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Console and logs

Reach a VM's serial console interactively, or stream its serial output non-interactively, through the otherix vm CLI. Both reach the agent owning the VM and require the VM to be running.

Interactive console

otherix vm console web-1

vm console attaches you to the VM's serial console over a WebSocket that the control plane bridges to the QEMU serial socket on the owning node. The CLI issues a single-use console token, dials the stream, and flips your terminal into raw mode for the duration:

connected to web-1 (serial console). Press Ctrl+] to detach.

The Ubuntu cloud image boots through to a login prompt; press Enter to wake it.

Detaching

Press Ctrl+] (0x1D, telnet-style) to bring up a local prompt:

close console? (y/N):

Answer y to detach; any other key resumes the session. The CLI never forwards Ctrl+] to the guest - to send that byte literally you need a different tool (the same trade-off virsh console makes).

Constraints and errors

  • Serial only. Only the serial protocol is implemented; vnc / spice are reserved for future iterations.
  • VM must be running. Against a stopped VM the dial fails with vm_not_running - start it first.
  • Single active console. The agent enforces one console session per VM. A second attach returns console_in_use; close the other session (Ctrl+] in that terminal) and retry.
  • Interactive terminal required. vm console refuses to run when stdin is not a TTY.

Other dial errors are surfaced in operator language: protocol_not_available, unauthenticated (token expired or already consumed - just retry), permission_denied, vm_not_found, and agent_unreachable (the CP could not reach the owning node's agent).

Streaming logs

otherix vm logs web-1

vm logs streams the VM's serial console output to stdout (kubectl-style). By default the full retained history is shown, then the command exits.

Flag Default Notes
--tail -1 Trailing history lines. -1 = all, 0 = none.
--follow / -f false Keep streaming live bytes after the initial history flushes. 
otherix vm logs web-1 --tail=100
otherix vm logs web-1 --follow
otherix vm logs web-1 --tail=50 --follow

With --follow, press Ctrl+C to stop streaming - the cancelled context is treated as a clean exit, not an error.

Unlike vm console, vm logs does not contend for the single console-session slot: you can tail logs while another operator (or you) holds an interactive console on the same VM.

See also