In a customer project, we have two Oracle Private Cloud Appliance X9-2 up and running. The management of a PCA X9-2 is almost like in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Even when the style of the user interface is not so cool. This week after a change on a virtual machine, the machine was not able to boot again. As in OCI, then Console Connection is the best way to troubleshoot the situation and gather more information. In this blog post I show you how to connect to a virtual machine from a Windows platform.
See here for the virsh connection when no VCN viewer is available: PCA X9-2 – Console Connection – virsh Version
Architecture
Prerequisites
- VNC compatible viewer
- SSH private and public key
- Data center network firewall: Port 32222 connection allowed to target Private Cloud Appliance Management Node VIP address
- plink.exe – component of Putty
Documentation – PCA 3.0.2
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/engineered-systems/private-cloud-appliance/3.0/user-3.0.2/user-usr-compute.html#usr-instance-consoledisplay
- Support Note: [PCA 3.x] Microsoft Windows Browser Cannot Connect to VNC console of VM Instance (Doc ID 2861610.1)
Step 1- Create Console Connection in UI
- Go to Dashboard -> Instances -> Instance
- Create Console Connection
- Add or paste your SSH public key
- Create Console Connection
Step 2 – Get Connection Information
In Compute Instance, verify Console Connection is in state Active. Get the connection information, example for Windows.
It returns a PowerShell connect string for plink.exe with the connect to the management node and to the virtual machine VNC console. Take care, port 32222 is used for the connection to the Private Cloud Appliance Management Node.
plink.exe -ssh -i $env:homedrive$env\pca\console.ppk -P 32222 -L 5000:localhost:5000 mlockcxjr0cabcdhxdfpdb24vdxdrya@<your pca management vip> vnc@ocid1.instance.AK0121222.PCA01.cpyc0v4abczd647dfhsbs9fslraj4b38agmeoy37gtkdenry2p7zb5zu18f
Replace the -i clause with the path and name for your SSH Key.
plink.exe -ssh -i <path and file for your SSH private key> -P 32222 -L 5000:localhost:5000 mlockcxjr0cabcdhxdfpdb24vdxdrya@<your pca management vip> vnc@ocid1.instance.AK0121222.PCA01.cpyc0v4abczd647dfhsbs9fslraj4b38agmeoy37gtkdenry2p7zb5zu18f
Step 3 – Start Connection in Windows PowerShell
You get a message, that the connection is open now.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> plink.exe -ssh -i <path and file for your SSH private key> -P 32222 -L 5000:localhost:5000 mlockcxjr0cabcdhxdfpdb24vdxdrya@<your pca management vip> vnc@ocid1.instance.AK0121222.PCA01.cpyc0v4abczd647dfhsbs9fslraj4b38agmeoy37gtkdenry2p7zb5zu18f Access granted. Press Return to begin session. IMPORTANT: Use a console connection to troubleshoot a malfunctioning instance. For normal operations, you should connect to the instance using a Secure Shell (SSH) or Remote Desktop connection.
4th – Start VNC Viewer
In my example, I use the Real VNC Viewer. Select localhost:5000 as target. Confirm any warnings about unencrypted connections.
We are now connected to the console view and login prompt. For troubleshooting the boot procedure, restart the compute node in the PCA Compute Enclave UI and follow the output of the screen. Do not forget to delete the Console Connection after usage.
Summary
The Console Connection is a good way to gather more information about failed start processes. Take care about the prerequisites, clients should be able to connect to the Private Cloud Appliance X9-2 by Port 32222. Ok, by VNC it’s not really smart, but just wait for the next post. There is smarter way 😉