{{ $t('productDocDetail.updateTime') }}: 2026-01-01

As one of the basic units of Sangfor's SCP platform to carry services, the virtual machine can manage the entire life cycle of the virtual machine: creation, startup, shut down, import, export, deletion, allocation, revoke, etc.

4.3.1.1Create a Virtual Machine.

Function Description:

The SCP platform supports ISO and built-in (HCI images) to create a new virtual machine and import existing virtual machines from the local node.

Prerequisite

When using an image to create a virtual machine, the required ISO image has been uploaded, or the HCI built-in image has been created.

Precautions:

1. You need to enter the console to manually install the operating system for the virtual machine created through ISO.
2. The virtual machine created by the built-in image can be used directly after creation without installing the operating system manually.

Steps:

1. New virtual machine creation

Step 1.Login to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine, click the New button, and select Create New Virtual Machine.

Step 2.Select the resource pool where the new virtual machine is located, select the required image, and click the Next button.

Note: The automatic image distribution feature is added for the administrator role. This means the current image can also be distributed to the current resource pool if the image is not associated with the resource pool. However, this may increase the time required for VM creation.

Step 3.Go to the Configuration page.

1. Compute
   1. CPU: The number of vCPU cores allocated to the VM, which does not exceed the running node's total number of physical CPU threads.
   2. Memory Size: The memory allocated to the VM, which does not exceed the memory of a single node.
   3. Total number of cores = Number of virtual sockets * Number of cores per socket
   4. CPU Clock Speed Limit: If you select Enable, you can configure the highest clock speed of a VM's vCPUs.

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5. Huge-Page Memory: If huge-page memory is enabled for specific applications, VM performance will be improved, but disks will be pre-allocated, and memory reclaiming will be disabled to guarantee memory for VM and enhance VM performance.
6. Run Location: The run location specifies which node's CPU and memory resources are used when the VM is running, and you can select a node automatically or manually specify a node. When Datastore is set to a stretched datastore, you can also specify the run location of the VM as a fault domain. When specified as a fault domain, you can set the VM to prefer running at the selected location or require it to run only at that location.

2. Storage
   1. Storage Tag: You can select High Performance Storage or Specified. You can select the preferred datastore if Specified is selected. Storage Policy: The default policy stores two replicas, while the HA policy stores three replicas.
   2. Disk: VM disk allocation, including the following four allocation methods.

New disk (disk size can be specified in GB or TB)

Dynamic Provisioning: Dynamically allocates additional disk space as per demand to enhance disk performance and utilization. The maximum capacity is 16 TB.

Thin Provisioning: Allocates space based on actual data size to save space. The maximum capacity is 63 TB.

Pre-allocating: Pre-allocates a fixed amount of space. This enhances disk performance but wastes more storage space. The maximum capacity is 16 TB.

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Existing disk:

Use the disk image file of the VM created earlier, such as a QCOW2 file.

Physical disk:

Mount the physical storage directly to the VM for use.

Shared virtual disk:

Select an existing shared virtual disk, generally used to deploy Oracle RAC and other apps requiring shared disks.

Disk IO Limit: You can configure the IO limit of each disk of the VM CPU.

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Space Reclamation: After being enabled, the corresponding storage space will be released immediately when a file on the disk is deleted. This feature will not apply to IDE disks.

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3. Disk Encryption: If you select Enable disk encryption, all VM disks will be encrypted, and operations like cloning VM, migrating VM across clusters, creating image, and exporting VM, as well as CDP backup and DR, are not available to the VM.

3. Networking: Specify the connection location of the VM's NIC. You can also set the IP address of the network card. You can specify the adapter model and MAC address in Advanced.
   1. Adapter Model: The default is virtio.
   2. MAC Address: Set the MAC address of the network card and keep it automatically obtained, or you can specify it manually.
   3. Jumbo Frame: If this is not enabled, jumbo TCP messages will be segmented while other jumbo messages will be fragmented before going through virtual NIC. Disable this option for IPsec devices or other network devices which do not support jumbo frame.
4. USB: Map the USB device on the physical server to the VM, or the VM deployed on the virtualization platform needs to use the USB device. The USB device plugged into the virtualization platform needs to be mapped to the VM.
5. Other Hardware: Configure the keyboard layout of the VM. Here you can inherit the cluster default keyboard layout, or you can configure the keyboard layout for the VM separately. For cluster keyboard layout settings.

