====================================
Access an instance through a console
====================================

VNC or SPICE is used to view the console output of an instance, regardless of
whether or not the console log has output. This allows relaying keyboard and
mouse activity to and from an instance.

There are three remote console access methods commonly used with
OpenStack:

novnc
  An in-browser VNC client implemented using HTML5 Canvas and
  WebSockets

spice
  A complete in-browser client solution for interaction with
  virtualized instances

xvpvnc
  A Java client offering console access to an instance

Example:

To access an instance through a remote console, run the following
command:

.. code-block:: console

   $ openstack console url show INSTANCE_NAME --xvpvnc

The command returns a URL from which you can access your instance:

.. code-block:: console

   +--------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | Type   | Url                                                                          |
   +--------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | xvpvnc | http://192.168.5.96:6081/console?token=c83ae3a3-15c4-4890-8d45-aefb494a8d6c  |
   +--------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

:option:`--xvpvnc` can be replaced by any of the above values as connection
types.

When using SPICE to view the console of an instance, a browser plugin
can be used directly on the instance page, or the
:command:`openstack console url show` command can be used with it, as well, by
returning a token-authenticated address, as in the example above.

For further information and comparisons (including security
considerations), see the `Security
Guide <http://docs.openstack.org/security-guide/compute.html>`__.