VMs, Electros, and AtomOS GUI

Operators use Electros for organisation-wide private cloud control, AtomOS for hypervisor and storage services on each host, and optionally the AtomOS GUI for on-host management. Keep the three separate—confusing them leads to trust mistakes and conflicting operations.

AtomOS vs Electros vs AtomOS GUI

Layer	What it is	Typical operator
AtomOS	Compute, storage, cluster, and client services on a Linux host; installed with atomos-cli	Platform admins, break-glass SSH
Electros	Multi-target control plane—targets, scenarios, IaaS VMs, org RBAC	Cloud admins, tenant admins, self-service users
AtomOS GUI (atomosgui, from 0.9)	Electros-like UI on one host for local users	Edge sites, lab, or when Electros is not in path

flowchart LR
  subgraph org["Your organisation"]
    E[Electros]
  end
  subgraph hosts["AtomOS hosts"]
    T1[Target A]
    T2[Target B]
    GUI[AtomOS GUI on one host]
  end
  E -->|HTTPS + trusted cert| T1
  E --> T2
  GUI --> T1

Aspect	Electros	AtomOS GUI
Scope	Many targets and clouds	Single host
Users	Electros organisation accounts	Local users (atomos-cli -mu)
Trust	Target registration and fingerprint	Host-local login and groups

Deep architecture: Architecture — Electros interaction. Security: Multi-tenancy & isolation.

Register and enable a host

1. Open Connections → Targets → Add AtomOS with an organisation admin account.
2. Assign a clear name and enter the host IP (usually the address Electros uses on br0 or your management path).
3. On the host, run sudo atomos-cli --show-fingerprint and compare with the trust prompt in Electros—approve only the machine you expect (Networking & certificates).
4. Open Active Connections (My Clouds / scenarios) and enable the target or the scenario that contains it.
5. Confirm reachability, capacity, and inventory before production pledges.

A registered target is not available for creates until it is enabled for the session or scenario.

Authoritative Electros documentation:

• Connections
• Active Connections
• Virtual machines

Trust before enable

Never skip fingerprint verification because an IP “looks right.” Stale DNS or reused addresses have caused wrong-host trust in the field.

Create a VM (Electros flow)

In IaaS → Virtual Machines:

1. Describe the guest (from template or custom spec), attach volumes and networks.
2. Review the pledge/specfile constraints (CPU, memory, optional PCI such as GPU).
3. Continue → Choose a Host (manual selection or Automatic Selection when available).
4. Create and wait until the operation completes in the UI or API.

Scheduling uses reachable hosts and C4 matching (C4 protocol). Storage must exist on vaults the host can use (Storage).

Day-to-day operations include power control, VNC console, volume attach/detach, CPU and memory changes, network changes, and host health visibility—see the Electros VM guide.

Concurrent and conflicting operations

One lifecycle action at a time

Do not issue conflicting VM operations simultaneously on the same guest or host—for example create plus delete, migrate plus resize, or parallel imports on the same vault from Electros and manual API scripts. Wait for completion (success or explicit failure) before starting the next action.

Symptoms of overlap include stuck tasks, inconsistent volume state, and errors that clear after services settle. When in doubt:

sudo atomos-cli --status
sudo atomos-cli --journal compute 30m

Use -ra only when support or runbooks advise a full service restart.

AtomOS GUI on the host

From 0.9, install the on-host UI with the atomosgui role or package:

sudo atomos-cli --install atomosgui on-prem
# or after an update that omitted the package:
sudo dnf install atomos-atomosgui

Reboot if prompted (Upgrades). GUI ports: install reference.

Local users and groups

sudo atomos-cli -mu

Group	Permissions
storage	Manage storage resources on this host
compute	Manage compute resources on this host
admin	Manage compute, storage, and network on this host

Full install section: Local users (AtomOS GUI).

When to use which surface

Task	Prefer
Fleet VM create across many hosts	Electros
Org RBAC and scenarios	Electros
Install, vaults, certs, bridges	atomos-cli on host
Single-site local self-service	AtomOS GUI
Import via storage client API	atomos-cli/API on host + Electros attach (Migration)

Related reading

• What is AtomOS — management surfaces
• Planning
• Availability & recovery