Managing Servers

PERMISSIONS REQUIRED
To manage servers, you need to have administrator access to the relevant cluster. To get access, contact your Nimbul administrator. See also Permissions and Roles and Clusters: Overview.

Topics covered on this page:

    Add or Delete a Server
    Viewing Server Details
    Configure or Update a Server

Add or Delete a Server

Adding a Server

To add a server, complete these steps:

  1. In the main Nimbul menu, click Clusters.
  2. In the appropriate provider account table, find the cluster in which you want to add a server. In the Name column, click the name of the cluster.
  3. On the cluster details page, click the Servers tab.



  4. At the top of the tab, click the green plus sign near the search box.
  5. Enter a name for the new server, then click Create Server.

Note: You can change the server name at any time by clicking the edit link at the top of the server details page. (Click a server name to view the server details page.)

Deleting a Server

WARNING: In most cases, you will not need to delete a server. A cluster can remain dormant in Nimbul indefinitely. Delete the server only if you are certain you will never need access to it again.

To delete a server, complete these steps:

  1. In the main Nimbul menu, click Clusters.
  2. In the appropriate provider account table, find the cluster that contains the server you want to delete. In the Name column, click the name of the cluster.
  3. On the Servers tab, find the name of the server you want to delete.
  4. In the Actions column, click the trash can icon. A warning message appears. Click OK.

Viewing Server Details

You can get access to server details throughout Nimbul — just click a server name wherever it appears.

In most cases, you will find it easiest to use (1) the Servers tab in the Clusters area and (2) the server details page.

The Servers Tab in the Clusters Area

To view the Servers tab, complete these steps:

  1. In the main Nimbul menu, click Clusters.
  2. In the appropriate provider account table, find the cluster that contains the server you want to view. In the Name column, click the name of the cluster.
  3. On the cluster details page, click the Servers tab.

    The Servers tab shows the instances currently running under each server profile. The table provides summary information, including the number of instances running, the security groups in use, and the addresses and storage volumes currently attached.

    The Instances column includes indicators for current instance states:
Indicator State
Running
Ready
Requested or Pending
Shutting Down or Terminated

 

  1. To view more details about current instances, click the show link in the Instances column. The row expands to provide more details similar to those on the Instances tab for the cluster.



    While the row is expanded, you can reboot and terminate instances by using the check boxes and the icons. (For details, see rebooting and terminating instances.)
  2. Click hide in the Instances column to collapse the row back to summary information.

The Server Details Page

To view server details, click a server name anywhere you find it in the system, such as on the Servers tab for the cluster.

Configure or Update a Server

To configure or update a server, first view the server details page as described above.

The server details page contains the following tabs:

Tab Available Actions
Instances
  • View summary information about instances running under this server profile.
  • Reboot and terminate instances.
  • Click instance IDs and security group names to view details or make changes.
  • View console output.
Server Profile
  • View and edit essential server information: the instance type, the server image (AMI), environment variables and startup script. These settings are used for all servers started under this profile. (You can also set variables and scripts at the provider account and cluster levels.)
Launch Configurations
  • Specify IP addresses and storage volume for instances started under this profile.
  • Set the default configuration and delete existing configurations.
Note: You can also define launch configurations as part of the auto-scaling settings for the provider account. See Managing Provider Accounts.
Networking
  • Add and remove security groups for instances started under this server profile.
DNS
  • View existing hostnames, including accrued leases and leases currently in use.
  • Assign hostnames to instances started under this server. Note: Each hostname can be assigned to only one server. If you try to add a hostname that is currently assigned to a different server, an error message will appear.
  • Release current hostname leases.
  • Click instance IDs to view details and make changes.
Operations
  • View information about server tasks that have been run or attempted.
  • Click the name of an operation to view logs.
  • Click the name of a task to view details and make changes.
Tasks
  • Configure and schedule server tasks (MySQL snapshots, EBS snapshots and snapshot purges). Tasks can be set to run at a specific time, once or periodically.
Security
  • Lock created instances.
  • Set the main key for the server (this value can be overridden by account settings).
  • Set up SSH access for users.

 

UI Elements

Use the tabs described above to configure and update cluster details as you use Nimbul. Note the following UI elements on each tab:

For more information, see User Interface Elements.

Related Topics

End of section. Next section: Instances »