Manage Instances

Overview

Navigate to Compute → Instances in the sidebar to manage compute instances.

Launch an Instance

Click Create Instance to open the 4-step wizard.

Step	Name	What you configure
1	Base Config	Availability Zone, Flavor (with architecture and category filters), Start Source (Image / Snapshot / Bootable Volume), Boot From Volume, System Disk, Data Disks, CD-ROM
2	Network Config	Networks, Virtual LAN (subnet / IP), Ports, Security Groups
3	System Config	Name, Login Type (Keypair / Password), Advanced Options (Physical Node, Server Group, User Data, Virtual TPM, Secure Boot)
4	Confirm Config	Review every setting, instance count, real-time quota display

For the complete field-by-field reference, see Launch an Instance.

Instance Actions — Every Option Explained

The Instances list exposes one direct row action (Console), a More dropdown with five action submenus, and a batch-action toolbar at the top of the table that operates on multi-selected rows.

Direct row action

Action	What it does
Console	Opens an interactive browser console (VNC for graphical guests, serial for headless) in a new tab

More → Instance Status

Power and lifecycle actions. Each is a separately gated permission.

Action	What it does
Start	Boots a stopped instance
Stop	Powers off the instance gracefully (ACPI shutdown)
Reboot	Hard reboot — issues a reset to the running guest
Soft Reboot	Graceful reboot — asks the guest OS to shut down and start again
Pause	Suspends instance execution in CPU only — RAM stays in place; faster to resume than Suspend
Unpause	Resumes a paused instance
Suspend	Saves the instance state to disk and frees its host RAM — slower to resume but releases hypervisor memory
Resume	Resumes a suspended instance from its saved state
Shelve	Stops the instance and offloads its image so the hypervisor can reclaim the slot — survives even if the original host is removed
Unshelve	Restores a shelved instance, scheduling it onto an available host
Lock	Prevents accidental destructive actions on this instance — required to be unlocked before delete or other state changes
Unlock	Removes the lock

Attach or detach things to a running instance.

Action	What it does
Attach Interface	Adds a network interface (port) to the instance — pick an existing port or auto-create from a network
Detach Interface	Removes a network interface
Attach Volume	Attaches an existing block storage volume — choose the volume and the device name
Detach Volume	Detaches a volume from the instance (volume must be detachable; some boot volumes are not)
Associate Floating IP	Binds a public floating IP to the instance’s port
Disassociate Floating IP	Releases the public floating IP from the port
Manage Security Group	Add or remove security groups on the instance’s ports — controls inbound and outbound traffic rules

More → Backups and Snapshots

Action	What it does
Create Snapshot	Captures the current disk state of the instance as a new image — useful as a checkpoint before an upgrade or as a base for cloning

More → Clone and Template

Action	What it does
Clone	Creates a new instance from a copy of this instance’s disks — copies system and data volumes, preserves the network configuration choice in a single step
Convert to Template	Captures the running instance’s disk and metadata into a reusable VM Template that other users can deploy as a starting point

More → Configuration Update

Action	What it does
Resize	Change the instance’s flavor (vCPU / RAM / disk shape). The instance is stopped, migrated to a host with capacity, and restarted on the new flavor
Confirm Resize or Migrate	Confirms a successful resize or migration — frees the original allocation. Required step before further actions
Revert Resize or Migrate	Aborts a resize or migration — rolls back to the original flavor and host
Adjust Resources	Live-resize — changes vCPU and RAM (and adds or removes virtual devices) without rebooting. See Live Resize
Change Password	Resets the guest OS root or administrator password. The guest must have the password reset agent (cloud-init or QEMU guest agent) installed
Rebuild Instance	Reinstalls the instance from a different image while keeping its IPs, ports, attached volumes, and metadata. Use to refresh a guest OS without losing network identity

Other row actions (ungrouped)

Action	What it does
Edit Instance	Edit the instance name and description
Modify Instance Tags	Add or remove tags on the instance — used by automation, billing, and scheduling. Up to 50 tags per instance
Delete	Soft-delete the instance — the row remains in Recycle Bin for the configured retention window before being purged

Select multiple rows with the checkboxes at the left of the table; the batch toolbar appears above the table.

