VM Instance Details | Complete Virtual Machine Configuration and Information Guide

The detail panel provides comprehensive information about each VM instance with complete configuration and activity data.

Opening the Detail Panel#

How to Access Instance Details#

Click on VM Card

  1. From the VMs Dashboard, locate a VM instance
  2. Click anywhere on the instance card (except action buttons)
  3. Right-side detail panel slides in
  4. Shows complete instance information

Panel Size

  • Takes up approximately 1/3 of the screen
  • Main content area remains visible
  • Scrollable for long content

Closing the Detail Panel#

Methods to Close

  1. Click the X button in the panel header
  2. Click outside the panel (on main content)
  3. Press the Escape key on keyboard
  4. Navigate to another instance (replaces current)

Instance Header Information#

Basic Instance Details#

Instance Name

  • Primary identifier for the VM
  • Displayed at the top of the panel
  • Matches the name in the dashboard card

Status Badge

  • Current operational state
  • Color-coded indicator
  • Shows: Running, Stopped, Paused, or Terminated

Cloud Provider Icon

  • Visual indicator of provider type
  • AWS: ☁️ (Cloud icon)
  • GCP: 🟠 (Orange circle)
  • Azure: 🔵 (Blue circle)

Quick Actions

  • Start/Stop buttons (available based on status)
  • Restart button (for running instances)
  • Delete button (always available)
  • Refresh button (to update data)

Instance Configuration#

General Information#

Instance Name

  • Name assigned to the VM
  • Used to identify the instance
  • Visible in cloud provider console

Instance ID

  • Unique identifier from cloud provider
  • AWS: Starts with "i-" (e.g., i-1234567890abcdef0)
  • GCP: Numeric ID
  • Azure: Full resource ID path
  • Used for API calls and advanced management

Status

  • Current operational state
  • Values: Running, Stopped, Paused, Terminated
  • Updates in real-time

Cloud Provider

  • Which cloud platform hosts the instance
  • AWS, GCP, or Azure
  • Determines available operations

Location Information#

Zone/Region

  • Geographic location of instance
  • AWS: Region and availability zone (e.g., us-east-1a)
  • GCP: Zone (e.g., us-central1-a)
  • Azure: Region (e.g., eastus)

Organization

  • Which Nife organization owns the instance
  • Used for access control
  • Determines billing

Created By

  • User who created the instance
  • Email or username

Temporal Information#

Created Date

  • When the instance was created
  • Displayed in local timezone
  • Format: YYYY-MM-DD

Last Modified

  • When configuration was last changed
  • Helps track recent changes

Uptime

  • How long instance has been running continuously
  • Useful for SLA tracking
  • Resets when instance is restarted

Resource Allocation#

Compute Resources#

CPU/vCPUs

  • Number of virtual CPUs allocated
  • AWS: vCPU count
  • GCP: Number of cores
  • Azure: Number of processors

Memory (RAM)

  • Memory allocated to instance
  • Measured in GB
  • Determines how many processes can run
  • Cannot be changed without restart (usually)

Instance Type

  • Machine type or SKU
  • AWS: t2.medium, m5.large, etc.
  • GCP: n1-standard-1, etc.
  • Azure: Standard_B1s, etc.

Storage#

Root Volume

  • Primary storage disk for OS and applications
  • Size in GB
  • Storage type (SSD, HDD, etc.)
  • Expandable on most providers

Additional Volumes

  • Data volumes attached to instance
  • Number of volumes listed
  • Size and type information
  • Mount points shown

Storage Usage

  • Current utilization percentage
  • Free space available
  • Alerts if approaching capacity

Network Configuration#

Network Settings#

IP Addresses

  • Public IP: External IP for internet access
  • Private IP: Internal network IP
  • Both displayed if available

Network Interface

  • Primary network adapter details
  • Connected subnet/VPC
  • Security groups/firewall rules

DNS

  • Domain name system configuration
  • Resolves instance name to IP
  • Custom DNS settings if configured

Security Groups/Firewall Rules#

Inbound Rules

  • Which ports accept incoming traffic
  • Port numbers and protocols (TCP, UDP)
  • Source IP restrictions
  • SSH access typically on port 22

Outbound Rules

  • Which traffic can leave the instance
  • Usually allows all outbound traffic
  • Exceptions for restricted networks

Network Access

  • Whether instance is publicly accessible
  • Private network only vs. internet-facing
  • Security implications

Storage and Volumes#

Attached Volumes#

Volume List

  • All storage volumes attached to instance
  • Volume size in GB
  • Mount points (e.g., /dev/sda1)
  • Volume type and IOPS

Creating Snapshots

  • Click Snapshots section
  • View existing snapshots
  • Create new point-in-time backups
  • Manage snapshot retention

Volume Management#

Volume Size

  • Current allocated storage
  • Can usually be expanded
  • May require instance restart

IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second)

  • Performance metric for storage
  • Higher IOPS = faster I/O
  • Affects database and application performance

Throughput

  • Data transfer rate in MB/s
  • Affects large file operations
  • Important for data-intensive workloads

Recent Activity#

Activity Log#

Activity Entries

  • Recent actions on the instance
  • Changes and operations
  • Timestamps for each activity
  • User who made the change

Activity Types

  • Instance created
  • Configuration changed
  • Instance started/stopped
  • Snapshots created
  • Network changes
  • Security updates

Viewing More Activities

  • Click "View All" to see complete history
  • Filter activities by type
  • Export activity logs
  • Track infrastructure changes

Performance Metrics#

Real-Time Metrics#

CPU Usage

  • Current CPU utilization percentage
  • 0-100% scale
  • Shows over time graph
  • Helps identify bottlenecks

