diff --git a/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/instanceactivity_detail.html b/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/instanceactivity_detail.html
index 9b40472..a8acbbb 100644
--- a/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/instanceactivity_detail.html
+++ b/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/instanceactivity_detail.html
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 {% block content %}
 <div class="body-content">
   <div class="page-header">
-    <h1>
+    <h1><i class="fa fa-{{icon}}"></i>
         {{ object.instance.name }}:
             {% if user.is_superuser %}
             {{object.readable_name.get_admin_text}}
diff --git a/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/vm-detail/_activity-timeline.html b/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/vm-detail/_activity-timeline.html
index 86e2bf4..609b8a6 100644
--- a/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/vm-detail/_activity-timeline.html
+++ b/circle/dashboard/templates/dashboard/vm-detail/_activity-timeline.html
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 {% for a in activities %}
 <div class="activity{% if a.pk == active.pk %} activity-active{%endif%}" data-activity-id="{{ a.pk }}">
   <span class="timeline-icon{% if a.has_failed %} timeline-icon-failed{% endif %}">
-  <i class="fa {% if not a.finished %}fa-refresh fa-spin {% else %}fa-plus{% endif %}"></i>
+  <i class="fa {% if not a.finished %}fa-refresh fa-spin {% else %}fa-{{a.icon}}{% endif %}"></i>
 </span>
 <strong{% if a.result %} title="{{ a.result.get_user_text }}"{% endif %}>
   <a href="{{ a.get_absolute_url }}">
diff --git a/circle/dashboard/views.py b/circle/dashboard/views.py
index a4478fa..af192c8 100644
--- a/circle/dashboard/views.py
+++ b/circle/dashboard/views.py
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ class VmDetailView(CheckedDetailView):
         activities = instance.get_merged_activities(user)
         show_show_all = len(activities) > 10
         activities = activities[:10]
-        context['activities'] = activities
+        context['activities'] = _format_activities(activities)
         context['show_show_all'] = show_show_all
         latest = instance.get_latest_activity_in_progress()
         context['is_new_state'] = (latest and
@@ -2625,7 +2625,8 @@ def vm_activity(request, pk):
 
     response = {}
     show_all = request.GET.get("show_all", "false") == "true"
-    activities = instance.get_merged_activities(request.user)
+    activities = _format_activities(
+        instance.get_merged_activities(request.user))
     show_show_all = len(activities) > 10
     if not show_all:
         activities = activities[:10]
@@ -3082,6 +3083,20 @@ def get_disk_download_status(request, pk):
     )
 
 
+def _get_activity_icon(act):
+    op = act.get_operation()
+    if op and op.id in vm_ops:
+        return vm_ops[op.id].icon
+    else:
+        return "cog"
+
+
+def _format_activities(acts):
+    for i in acts:
+        i.icon = _get_activity_icon(i)
+    return acts
+
+
 class InstanceActivityDetail(CheckedDetailView):
     model = InstanceActivity
     context_object_name = 'instanceactivity'  # much simpler to mock object
@@ -3092,8 +3107,9 @@ class InstanceActivityDetail(CheckedDetailView):
 
     def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
         ctx = super(InstanceActivityDetail, self).get_context_data(**kwargs)
-        ctx['activities'] = self.object.instance.get_activities(
-            self.request.user)
+        ctx['activities'] = _format_activities(
+            self.object.instance.get_activities(self.request.user))
+        ctx['icon'] = _get_activity_icon(self.object)
         return ctx
 
 
diff --git a/circle/vm/models/activity.py b/circle/vm/models/activity.py
index bf14548..e10a001 100644
--- a/circle/vm/models/activity.py
+++ b/circle/vm/models/activity.py
@@ -192,6 +192,10 @@ class InstanceActivity(ActivityModel):
                               readable_name=readable_name)
         return activitycontextimpl(act, on_abort=on_abort, on_commit=on_commit)
 
+    def get_operation(self):
+        return self.instance.get_operation_from_activity_code(
+            self.activity_code)
+
 
 @contextmanager
 def instance_activity(code_suffix, instance, on_abort=None, on_commit=None,
diff --git a/circle/vm/models/instance.py b/circle/vm/models/instance.py
index 53f8887..9c52033 100644
--- a/circle/vm/models/instance.py
+++ b/circle/vm/models/instance.py
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ from django.core.exceptions import PermissionDenied
 from django.db.models import (BooleanField, CharField, DateTimeField,
                               IntegerField, ForeignKey, Manager,
                               ManyToManyField, permalink, SET_NULL, TextField)
+from django.db import IntegrityError
 from django.dispatch import Signal
 from django.utils import timezone
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _, ugettext_noop
@@ -926,8 +927,16 @@ class Instance(AclBase, VirtualMachineDescModel, StatusModel, OperatedMixin,
 
     def allocate_vnc_port(self):
         if self.vnc_port is None:
-            self.vnc_port = find_unused_vnc_port()
-            self.save()
+            while True:
+                try:
+                    self.vnc_port = find_unused_vnc_port()
+                    self.save()
+                except IntegrityError:
+                    # Another thread took this port get another one
+                    logger.debug("Port %s is in use.", self.vnc_port)
+                    pass
+                else:
+                    break
 
     def yield_vnc_port(self):
         if self.vnc_port is not None:
diff --git a/circle/vm/operations.py b/circle/vm/operations.py
index 32a70c9..1684b88 100644
--- a/circle/vm/operations.py
+++ b/circle/vm/operations.py
@@ -260,6 +260,16 @@ class DeployOperation(InstanceOperation):
                                         self.instance.STATUS.PENDING,
                                         self.instance.STATUS.ERROR)
 
+    def on_abort(self, activity, error):
+        activity.resultant_state = 'STOPPED'
+
+    def on_commit(self, activity):
+        activity.resultant_state = 'RUNNING'
+        activity.result = create_readable(
+            ugettext_noop("virtual machine successfully "
+                          "deployed to node: %(node)s"),
+            node=self.instance.node)
+
     def _operation(self, activity, timeout=15):
         # Allocate VNC port and host node
         self.instance.allocate_vnc_port()
@@ -273,9 +283,11 @@ class DeployOperation(InstanceOperation):
 
         # Deploy VM on remote machine
         if self.instance.state not in ['PAUSED']:
+            rn = create_readable(ugettext_noop("deploy virtual machine"),
+                                 ugettext_noop("deploy vm to %(node)s"),
+                                 node=self.instance.node)
             with activity.sub_activity(
-                'deploying_vm', readable_name=ugettext_noop(
-                    "deploy virtual machine")) as deploy_act:
+                    'deploying_vm', readable_name=rn) as deploy_act:
                 deploy_act.result = self.instance.deploy_vm(timeout=timeout)
 
         # Establish network connection (vmdriver)