> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.ibee.ai/docs/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.ibee.ai/docs/_mcp/server.

# Power actions

> Start, stop, reboot, open a console session, and delete IBEE Solutions VMs safely.

Power actions live behind the **Actions** menu on the server detail page, and as inline icons on the **Cloud VMs** list. Each action creates an entry in the [Activity feed](/docs/infrastructure/cloud-vms/monitoring#activity-feed).

## Where to find them

| Surface                               | Available actions                        |
| ------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- |
| Server detail page → **Actions** menu | Start · Stop · Reboot · Console · Delete |
| Cloud VMs list → row icons            | Console · Restart · Delete               |

## Actions

### Start

Powers on a stopped VM. Boot completes when the VM appears as **Running** in the list and the IP responds to traffic.

### Stop

Gracefully shuts down a running VM by signalling ACPI poweroff to the guest. The VM transitions through **Stopping** to **Stopped**. Stopped VMs retain their disks, IP, and configuration but stop incurring compute charges (storage continues to be billed).

> **Warning**
>
> If the guest does not honor the ACPI signal, the platform will force power-off after a timeout. Long-running workloads should drain or quiesce before you stop the VM.

### Reboot

Restarts the VM in place. This is equivalent to a `reboot` issued inside the guest — the kernel boots fresh, but disks, IP, and plan stay the same. Use **Reboot** after kernel upgrades or to clear a stuck process when SSH is unresponsive but the host is healthy.

### Console

Opens a browser-based serial/VNC console for out-of-band access. Use it when:

* SSH or RDP is misconfigured or blocked.
* A firewall change locked you out.
* The VM is booting and you want to see early-boot output.
* You need to log in as root after losing the SSH key.

The console session is tied to your IBEE Solutions login — no separate credentials are required at the console layer, but you still need OS-level credentials to log in.

### Delete

Permanently removes the VM, its root disk, and any attached ephemeral resources. The public IP is released back to the pool.

> **Warning**
>
> **Delete is irreversible.** Snapshots and backups taken before deletion are retained according to their own retention policy and can be used to recover into a new VM, but the original VM cannot be restored in place once deleted.

Before deleting, consider:

* Take a final [snapshot](/docs/tools/snapshots/create-a-snapshot) if you might need the data.
* Detach any [block storage volumes](/docs/infrastructure/block-storage) you want to keep — attached volumes survive VM deletion only if explicitly detached first.
* Note the IP if a third-party DNS provider points to it.

## Status reference

| Status                      | Meaning                                                        |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Provisioning**            | Initial deployment in progress.                                |
| **Running**                 | VM is booted and reachable.                                    |
| **Stopping** / **Starting** | Transient state during a power action.                         |
| **Stopped**                 | Powered off; disks retained.                                   |
| **Rebooting**               | Restart in progress.                                           |
| **Error**                   | The last operation failed. Open the activity feed for details. |

## CLI and API

Start, stop, reboot, and delete are exposed through the public API and the
`ibee` CLI. Replace `VM_ID` with the ID from `ibee vms list`:

```bash
# Start
ibee vms start VM_ID --wait

# Stop
ibee vms stop VM_ID --wait

# Reboot
ibee vms reboot VM_ID --wait

# Delete without an interactive confirmation
ibee vms delete VM_ID --yes --wait
```

The browser console remains a portal-only action in the current public
contract.

## Troubleshooting

**VM stuck in `Stopping`**
The guest is ignoring ACPI shutdown. Wait for the force-stop timeout, or reboot to recover and stop again after the workload drains.

**Console shows a blank screen**
Press `Enter` to refresh the TTY. If the screen stays blank during boot, the kernel may be hung — reboot the VM and watch from the console for early-boot errors.

**Can't delete a VM**
Detach any block storage volumes first, and cancel in-flight operations (a backup or snapshot in progress will block deletion).

## Related pages

* [Create a VM](/docs/infrastructure/cloud-vms/create-a-vm)
* [Monitoring](/docs/infrastructure/cloud-vms/monitoring)
* [Snapshots](/docs/tools/snapshots)
* [Backups](/docs/tools/backups)