Table of contents

Creating Virtual Machines

This guide explains how to create and configure a virtual machine on Podstack.

Create a VM

  1. Navigate to Compute > Virtual Machines
  2. Click Create VM
  3. Configure the VM settings
  4. Review the cost estimate
  5. Click Create

Configuration Options

Basic Information

VM Name A unique, descriptive name for your VM.

Project Select the project this VM belongs to.

Operating System

Distribution Choose your preferred Linux distribution:

  • Ubuntu (recommended for ML workloads)
  • CentOS
  • Debian
  • Rocky Linux

Version Select the OS version. Newer versions have better hardware support.

Resources

CPU Number of virtual CPUs:

  • Minimum: 1 vCPU
  • Maximum: 128 vCPUs

Memory RAM allocation in GB:

  • Minimum: 0.5 GB
  • Maximum: 1024 GB

Storage Boot disk size in GB:

  • Minimum: 10 GB
  • Maximum: 10,000 GB

Storage is persistent and survives VM restarts.

GPU Configuration

GPU Type Select from available GPU types (A100, H100, V100, etc.)

GPU Count Number of GPUs:

  • 0 for CPU-only VMs
  • Up to 8 GPUs depending on availability

VMs use whole GPU passthrough for maximum performance.

SSH Access

SSH Key Select an SSH key for authentication. The public key will be installed in the VM.

If you don’t have an SSH key:

  1. Go to SSH Keys
  2. Generate or add a key
  3. Return to VM creation

Network Configuration

VMs receive:

  • Public IP: For external SSH access
  • Private IP: For communication with other resources

Cost Estimation

Before creating, review the estimated hourly cost:

  • CPU cost
  • Memory cost
  • Storage cost
  • GPU cost (if applicable)

Ensure your wallet has sufficient balance for at least a few hours of operation.

After Creation

The VM provisioning process:

  1. Resources allocated
  2. OS image deployed
  3. SSH key configured
  4. Network assigned
  5. VM starts automatically

This typically takes 2-5 minutes.

Connecting to Your VM

Once running, connect via SSH:

ssh root@<vm-public-ip>

Or with your key explicitly:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/your_key root@<vm-public-ip>

The public IP is shown on the VM detail page.

Initial Setup

After connecting to a new VM:

Update Packages

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# CentOS/Rocky
sudo yum update -y

Install GPU Drivers (if needed)

Most images come with NVIDIA drivers pre-installed. Verify with:

nvidia-smi

Create a User (optional)

adduser myuser
usermod -aG sudo myuser

Troubleshooting

VM stuck in Creating

  • Check wallet balance
  • Verify resource availability
  • Contact support if persists

Cannot SSH

  • Verify VM is Running
  • Check your SSH key is correct
  • Ensure your IP isn’t blocked
  • Try with verbose mode: ssh -v root@<ip>

Next Steps

Learn how to Manage VMs including stopping, restarting, and monitoring.