 

6. Advanced:
   1. Boot Order: The boot order of the VM system. This field can be edited when shutting down or creating a VM.
   2. Power on at node startup: VM automatically starts upon server power-on.
   3. Mark as high-priority VM: Pre-allocate resources according to the memory specifications of the user's VM. This resource is exclusively used by the VM and will not be preempted by other VMs, and memory will not be reclaimed.
   4. Reboot if fault occurs: When the VM does not respond (due to crash and blue screen), it will automatically restart, and the VM will take effect after restarting. This option is selected by default.
   5. Enable CPU hot add/Enable memory hot add: The powered-on VM can manually add CPU and memory. Note that support varies across different operating systems. Before operating, check the system support list first, and ensure the VM has vmTools installed. This option can be edited when shutting down or creating a VM. After this configuration takes effect, the memory and CPU can be hot-added when the VM is powered on. When the VM is edited in the power-on state, the number of CPU sockets and memory can be increased beyond their original allocations.
   6. Enable UUID generator: The unique identifier of the VM. Some software needs to obtain the VM UUID to use it. After disabling the UUID generator and re-enabling it, the user can choose to generate a new UUID or continue to use the original one. Please decide whether to regenerate the UUID based on the actual needs of cloned and template-deployed VMs. Note: This option will only take effect in 6.X and later versions for Linux, and earlier versions do not support it. This UUID is not the same as the Windows SID used when joining an AD domain. Generally, some special software licenses may use this UUID.
   7. Remote Debugging: It is not recommended for user modification.

Step 4: Enter the VM name, description, group, admin password, hostname, and expiration date according to actual needs.

Step 5: Finally, confirm the information, and click OK to create the VM.

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2. Import Virtual Machine

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, go to Resources > Compute > Virtual Machines > VMs, and click New.

Step 2.Select the resource pool where the new virtual machine is located and select Import Virtual Machine as the creation method.

Step 3.Select the OVA or VMA file to be uploaded, select the group, run location, and storage of the VM, specify NIC settings, and click Import to upload.

4.3.1.2Edit Virtual Machine

Function Description:

The related configuration of the virtual machine can be adjusted by editing the virtual machine.

Precautions:

1. Some operations need to be performed with the virtual machine powered off.
2. Do not hot-plug the mapped disks when the virtual machine has made a raw disk mapping for more than two disks.
3. You can view the information on PCIe devices (NIC and cryptographic module) of your VM. You can add a cryptographic module to your VM in the HCI console but not the SCP console.

Prerequisite

None.

Steps:

Step 1.Place the mouse cursor on the virtual machine that needs to be edited, and then click More > Edit.

Step 2.You can edit Basic, Configuration, and Advanced on the virtual machine edit page. Please refer to Chapter 4.2.1.1 Create Virtual Machine in this manual for more information.

4.3.1.3Clone VM

Feature

By cloning, you can create one or multiple new VMs that are exactly the same as the source VM and operate independently.

Steps

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform go to Compute > Virtual Machines > VMs. Find the VM you want to clone and click its name to go to the details page. Choose More > Clone to perform the cloning operation. You can select Instant Full Clone, Full Clone, or Linked Clone for Clone Type.

Step 2.Configure parameters on the Configuration tab.

Step 3.Configure parameters on the Advanced tab.

4.3.1.4Virtual Machine Details

Function Description:

The SCP platform supports viewing virtual machine details, including operating status, hardware configuration, backup data, operation audit, alarm logs, and VM scheduling records, and supports viewing and exporting monitoring trend charts for a customized period, and viewing various VM detail fields, such as hostname, DUID, IAID, CBT Status, and Time Sync.

Precautions: 

None.

Prerequisite

None.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine to enter the virtual machine list, find the target virtual machine, and click the virtual machine name to re-direct.

Step 2.Go to the Backup and DR page to view the backup data information.

Step 3.Go to the Tasks page to view virtual machine operation records.

Step 4.Enter the Alerts page to view historical alarm records.

4.3.1.5Virtual Machine List

Function Description:

SCP displays all VMs in the VM list and supports displaying their tenants, Guest OS, resource usage, Run Location, hostname, Scheduling Policy, Tags, CPU Clock Speed, Datastore, Storage Policy, Logical Space Used, Used Memory, Uptime, and Scheduled Backup.

Precautions:

None.

Prerequisite:

None.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to SCP, and then go to Compute > Virtual Machines to go to the VM list.

