Chapter 8. Managing virtual machines in the web console

To manage virtual machines in a graphical interface on a RHEL 9 host, you can use the Virtual Machines pane in the RHEL 9 web console.

Image displaying the virtual machine tab of the web console.

8.1. Overview of virtual machine management by using the web console

The RHEL 9 web console is a web-based interface for system administration. As one of its features, the web console provides a graphical view of virtual machines (VMs) on the host system, and makes it possible to create, access, and configure these VMs.

Note that to use the web console to manage your VMs on RHEL 9, you must first install a web console plug-in for virtualization.

Next steps

8.2. Setting up the web console to manage virtual machines

Before using the RHEL 9 web console to manage virtual machines (VMs), you must install the web console virtual machine plug-in on the host.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that the web console is installed and enabled on your machine.

    # systemctl status cockpit.socket
    cockpit.socket - Cockpit Web Service Socket
    Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/cockpit.socket
    [...]

    If this command returns Unit cockpit.socket could not be found, follow the Installing the web console document to enable the web console.

Procedure

  • Install the cockpit-machines plug-in.

    # dnf install cockpit-machines

Verification

  1. Access the web console, for example by entering the https://localhost:9090 address in your browser.
  2. Log in.
  3. If the installation was successful, Virtual Machines appears in the web console side menu.

    Image displaying the virtual machine tab of the web console.

8.3. Renaming virtual machines by using the web console

You might require renaming an existing virtual machine (VM) to avoid naming conflicts or assign a new unique name based on your use case. To rename the VM, you can use the RHEL web console.

Prerequisites

Procedure

  1. In the Virtual Machines interface, click the Menu button of the VM that you want to rename.

    A drop-down menu appears with controls for various VM operations.

  2. Click Rename.

    The Rename a VM dialog appears.

    Image displaying the rename a VM dialog box.
  3. In the New name field, enter a name for the VM.
  4. Click Rename.

Verification

  • Check that the new VM name has appeared in the Virtual Machines interface.

8.4. Virtual machine management features available in the web console

By using the RHEL 9 web console, you can perform the following actions to manage the virtual machines (VMs) on your system.

Table 8.1. VM management tasks that you can perform in the RHEL 9 web console