Action	What it does
Start	Bulk start every selected instance
Stop	Bulk graceful stop
Reboot	Bulk hard reboot
Soft Reboot	Bulk graceful reboot
Delete	Bulk soft-delete

Admin-view extras

When viewing instances through the admin view (visible to users with the admin role), additional actions appear:

Action	What it does
Migrate	Cold migrate — stops the instance, moves it to a different compute host, restarts
Live Migrate	Move a running instance to another compute host with no perceptible downtime
Bulk Live Migrate	Live-migrate multiple selected instances in sequence — useful when evacuating a host for maintenance

Auto-Discovery of Instances Launched Outside the Dashboard

The Polystack compute layer keeps a single source of truth for every running virtual machine. Whether an instance was launched through the Dashboard, CLI, infrastructure-as-code, orchestration, or a custom SDK workflow, the instance appears in Compute → Instances automatically.

Where the VM came from	Visible in Compute → Instances?
Dashboard — Create Instance wizard	Yes
`openstack server create` from the CLI	Yes
Terraform `openstack_compute_instance_v2`	Yes
Ansible `os_server` module	Yes
Heat orchestration template	Yes
Custom SDK script (Python / Go / JavaScript)	Yes

How it works — every compute host added to the cluster through the deployment console runs the Polystack compute agent, which reports every VM running on the hypervisor back to the platform’s central state. The Dashboard reads from that central state, so it always reflects what is actually running on the cluster — there is no separate “import” or “register VM” step needed for instances launched outside the Dashboard. Two prerequisites for auto-discovery:

The compute host is added to the cluster

The hypervisor running the VM must have been added to the cluster through the deployment console → Hosts. Hosts not registered with the cluster cannot report their VMs, and any VMs running on them remain invisible until the host is added.

Project visibility applies

The signed-in user must have access to the project that owns the instance. Cross-project visibility requires the admin view, which exposes every instance on the cluster.

This behavior is independent of how the instance was provisioned, what toolchain manages it, or which user created it. Even an instance booted from a Heat stack months ago by a teammate who has since left appears in Compute → Instances as long as the host is in the cluster and you have project access.

Instance Detail Page

Click any instance name in the list to open the detail page. The detail page exposes eight tabs:

Tab	What it shows
Detail	Identity, project, image, flavor, host, AZ, IPs, security groups, tags, timestamps
Volumes	Attached volumes with size, type, device name, and detach action
Snapshots	Instance snapshots created from this VM
Interfaces	Network ports, MAC addresses, fixed IPs, security groups
Floating IPs	Public IPs bound to the instance’s ports
Security Groups	Effective security group rules applied to the instance
Action Logs	Audit trail of every action performed on the instance with actor and timestamp
Logs	Console boot log captured by the hypervisor

Detail-page row actions are the same set as the list row actions — Console as the direct action, plus the More menu with all submenus described above.

Detailed Guides

Launch an Instance

Complete 4-step wizard reference

Resize

Change flavor with confirm and revert

Live Resize

Adjust vCPU and RAM without reboot

Console Access

Browser-based VNC console

Snapshots

Capture and manage instance snapshots

Clone and Template

Duplicate an instance or save it as a reusable template

Live Migration

Move a running instance to another host with zero downtime

Server Groups

Affinity and anti-affinity placement policies

Instance Tagging

Tag instances for organization, billing, and automation

Core Services

Other Services

Overview

Launch an Instance

Instance Actions — Every Option Explained

Direct row action

More → Instance Status

More → Backups and Snapshots

More → Clone and Template

More → Configuration Update

Other row actions (ungrouped)

Admin-view extras

Auto-Discovery of Instances Launched Outside the Dashboard

The compute host is added to the cluster

Project visibility applies

Instance Detail Page

Detailed Guides

Launch an Instance

Resize

Live Resize

Console Access

Snapshots

Clone and Template

Live Migration

Server Groups

Instance Tagging

​Overview

​Launch an Instance

​Instance Actions — Every Option Explained

​Direct row action

​More → Instance Status

​More → Related Resources

​More → Backups and Snapshots

​More → Clone and Template

​More → Configuration Update

​Other row actions (ungrouped)

​Batch actions (multi-select toolbar)

​Admin-view extras

​Auto-Discovery of Instances Launched Outside the Dashboard

The compute host is added to the cluster

Project visibility applies

​Instance Detail Page

​Detailed Guides

Launch an Instance

Resize

Live Resize

Console Access

Snapshots

Clone and Template

Live Migration

Server Groups

Instance Tagging

Overview

Launch an Instance

Instance Actions — Every Option Explained

Direct row action

More → Instance Status

More → Related Resources

More → Backups and Snapshots

More → Clone and Template

More → Configuration Update

Other row actions (ungrouped)

Batch actions (multi-select toolbar)

Admin-view extras

Auto-Discovery of Instances Launched Outside the Dashboard

Instance Detail Page

Detailed Guides