4.3.1.6Set Validity

Function Description:

SCP platform supports setting a validity for the virtual machine, and the virtual machine that exceeds the validity will generate alarm messages.

Precautions:

1. The validity of the virtual machine is based on days, and the minimum granularity of the service life is set to days.
2. Clone a virtual machine with a lifespan, and the cloned virtual machine has an unlimited lifespan.
3. Only support the setting of the use period for the HCI virtual machine and not support the setting of the use period for the VMware virtual machine.
4. The virtual machine is about to expire or has expired. It will not affect any operation of the virtual machine. Only one new alarm log about expiring will be added, and the virtual machine's status will be changed to an alarm.

Prerequisite

None.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine to enter the virtual machine list, find the target virtual machine, and click the virtual machine name to re-direct.

Step 2.The admin can set the number of days of early warning of the virtual machine. The default is 3 days. Suppose you need to customize the number of days of early warning. In that case, you can remind xx days before the virtual machine life cycle expires in Monitoring Center > Alerts > Alert Options.

4.3.1.7Export Virtual Machine

Function Description:

This function supports exporting virtual machines in VMA or OVA format. When exporting the list, you can choose to include Run Location, hostname, Scheduling Policy, Tags, CPU Clock Speed, Datastore, Storage Policy, Logical Space Used, Used Memory, Uptime, Scheduled Policy, etc.

Precautions:

Only the shutdown virtual machine can perform the export operation.

Prerequisite

Virtual Machine already shut down.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine, select the virtual machine that needs to be exported, click the More button on the right, and click the Export option.

Step 2.Select the format that needs to be exported. OVA and VMA formats are available, and click the Export button.

 

There are two formats, VMA and OVA, with different export options. To export in VMA format, you can directly click to start exporting. But to export to OVA format, you must select the software version. The software version is the version number of VMware Station.

Step 3.Please wait for the virtual machine to produce and download the export file.

4.3.1.8Migrate Virtual Machine

Function Description:

This feature supports the migration of the VM's run location and datastore and the migration of the VM across resource pools.

Precautions:

1. Node and datastore migration can be performed even for shut-down VMs.
2. We recommend that you perform cross-cluster migration during off-peak hours, because data needs to be transmitted over the management network.
3. After cross-cluster migration is complete, the source VM will be shut down and moved to Recycle Bin.
4. Supports migration of multiple VMs across clusters simultaneously.
5. Supports setting CPU throttling for the VMs to be migrated.
6. Supports setting number of concurrent migration tasks per datastore of a cluster.
7. Supports setting number of concurrent migration tasks per node of a cluster.
8. Supports bulk migration of multiple VMs with configurable concurrent migration tasks:

• Number of concurrent migration tasks per datastore: 1-50, Default: 1

• Number of concurrent migration tasks per node: 1-50, Default: 2

9. During bulk migration, the destination datastore and run location of VMs to be migrated must be consistent.
10. During cross-cluster migration, image damage error on the destination side may occur. This is because SCP detects images every 30 minutes and will report the error if the detected image is being migrated. However, the image is actually not damaged, which is simply because cross-cluster migration is relatively slow, and the migration is not complete.
11. Hot migration is not supported for VMs on which graphics card allocation and physical disk mapping have been performed in the HCI console.
12. HCI 6.8.0 with SP installed, and HCI 6.9.0 and later versions support hot migration across versions and clusters. (After SP installation, the VM will undergo an in-place active upgrade, with up to 1 second of business jitter.) After migration, you need to upgrade the VM compatibility for the features of the new version to take effect. This process will restart the VM.

13. Currently, the versions in the following table support cross-version hot migration.

Some kernel features take effect only after a restart.

14. After the cross-cluster cross-version hot migration, if you restart the VM without clicking Upgrade VM Compatibility, the VM is still a compatible VM.
15. The following are restrictions on some of the features of a compatible VM after the hot migration across versions and clusters:

• If you export a compatible VM and then import it, the imported VM will be a full-featured VM, not in compatibility mode

• If you back up a compatible VM and then recover it, the recovered VM will not be a compatible one but a full-featured VM.

• If you snapshot a compatible VM and then recover or clone it based on the snapshot, the new VM will not be a compatible one but a full-featured VM.

• If you clone a compatible VM, the new VM will not be a compatible one but a full-featured VM.

16. If you enable migration optimization, the VM will undergo an in-place active upgrade with up to 1 second of business jitter.
17. For some special types of VMs, the following are scenario-specific restrictions of hot migration across versions:

18. Cross-version hot migration is not supported in the following scenarios:

• You can perform migration among clusters on the classic network but not VPC.

