Methods and apparatus, to control a virtual machine, include: sending identification of virtual machines within a recovery domain, receiving a request to control one the virtual machines, authorizing the request, and forwarding the request to a virtual machine manager of the one of the virtual machines. Other methods and apparatus, to control a virtual machine, include: sending a request for identification of virtual machines within a recovery domain directly to a cloud computing device without passing the request through another computing device, determining that one of the virtual machines needs to be controlled, and sending a request to control the one of the virtual machines directly to the cloud computing device without passing the request through another computing device.