Idle machines stop. Use wakes them.

Every VM has a power mode. Use means an exec, a terminal, an upload or download, a proxied HTTP request or an open forward.

kiln vm create app --profile ubuntu-docker --power on_demand --idle 10m kiln vm power app --mode warm --idle 15m

One timeline under each of the four modes.

  • always Starts with the daemon and never idle-stops.

  • warm Starts with the daemon, idle-stops, wakes on use.

  • on_demand Starts on first use and idle-stops after the timeout.

  • manual Changes only when you run start or stop.

Orange is a running machine. Each row shows the same daemon start, two requests and two idle timeouts.

What a wake looks like.

The request that wakes a VM gets an answer

For a minute after a VM starts, the HTTP proxy retries refused connections until the guest service listens. After that minute a refused connection returns 502 at once.

An open forward keeps it awake

Each connection through kiln vm forward wakes the VM when its mode allows that. The VM does not idle-stop while the connection stays open.

Opening a terminal starts a stopped VM

kiln vm open starts the VM, waits for the guest agent and attaches. A VM in manual mode is the exception. Start it yourself first.

A daemon restart stops every VM

When kilnd shuts down, it stops the VMs that are running. On its next start, VMs in always and warm mode boot again on the same disk.

Read a VM's mode, or change it. The new mode applies to the VM you already have.

kiln vm power app kiln vm power app --mode manual