Virtual machines

A full Linux machine when a container is not enough. Created in the console; CLI support follows the other services.

What you get

  • Image — Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
  • Size — a pricing tier of CPU, memory and disk (see pricing). Disk is replicated across servers in the region.
  • A private network per organisation — every VM you create gets an address in your organisation's own network. VMs in one organisation can reach each other; nobody else's can reach them. The address shown in the console is the one the machine has.
  • Access — a username, your SSH public keys, and a console password. The password is for the browser console; SSH accepts keys only.
  • A web console — a serial console in the browser, for when networking is misconfigured or the machine will not boot cleanly.

Lifecycle

Start, stop and restart from the VM's page. A stopped VM keeps its disk and its address and is billed for storage only. The platform can move a running VM between servers for maintenance without stopping it.

Reaching a VM from the internet

VMs are private by default. To expose one, publish ports on a public address: choose the ports (TCP or UDP, for example 22, 443, 51820/udp), and the platform assigns a public IP, verifies from outside that it answers, and only then shows it as assigned. Everything not listed stays closed.

Two things to know about published ports: your VM sees connections as coming from the platform's network, not the original client address, so IP-based rules inside the VM will not see real client IPs; and a UDP-only publish is shown as assigned but unverified, because a closed UDP port cannot be told apart from an open one from outside.

A second mode — a dedicated public IP routed straight to the VM, with real client addresses and every port open, where the VM's own firewall is the firewall — has been proven on the platform and is being finished. It is not yet available to create from the console.

Delete

Deleting a VM removes the machine, its disk and any public address it held. Its private address is returned to your network.

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