Memory Usage

  • RAM currently in use
  • Percentage and absolute GB
  • Trend over time
  • Alerts if approaching limit

Network Activity

  • Data in and out per second
  • Mbps (megabits per second)
  • Spikes indicate heavy traffic
  • Useful for performance analysis

Disk I/O

  • Read/write operations per second
  • Storage throughput in MB/s
  • Shows peak usage times

Metric Graphs#

Historical Data

  • View metrics over time
  • 1 hour, 24 hours, 7 days views
  • Identify patterns and trends
  • Plan capacity upgrades

Threshold Alerts

  • Alerts when metrics exceed limits
  • CPU >80% sustained
  • Memory >85% usage
  • Disk >90% full

Snapshots#

Snapshot Management#

Existing Snapshots

  • List of all snapshots for instance
  • Creation date
  • Size in GB
  • Snapshot description

Creating New Snapshot

  1. Click "Create Snapshot" button
  2. Enter snapshot name
  3. Add optional description
  4. Click "Create"
  5. Process starts (takes minutes)

Restoring from Snapshot

  1. Select snapshot from list
  2. Click "Restore" button
  3. Instance data reverts to snapshot point
  4. Running instance may be stopped
  5. Takes several minutes to complete

Deleting Snapshots

  1. Click snapshot in list
  2. Select "Delete" option
  3. Confirm deletion
  4. Frees up storage space
  5. Cannot be recovered

Snapshot Best Practices#

  • Create before major changes
  • Schedule regular daily snapshots
  • Keep production snapshots for weeks
  • Delete old development snapshots
  • Name snapshots with dates

Tags and Labels#

Instance Tags#

Custom Tags

  • Key-value pairs for organization
  • Helps group related instances
  • Useful for automation
  • Billing and cost allocation

Predefined Tags

  • Environment (prod, staging, dev)
  • Owner or team
  • Project or application
  • Cost center

Label Management#

Adding Tags

  1. Click "Add Tag" button
  2. Enter tag key and value
  3. Click "Add"
  4. Tag appears in list

Removing Tags

  1. Locate tag in list
  2. Click remove/X icon
  3. Tag is deleted

Advanced Configuration#

Security Settings#

Firewall Rules

  • Customize inbound/outbound rules
  • Restrict access to specific IPs
  • Configure port ranges
  • SSL/TLS settings

SSH Keys

  • Manage authorized SSH keys
  • Add new keys for users
  • Remove keys for revoked access
  • Key fingerprint verification

IAM Roles (AWS/Azure)

  • Service principals for API access
  • Permissions for cloud operations
  • Instance profile configuration

Maintenance Windows#

Scheduled Maintenance

  • Cloud provider planned updates
  • Expected downtime duration
  • Reschedule maintenance window
  • Notifications before maintenance

Auto-Patching

  • Enable automatic security patches
  • Configure patch schedule
  • Choose maintenance window
  • Automatic restart if needed

Monitoring and Alerts#

Setting Up Alerts#

Alert Types

  • CPU usage exceeds threshold
  • Memory usage exceeds threshold
  • Disk space running low
  • Network latency high
  • Instance status changes

Creating an Alert

  1. Click "Create Alert" button
  2. Select metric to monitor
  3. Set threshold value
  4. Choose duration (sustained for 5+ minutes)
  5. Select notification method
  6. Save alert

Alert Notifications

  • Email notifications
  • Slack messages
  • SMS alerts
  • Webhook calls
  • Integration with monitoring tools

Alert Management#

Viewing Alerts

  • List of active alerts
  • Alert status and severity
  • Last triggered time
  • History of alerts

Disabling Alerts

  • Temporarily suppress alerts
  • Useful during maintenance
  • Set duration for suppression

Billing Information#

Cost Tracking#

Monthly Cost

  • Current month estimated cost
  • Based on instance type and utilization
  • Hourly rate displayed
  • Comparison to budget

Cost Breakdown

  • Compute cost
  • Storage cost
  • Network transfer cost
  • Any additional services

Cost Optimization

  • Recommendations for cost savings
  • Right-sizing suggestions
  • Reserved instance options
  • Spot instance pricing

Settings and Configuration#

General Settings#

Auto-Restart

  • Instance automatically restarts if stopped
  • Useful for critical services
  • Can cause unexpected restarts

Termination Protection

  • Prevents accidental deletion
  • Requires explicit flag removal
  • Recommended for production

Detailed Monitoring

  • Enhanced metrics collection
  • More frequent data points
  • May incur additional costs

Advanced Settings#

User Data

  • Custom scripts on launch
  • Configuration automation
  • Installation commands
  • Usually base64 encoded

Metadata Options

  • Instance metadata service access
  • IMDSv1 vs. IMDSv2 (security)
  • Token expiration

Refresh and Update#

Refreshing Information#

Manual Refresh

  1. Click refresh button in panel header
  2. Data reloads from cloud provider
  3. Shows latest status and metrics

Auto-Refresh

  • Data updates every 30 seconds
  • Automatic background refresh
  • Shows latest information

Closing and Navigation#

Exit Detail Panel#

Methods to Exit

  1. Click X button in header
  2. Click outside panel area
  3. Press Escape key
  4. Click another instance

View Another Instance#

Switch Between Instances

  1. Close current detail panel
  2. Click different instance card
  3. Detail panel opens for new instance
  4. Replaces previous details

Print and Export#

Document Information#

Print Instance Details

  1. Click print button in panel
  2. Browser print dialog opens
  3. Choose printer and options
  4. Print documentation

Export Details

  1. Click export button
  2. Select format (PDF or CSV)
  3. File downloads to computer
  4. Save for documentation

Next Steps#