Create virtual machine

Overview

Users can use this page to create a virtual machine. There are three main steps in provisioning a compute instance:

• Configuration — Select a virtual machine configuration.
• Settings — Select the network type, IP addressing, security group, operating system, and authentication method.
• Review and Apply — Choose the number of compute instances, then confirm and apply.

Step 1. Configuration

In the Configuration step, you define the technical parameters of the virtual machine. Use the filters on the left to narrow down available options. Matching configurations are displayed on the right.

Left panel: Filters

The left panel allows you to filter the compute instance configurations by selecting the following parameters.

Location

Select the geographic location where the virtual machine will be deployed. Choosing a location closer to your users can reduce latency and improve performance. Only configurations available in the selected locations will be shown.

Cloud provider

Select the cloud provider that will host the virtual machine. Only one (the cheapest) configuration from the selected provider in a single location will be shown.

Operating system

Filter the virtual machine configurations by the operating systems that are supported for installation. You will select the exact operating system in the next step.

Instance type

Select the type of compute instance:

• Regular instance — General-purpose workloads
• GPU instance — GPU-accelerated workloads
• Bare metal — Dedicated physical servers without virtualization

GPU type

Select NVIDIA or AMD GPU type to filter configurations.

GPUs

Select the number of GPUs in the virtual machine.

vCPU type

Specify the type of virtual CPU:

• Shared — Cost-effective option with shared CPU resources. Shared CPU means your virtual machine runs on a physical host where CPU resources are shared among multiple virtual machines. The hypervisor schedules CPU time across tenants, so performance can vary depending on host utilization. This option is best suited for cost-effective workloads that don’t require consistently dedicated CPU performance, such as small web applications, lightweight services, development, and testing environments.

• Standard — Balanced performance. Standard CPU configuration means that the virtual machine you create is running on a physical host machine that has dedicated CPU resources allocated exclusively to your VM. With a standard CPU configuration, you can expect consistent and predictable CPU performance. This option is best suited for workloads that require a dedicated CPU, such as larger web applications, databases, and enterprise applications.

• HPC — High-performance computing workloads. HPC (High Performance Computing) CPU configuration means that the virtual machine you create is running on a physical host machine that has high-frequency CPUs optimized for high-performance computing. This option is best suited for compute-intensive workloads that require a lot of CPU power, such as scientific simulations, financial modelling, and video encoding. HPC CPUs can provide significantly higher performance compared to standard CPUs, but they may also come at a higher cost.

vCPU number

Use the slider to select the required number of virtual CPU cores.

Memory

Use the slider to define the amount of RAM for the instance (in GB).

System volume type

Select the storage type for the system disk:

• SSD

SSD (Solid State Drive) is a type of storage volume that uses flash memory to store data. SSDs provide faster read and write speeds compared to HDDs, making them ideal for workloads that require fast I/O performance, such as web servers or database servers. However, SSDs typically have a higher cost per gigabyte than HDDs.

• SSD+

SSD+ (Solid State Drive Plus) is a type of storage volume that uses SSD technology optimized for high IOPS performance. This option is best suited for workloads that require both fast I/O performance and high throughput, such as content delivery networks or media streaming services. SSD+ provides significantly higher performance than standard SSDs, at a higher cost per gigabyte.

System volume size

Specify the size of the system disk in gigabytes.

Right panel: Available configurations

The right panel displays a list of recommended configurations that match the selected filters.

The displayed results present the 20 most cost-effective configurations from each selected provider for each location. This streamlined approach simplifies decision-making by removing less competitive pricing options, with the list arranged by cost.

To explore higher-tier options within a specific location, adjust the filtering parameters such as vCPU type, vCPU count, memory, system volume type, and system volume size to match your requirements.

For each configuration, the following information is shown:

• Location and data center
• Compute instance specifications (vCPU and RAM)
• System volume type and size
• GPU type and number of GPUs (for GPU configurations only)
• Local volumes. Local volume provides high-performance SSD storage that is directly attached to the host machine. Data stored on a local volume is ephemeral and will be permanently lost when the virtual machine is stopped or deleted.
• Estimated monthly cost

Use this list to compare options and select the configuration that best fits your requirements.

After selecting a suitable configuration, click Next step to continue to the next stage of the virtual machine creation process.

Step 2. Settings

In this step, you configure the network, security, operating system, and authentication settings for the virtual machine.

Network option

Select how the virtual machine will be connected to the network:

• emma multi-cloud network Creates the compute instance in the company’s multi-cloud local network, allowing private connectivity between resources. (To turn on connectivity, you need to enable Direct Connect in your project.)
• Isolated instance The compute instance is isolated from other emma entities and is accessible only via a public (external) IP address.
• Use the provider’s default network The compute instance uses the cloud provider’s default network settings.

IP addressing

Choose the IP address format for the virtual machine:

• IPv4
• IPv4 + IPv6

Security group

Select an existing security group to control inbound and outbound traffic for the instance. If no security group is selected, the instance will be placed into a default security group that matches the chosen network type.

Operating system

Select the operating system to be installed on the virtual machine. OS images with GPU drivers installed are available for the GPU instances.

SSH key authentication

Configure SSH access to the virtual machine:

• Select an existing SSH key from the list
• Or generate a new SSH key
• Or upload an existing SSH key

The default SSH username depends on the selected operating system (for example, ubuntu for Ubuntu).

After completing the required settings, click Next step to proceed to the final review and confirmation stage.

Step 3. Review and Apply

In the Review & Apply step, you review the selected virtual machine configuration, adjust the number of instances if needed, rename if needed, and start the deployment process.

Selected virtual machines

This section displays a summary card for each virtual machine to be created. For each VM, the following details are shown:

• VM name
• Cloud provider and location
• Compute resources (vCPU and RAM)
• GPU configuration (if applicable)
• System volume type and size
• Local or additional storage (if configured)
• Operating system
• Estimated monthly cost

Edit name or remove a VM

• Click the edit (pencil) icon next to the VM name to edit the name.
• Click the remove (×) icon to delete the VM from the deployment list.

Quantity

• You can adjust the quantity to deploy multiple identical virtual machines with the same configuration. Use the edit (pencil) icon at the bottom of the card.

Add VM

Click Add VM to include additional virtual machines in the same deployment. Each VM can have its own configuration.

Deployment summary

At the bottom of the page, a summary displays:

• Total number of virtual machines
• Aggregate compute and storage resources
• Total estimated monthly cost

Deploy

After reviewing all settings, click Deploy to start provisioning the virtual machine(s). Use Previous step if you need to return and make changes before deployment.