nova

command-line client for OpenStack Compute, which manages virtual machine

TLDR

List VMs on current tenant

$ nova list

List VMs of all tenants (admin user only)

$ nova list --all-tenants

Boot a VM on a specific host

$ nova boot --nic net-id=[net_id] --image [image_id] --flavor [flavor] --availability-zone nova:[host_name] [vm_name]

Start a server

$ nova start [server]

Stop a server

$ nova stop [server]

Attach a network interface to a specific VM

$ nova interface-attach --net-id [net_id] [server]

SYNOPSIS

nova command [options] [arguments]

nova is the command-line client for OpenStack Compute (Nova), which manages virtual machine instances in OpenStack clouds. It handles VM lifecycle operations: creating, starting, stopping, and deleting instances.
Nova integrates with other OpenStack services: Glance for images, Neutron for networking, Cinder for block storage, and Keystone for authentication. Authentication credentials are typically provided through environment variables (OSUSERNAME, OSPASSWORD, etc.).
The client communicates with the Nova API to provision compute resources according to specified configurations (flavor, image, network).

PARAMETERS

list

List virtual machines

boot

Create and boot a new VM

start

Start a stopped VM

stop

Stop a running VM

delete

Delete a VM

show

Show details of a VM

interface-attach

Attach a network interface to a VM

--nic net-id=_id_

Network to attach

--image _id_

Image ID to boot from

--flavor _name_

Instance type/size

--availability-zone _zone:host_

Placement specification

--all-tenants

Show VMs from all tenants (admin)

CAVEATS

Requires OpenStack credentials configured (typically via sourcing an openrc file). The legacy nova client is being replaced by openstack unified client. Network and storage configurations must exist before VM creation. Admin privileges needed for cross-tenant operations.