Creating a Linux VM
Create a Linux VM using Compute Cloud from the Nebius AI management console and connect to it.
Getting started
To get started in Nebius AI:
- Log in to the management console
. If you do not yet have an account, go to the management console and follow the instructions. - If you do not have an SSH key pair yet, create them.
Create a VM
-
In the list of services in the management console
, select Compute Cloud. -
Click Create VM.
-
Under Basic parameters:
-
Enter a name for the VM. The naming requirements are as follows:
- The length can be from 3 to 63 characters.
- It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
- The first character must be a letter. The last character can't be a hyphen.
Note
The VM name is used to generate an internal FQDN only once: when creating a VM. If the internal FQDN is important to you, choose an appropriate name for the VM at the creation stage.
-
Select an availability zone to place the VM in.
-
-
Under Image/boot disk selection, select an image and a Linux-based OS version.
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(Optional) Under Disks, select the Disks tab and configure a boot disk:
-
Select disk type.
-
Specify the required disk size.
If you want to create a VM from an existing disk, under Disks, add a disk:
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Click Add disk.
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Enter the disk name.
-
Select disk type.
-
Specify the desired disk size.
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(Optional) Enable the Advanced option in the Delete with the VM field if you need to automatically delete the disk when deleting the VM it will be attached to.
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In the Contents field, select
Disk
. -
Click Add.
-
-
-
Under Computing resources:
- Choose a platform.
- Specify the required number of vCPUs, as well as the amount of RAM.
- If required, make your VM preemptible.
-
Under Network settings:
- (Optional) Select the Public IP checkbox to assign the VM a public IP address.
-
Under Access, specify the information required to access the instance:
-
Enter username in the Login field.
Alert
Do not use the
root
username or other names reserved by the OS. To perform operations that require superuser permissions, use thesudo
command. -
In the SSH key field, paste the contents of the public key file. You need to create a key pair for the SSH connection yourself.
In public Linux images provided by Nebius AI, the functionality of connecting over SSH using login and password is disabled by default.
-
-
Click Create VM.
The VM appears in the list. Once created, the VM is assigned an IP address and a host name (FQDN).
Connect to the VM
You can connect to a VM with the RUNNING
status over SSH. Some time may be required to initialize all the services after the VM starts. If there is a connection error, retry after a few minutes.
To connect, you can use the ssh
utility on Linux/macOS/Windows 10 and PuTTY
VM security groups must allow incoming TCP traffic to port 22.
To connect, specify the VM's public IP address. You can find out the public IP address in the management console. On the VM's page, go to the Network section and find the Public IPv4 field. If you created a VM with an internal IP address only, bind it to a public IP address.
You can also use the internal IP addresses and FQDNs to establish an SSH connection between the VMs on a single cloud network in Nebius AI.
In the terminal, run this command:
ssh <username>@<VM_public_IP_address>
Where <username>
is the VM account username.
If you have multiple private keys, specify the one you need:
ssh -i <key_path/key_file_name><username>@<VM_public_IP_address>
If this is the first time you connect to a VM, you will see a warning about an unknown host:
The authenticity of host '130.193.40.101 (130.193.40.101)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:PoaSwqxRc8g6iOXtiH7ayGHpSN0MXwUfWHkGgpLELJ8.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
Type yes
in the terminal and press Enter.
Make sure that the Windows account has read privileges on the folder containing the keys.
To connect to the VM, execute the following command in the command line:
ssh <username>@<VM_public_IP_address>
Where <username>
is the VM account username.
If you have multiple private keys, specify the one you need:
ssh -i <key_path\key_file_name> <username>@<VM_public_IP_address>
If this is the first time you connect to a VM, you will see a warning about an unknown host:
The authenticity of host '130.193.40.101 (130.193.40.101)' can't be established.
ECDSA key fingerprint is SHA256:PoaSwqxRc8g6iOXtiH7ayGHpSN0MXwUfWHkGgpLELJ8.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?
Type yes
in the command prompt and press Enter.
In Windows, a connection is established using the PuTTY application.
- Run the Pageant application.
- Right-click on the Pageant icon in the task bar.
- In the context menu, select Add key.
- Select a PuTTY-generated private key in the
.ppk
format. If a password is set for the key, enter it.
- Run PuTTY.
-
In the Host Name (or IP address) field, enter the public IP address of the VM you want to connect to. Specify port
22
and SSH as the connection type. -
In the tree on the left, select Connection → SSH → Auth.
-
Set the Allow agent forwarding option.
-
In the tree on the left, select Connection → SSH → Auth → Credentials.
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In the Private key file for authentication field, select the file with the private key.
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Go back to the Sessions menu. In the Saved sessions field, enter any session name and click Save. The session settings are saved under the specified name. You can use this session profile to connect using Pageant.
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Click Open. If this is the first time you connect to a VM, you might see a warning about an unknown host:
Click Accept. A terminal window opens suggesting that you enter the login of the user on whose behalf the connection is being established. Type the username that you specified when creating the VM and press Enter. If everything is configured correctly, the connection with the server will be established.
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If you saved the session profile in PuTTY, you can use Pageant to establish a connection in the future:
- Right-click on the Pageant icon in the task bar.
- Select the Saved sessions menu item.
- In the saved sessions list, select the necessary session.
Delete the VM
If you no longer plan to use a virtual machine, delete it.
What's next
- Learn how to use VMs.
- Learn how to create a VM with a GPU.
- Read answers to frequently asked questions.