✌️How to Create a GPU VM?

GPU Virtual machines are Linux-based virtual machines (VMs) that run on top of virtualized hardware with high-end GPUs. Each VM you create is a new virtual server you can use, either standalone or as part of a larger, cloud-based infrastructure.

Step 1: Open Instance Management

In the side menu, go to Compute Engine → Instance Management, then click Create Instance.

Step 2: Configure the Instance

1. Instance Name: Enter a unique name for your GPU virtual machine.

2. Instance Type Select the type of instance: GPU: Optimized for high-performance computing, machine learning, and other intensive tasks. Currently supported GPUs: NVIDIA H100 SXM5 and NVIDIA H200 SXM

3. Disk type: Only one disk type can be selected during GPU VM creation: Ephemeral Disk (NVMe) or Persistent Disk (Block storage)

4. Image: You can use either the default Ubuntu base image or your own custom image.

   • OS: We currently support version UBUNTU 22.04 GPU

• Custom image: Upload your custom image under Custom Images. It will then appear in the image selection list. (The file type is QCOW)

1. Resource type: Each GPU virtual machine comes with different configurations for vCPU, RAM, and the number of GPUs attached. You can choose a configuration that best fits their needs.

Step 3: Configure the Storage disk

• Storage Policy: Specifies the storage type used for the GPU VM.

  • GPU VMs with Ephemeral Disk (NVMe) support only NVMe-SSD.

  • GPU VMs with Persistent Disk support only Premium SSD, offering IOPS between 3,000 and 10,000. (Depends on your service quota request)

  Size:

  • Ephemeral Disk (NVMe): Fixed capacity per GPU instance (It depends on the number of GPUs selected in the chosen Resource type option).

  • Persistent Disk: Scalable based on your storage requirements, from 100GB.

Step 4: Configure the Network Settings

• Subnet: Select the appropriate subnet to enable your VM to connect to internal and external resources.

• Advanced network:

  • Private IP: Enter a private IP manually or allow the system to automatically assign one based on the selected subnet.

  • Floating IP: For Ephemeral disk NVMe, the Floating IP is only configured after the VM is successfully created.

  • Security group: Assign a security group to manage inbound and outbound traffic for the virtual machine.

Step 5: Set Authentication Method

Choose one of the following authentication methods:

• SSH Key: The system automatically uses your latest SSH key (you can change it if needed).

• Password: Set a password and securely store it for console access.

Step 6: Advanced Settings

Backup Job

Only support GPU VM uses Block storage - Persistent disk. You can schedule automatic backups and define their frequency and timing.

Backup Options:

• Daily Full Backup – Performs a full backup every day.

• Daily Incremental, Weekly Active Full – Performs daily incremental backups with a full backup once per week.

• Daily Incremental, Monthly Active Full – Performs daily incremental backups with a full backup once per month.

Backup Time: Set the specific time for the backup to run.

Tags

Assign existing tags to help manage and categorize your resources.

User Data (Cloud-init Script)

The User Data field allows you to add cloud-init scripts. When the VM starts, cloud-init reads metadata and automatically configures the system — including users, SSH keys, and network settings.

Sample Cloud-init Script: With the provided script, the system will automatically create the user "testcloudinit" with the password "Abc123". Another user, "testcloudinit2", will be created with the password "P@ssw0rd!".

# cloud-config
users:
- name: testcloudinit
  sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
  lock_passwd: false
  shell: /bin/bash
  passwd: $6$rounds=4096$V6anciWl30$xKbcljqks1gUkMiM80pyKzhvyhn7U1n.jXcGCUfkUlX.rnllUWKUrmDEzekhhhP8aERSylRuC7gfDhJ32Xv0A1
- name: testcloudinit2
  groups: sudo
  lock_passwd: false
  shell: /bin/bash
  plain_text_passwd: P@ssw0rd!
- hostname: testcloudinit

Step 7: Create the Instance

Click Create Instance to deploy and start your GPU VM.

Once the instance is created successfully, you can view its details in the Instance Management dashboard.