You can connect to a virtual machine using its console. The console is the remote control system of Oracle VM, and enables you to work and interact directly with your virtual machines.
There are two types of virtual machine consoles in Oracle VM Manager: a VNC console used to connect to virtual machines in x86-based server pools, but which is not supported for SPARC-based server pools; and a serial console used to connect to the terminal console of a virtual machines and most commonly used for SPARC-based server pools.
You can use the serial console to connect to a Linux guest virtual machine in an x86-based server pool, if the guest supports a serial console, but the console is in read-only mode, and you cannot interact with the virtual machine using the serial console. Furthermore, additional configuration is required within the guest virtual machine to enable this facility. Therefore, use of the serial console should be limited to virtual machines that run within a SPARC-based server pool, and the VNC console should be used to access virtual machines running in an x86-based server pool instead.
The console functionality is contained within a specific RPM that is available on the Oracle VM Manager Installation ISO.
There are versions of this package for both Oracle Linux 5 and Oracle Linux 6. They are named as follows:
ovmcore-console-
x.y-z.el5.noarch.rpm for Oracle Linux 5ovmcore-console-
x.y-z.el6.noarch.rpm for Oracle Linux 6
It is not necessary to install these packages on the Oracle VM Manager host as the installation is handled automatically by the Oracle VM Manager installer. If these packages are already installed from a previous installation of Oracle VM Manager, they may be upgraded automatically during the installation or upgrade process. If Oracle VM Manager is uninstalled, these packages are removed as part of the uninstallation.
There is no requirement to install or run any additional software on the client system accessing the virtual machine console.
The VNC console is developed on top of the noVNC VNC client and runs on the Oracle VM Manager host. The noVNC client is a web-based VNC client that is rendered using HTML5 WebSockets and Canvas. You can find out more about this software at http://kanaka.github.io/noVNC/ .
Note that to use these console services, your web browser must fully support the HTML5 Canvas and WebSockets elements. The list of supported web browsers presented in Web Browser Requirements in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide covers all browsers that also provide the necessary support to make use of the virtual machine consoles included in Oracle VM Manager.
No additional software needs to be installed on the Oracle VM Servers or virtual machines to use the VNC console.
Oracle VM Manager uses a secure tunnel to protect the virtual machine console (remote connection utility) data across the network. Oracle VM Manager does not communicate directly with the VNC client, but rather connects via an SSH-encrypted tunnel on port 69xx (where xx is based on the guest to which it is connecting).
Any firewall between the Oracle VM Manager and the Oracle VM Servers needs ports 10000 and above open; one port for each virtual machine on an Oracle VM Server. For example, if you have 100 virtual machines on an Oracle VM Server, you should open ports 10000-10099 (100 ports) on any firewall between the Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Manager.
See Launch Console for more information on using and configuring the VNC client.
You cannot use the standard VNC console to connect to virtual machines on a SPARC-based server pool. Instead, use the serial console. The serial console can also be used to connect to virtual machines running on x86-based server pools although the console, in this case, is read-only and non-interactive.
The serial console makes use of the jsTerm terminal emulator, which is a web-based terminal emulator that can be used to facilitate telnet-type connections using HTML5 WebSockets and Canvas.
Note that to use these console services, your web browser must fully support the HTML5 Canvas and WebSockets elements. The list of supported web browsers presented in Web Browser Requirements in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide covers all browsers that also provide the necessary support to make use of the virtual machine consoles included in Oracle VM Manager.
No additional software needs to be installed on the Oracle VM Servers or virtual machines to use the serial console.
Any firewall between the Oracle VM Manager and the Oracle VM Servers needs ports 7900 and above open; one port for each virtual machine on an Oracle VM Server. For example, if you have 100 virtual machines on an Oracle VM Server, you should open ports 7900-7999 (100 ports) on any firewall between the Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Manager.
See Launch Serial Console for more information on using the serial console to connect to virtual machines in SPARC-based server pools.