By default all VPX instances hosted on the SDX platform are configured to auto start. During a SDX migration project it was useful to prevent this behavior in the event that the SDX platform rebooted. The primary reason for this was because I used the same IP addresses on the new instances that the old instances had and did not want to cause an IP conflict by ARPing over the new instance if the SDX platform rebooted.

Process

1. SSH to the underlying XenServer host on your SDX appliance

2. Discover the VM UUIDs by executing the following command

    xe vm-list
   

   Note: this command will list all of the VMs on the appliance

3. Copy the UUID string from the VM you want to prevent from auto-starting

4. Execute the following command to set auto_poweron to false for that VM

    xe vm-param-set uuid=yourUUID other-config:auto_poweron=false
   

   Note: yourUUID will be populated with the UUID you copied in step 3

5. Verify the parameter was modified by executing

    xe vm-list uuid=yourUUID params=other-config
   

End result

The selected VPX instance defined by UUID will no longer auto-start if the SDX platform is rebooted.