• Migration optimization is not supported for a VM if you have configured its memory hot add settings when it is powered on or if you have not restarted it after installing or uninstalling vmTools.

• Cross-QEMU cluster migration is not supported if the underlying system of the host is UOS.

Prerequisites

The source VM can properly access the interface used for migration to the destination node, and the VM migration service has been enabled on the Port Management page of HCI.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, go to Resources > Compute > Virtual Machines > VMs, select the VM that you want to migrate, and choose More > Migrate.

Step 2.Specify the information of the migration destination: Resource Pool, Datastore, Run Location, and Connect NIC.

Step 3.Click Advanced, specify Network and Migration Speed for migration, and enable Compressed.

• Network: The interface bandwidth will be automatically identified here. When the bandwidth of the management interface, overlay network interface, and storage network interface is inconsistent, the interface with the highest bandwidth will be recommended. The priority of the interface is shown below when all interfaces have the same bandwidth: overlay network interface > storage network interface > management interface.

• Migration Speed: The default is Unlimited, and the maximum migration speed can be set before or during hot migration. The minimum migration speed limit is 50 MB/s, and the maximum value cannot exceed the bandwidth value of the physical interface of the current network.

• Compressed: After it is enabled, hot migration will be speeded up but also consume CPU resources (up to 4 threads).

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Step 4.During migration, view the migration progress in the Tasks pop-up window and suspend the VMs as required. Upon VM suspension, businesses will be suspended for a period of time to prevent the VMs from generating new memory data until migration is complete. We recommend that you suspend VMs during off-peak hours.

Speed limit is also supported.

Step 5.In cross-cluster cross-version hot migration scenarios, the VMs will be in compatible mode after being migrated to the destination cluster, and some features will be restricted. Therefore, you need to go to the VM details page and choose More > Upgrade VM Compatibility to restart the VM for the features to become available.

Note:

• After the cross-cluster cross-version hot migration, we recommend that you upgrade the VM compatibility during off-peak hours.

• After the cross-version hot migration and before the VM compatibility upgrade, if you find that the VM businesses are abnormal, you can migrate them back to the source cluster. If you have upgraded the VM compatibility, this operation is not allowed.

4.3.1.9Virtual Machine Allocation

Function Description:

This function supports assigning virtual machines to tenants or tenant user accounts.

Precautions:

After deallocation, the HCI-type virtual machine will be disconnected from the network. You can go to the default grouped virtual machine list to configure the network for the virtual machine.

Prerequisite

The assigned tenant or tenant user account has a sufficient quota.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine, select the virtual machine that needs to be allocated, and click More > Allocate.

Step 2.Select the Tenant and Tenant User Account (it can be empty) and click the OK button.

4.3.1.10Virtual Machine Deallocation

Function Description:

This function supports the virtual machines' deallocation to the SCP platform.

Precautions:

1. After deallocation, the HCI-type virtual machine will be disconnected from the network. You can go to the default grouped virtual machine list to configure the network for the virtual machine.
2. Only the shut down virtual machines can be deallocated.

Prerequisite

The virtual machine that needs to be deallocated has been shut down.

Steps:

Step 1.Log in to the SCP platform, select Compute > Virtual Machine, select the virtual machine that needs to be deallocated, and click More > Deallocate.

Step 2.You can see the deallocate progress on the taskbar.

4.3.1.11Create SQL Server

Function Description:

The SCP platform supports creating a Standalone SQL Server and SQL Server AlwaysOn Cluster.

Precautions: 

None.

Prerequisite

None.

Steps:

Step 4.Navigate to Resources, and select Virtual Machines under Compute.

Step 5.Click New, select Resource Pool for where the SQL server will be located, and click Create SQL Server to create a new SQL Server.

Step 6.Choose the type of SQL server you want to create.

Step 7.Enter the SQL Server Database creation page, pick the appropriate Storage Tag, select Image and configure the Settings for CPU and Memory Size.

Step 8.Click Show More to configure the Virtual Socket, Cores Per Socket, and Huge-page Memory. Lastly, configure the Basics, then click Next to install OS.

Step 9.Install the SQL Server.

To proceed to the next step Allocate Disk, install vmTools, and restart this VM first.

Step 10.Configure the Log Disk, Data Disk, Database Root Disks, and click Next to complete the SQL Server creation.