We use [http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/software/remctl/ remctl] to pass commands back and forth between our different servers, and we've added the ability for you to tap into this to control your VMs without using the web interface.

If you don't have remctl installed locally (there is a `remctl-client` package in Debian and Ubuntu), you can run it out of the remctl locker by first typing

{{{
athena% add remctl
}}}

Once you've done that, you can use any of the following commands to manipulate your VM (using our test VM, moo17, as an example)

'''For information about the state of your VM:'''
{{{
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 list
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 uptime
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 list-long
}}}
'''To start up your VM:'''
{{{
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 create
}}}
'''To attempt to cleanly shutdown your VM:'''
{{{
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 shutdown
}}}
'''To hard shutdown your VM:'''
{{{
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 destroy
}}}
'''To hard reboot your VM:'''
{{{
athena% remctl remote.mit.edu control moo17 reboot
}}}

There's also a script called '''xvm''' in the '''xvm''' locker that gives you an interface reminiscent of init.d:
{{{
athena% add xvm
athena% xvm moo17 start
athena% xvm moo17 stop
}}}
You can run '''xvm --help''' for more information.

'''To automate installs:'''

The `install` command allows installing in a variety of ways.

Debian preseeds and Red Hat kickstarts can be triggered through by passing the `preseed=` or `ks=` arguments:
{{{
remctl xvm-remote control username-vm install mirror=http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian dist=stable arch=amd64 preseed=https://web.mit.edu/username/Public/preseed.cfg
}}}

An arbitrary Debian-style mirror can be passed, and the XVM host will download the kernel and initrd from the mirror, and boot it passing in the preseed URL. Creating a [https://wiki.debian.org/DebianInstaller/Preseed custom preseed] then allows control over the install process.

Similarly, the `ks=` argument allows using a Red Hat mirror.

The [http://xvm.mit.edu/gitweb/invirt/packages/invirt-xen-config.git/blob/0.0.60:/invirt-database#l57 relevant implementation] is in the `invirt-xen-config.git` repo and may help construct appropriate commands.

This functionality is not necessarily guaranteed to remain stable.

The XVM SerialConsole (`ssh -oGSSAPIAuthentication=yes username-vm@xvm-console.mit.edu`) can be used to control the install.