutdown your VMs in a safe manner?

[skayser]

Configuring auto power on/off is done at ESX(i) level, these settings do not carry over to another host.

As an addition to this: The general, not-per-VM "automatic start/stop" settings are indeed configured per host. So you need to make sure to at least enable "Allow virtual machines to start and stop automatically with the system" on all your ESX hosts. However, when you vMotion a VM which is configured to autostart with "Any Order" from one host to another, this per-VM setting is retained. When you vMotion a VM which is configured to start within a specific order ("Automatic Startup"), this order won't be retained and the VM will end up in the "Any Order" category on the second host.

Just tested yesterday with 4.0U1. Might be different with other releases.

Sebastian

[TonyJK]

Dear William,

I have tested and confirmed that when the ESX 4.0 Host is rebooted, the "Start and Stop VMs with the system" feature is disabled.

In this way, my understanding is "If all ESX Hosts lose power, they will disable that feature when start up and VMs will not be able to start up automatically".

Regards

Tony