flex.planeflex.plane
Virtual Machines

Create a Virtual Machine

Provision a new VM with an OS image, compute profile, storage, and network.

Spinning up a virtual machine in flex.plane takes a zone, an OS image, a compute profile, a storage profile, and at least one network. You can let the scheduler pick the best host or pin the VM to a specific one.

The VM creation wizard guides you through selecting a cluster, OS image, compute profile, storage, networking, and access credentials.

Choose your configuration

Every VM requires four building blocks:

  • Zone: the availability zone where the VM will run.
  • OS image: the base image for the VM (Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky, etc.).
  • Compute profile: defines CPU and memory allocation (e.g. "Small" = 2 vCPUs / 4 GB RAM).
  • Storage profile: defines the disk tier and I/O limits.

You also need at least one network to attach the VM to. Each VM supports up to 4 network interfaces.

If you omit the host, the scheduler automatically places the VM on the most suitable host in the zone based on current resource availability.

Set access credentials

Every VM needs initial access credentials so you can log in after creation:

  • user: the username for the default account.
  • password: the password for the default account.
  • sshPublicKey: an SSH public key for key-based authentication.
Always use SSH key authentication for production workloads. Password-based access is convenient for quick testing but should not be your only login method.

Add extra disks

Beyond the boot disk that is created from the OS image, you can attach additional data disks at creation time. Each additional disk requires:

  • A storage profile to determine the disk tier.
  • A size in gigabytes (minimum 1 GB).

Additional disks appear as block devices inside the VM. You will need to partition and format them after first boot.

Configure cloud-init

For advanced provisioning, you can pass custom cloud-init data. This gives you full control over:

  • user: custom cloud-init user-data (YAML).
  • network: custom cloud-init network config.
  • meta: custom cloud-init metadata.

Cloud-init runs on first boot and can install packages, configure services, write files, and more. If you do not provide cloud-init data, flex.plane uses sensible defaults based on the credentials you specified.

Cloud-init is optional. The user, password, and SSH key fields handle basic provisioning without any cloud-init configuration.

Launch the VM

In the portal, the creation wizard walks you through each step: cluster selection, OS image, compute profile, storage profile, networking, SSH keys, user credentials, backup preferences, and a final name. A summary panel on the right tracks your progress through each step.

Once you click Create Virtual Machine, the VM is provisioned and begins booting. You can monitor its status from the Virtual Machines list.

Pass a static IP address in the network interface options to pin the VM to a specific IP. If you omit it, flex.plane automatically assigns the next available address on the network.

After creation, the VM appears in the Virtual Machines list where you can track its status, resources, and uptime.

The Virtual Machines list displays each VM's resources, connected networks, uptime, status, and quick action buttons.

Hybrid Cloud

Manage self-hosted Proxmox clusters and cloud providers like Hetzner from a single control plane. Burst into the cloud during load peaks and scale back when demand drops.

VM Console

Access the VNC console for direct VM interaction.