Creating a VM from existing disks

If you do not have the Yandex Cloud command line interface yet, install and initialize it.

The folder specified in the CLI profile is used by default. You can specify a different folder using the --folder-name or --folder-id parameter.

1. View the description of the CLI command to create a VM:

   yc compute instance create --help
   

2. Get a list of disks in the default folder:

   yc compute disk list
   

   Result:

   +----------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------------+--------+----------------------+-----------------+-------------+
   |          ID          |     NAME     |    SIZE     |       ZONE        | STATUS |     INSTANCE IDS     | PLACEMENT GROUP | DESCRIPTION |
   +----------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------------+--------+----------------------+-----------------+-------------+
   | a7lqgbt0bb9s******** | first-disk   | 20401094656 |   ru-central1-a   | READY  | a7lcvu28njbh******** |                 |             |
   | a7lv5j5hm1p1******** | second-disk  | 21474836480 |   ru-central1-a   | READY  |                      |                 |             |
   +----------------------+--------------+-------------+-------------------+--------+----------------------+-----------------+-------------+
   

3. Select the IDs (ID) or names (NAME) of the disks you need.

4. Create a VM in the default folder:

   yc compute instance create \
     --name first-instance \
     --zone ru-central1-a \
     --network-interface subnet-name=default-a,nat-ip-version=ipv4 \
     --use-boot-disk disk-name=first-disk \
     --attach-disk disk-name=second-disk \
     --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
   

   This command creates a VM with the following parameters:

   • Name: first-instance

     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.

   • Availability zone: ru-central1-a

   • Subnet: default-a

   • Public IP address and two disks

   To specify whether to delete the disk when deleting the VM, set the --auto-delete flag:

   yc compute instance create \
     --name first-instance \
     --zone ru-central1-a \
     --network-interface subnet-name=default-a,nat-ip-version=ipv4 \
     --use-boot-disk disk-name=first-disk,auto-delete=yes \
     --attach-disk disk-name=second-disk,auto-delete=yes \
     --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
   

   If you want to add multiple network interfaces to the VM, specify the --network-interface parameter as many times as you need. You can add up to eight network interfaces to a single VM.

If you don't have Terraform, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

To create a VM from a set of disks:

1. In the configuration file, describe the parameters of the resources you want to create:

   resource "yandex_compute_disk" "boot-disk" {
     name     = "<disk_name>"
     type     = "<disk_type>"
     zone     = "<availability_zone>"
     size     = "<disk_size>"
     image_id = "<image_ID>"
   }
   
   resource "yandex_compute_instance" "vm-1" {
     name                      = "vm-from-disks"
     allow_stopping_for_update = true
     platform_id               = "standard-v3"
     zone                      = "<availability_zone>"
   
     resources {
       cores  = <number_of_vCPU_cores>
       memory = <RAM_in_GB>
     }
   
     boot_disk {
       disk_id = <boot_disk_ID>
     }
   
     secondary_disk {
       disk_id = "<secondary_disk_ID>"
     }
   
     network_interface {
       subnet_id = "${yandex_vpc_subnet.subnet-1.id}"
       nat       = true
     }
   
     metadata = {
       ssh-keys = "<username>:<SSH_key_contents>"
     }
   }
   
   resource "yandex_vpc_network" "network-1" {
     name = "network1"
   }
   
   resource "yandex_vpc_subnet" "subnet-1" {
     name       = "subnet1"
     zone       = "<availability_zone>"
     network_id = "${yandex_vpc_network.network-1.id}"
   }
   

   Where:

   • yandex_compute_disk: Boot disk description:

     • name: Disk name.

     • type: Disk type.

     • zone: Availability zone the disk will be in.

     • size: Disk size in GB.

     • image_id: ID of the image to create the VM from. You can get the image ID from the list of public images.

       You can also view image IDs in the management console when creating a VM or on the image page in Cloud Marketplace, under Product IDs.

   • yandex_compute_instance: VM description:

     • name: VM name.

     • allow_stopping_for_update: Allow a VM instance to stop to make changes. Set true if you plan to change the network settings, computing resources, disks, or file storage for your VM using Terraform. The default value is false.

     • platform_id: Platform.

     • zone: Availability zone the VM will be in.

     • resources: Number of vCPU cores and RAM available to the VM. The values must match the selected platform.

     • boot_disk: Boot disk settings. Specify the disk ID.

     • secondary_disk: Secondary disk to connect to the VM. Specify the ID of the secondary disk. If you do not have a disk, create one.

     • network_interface: VM's network interface settings. Specify the ID of the selected subnet. To automatically assign a public IP address to the VM, set nat = true.

       If you want to add multiple network interfaces to the VM, specify the network_interface section as many times as you need. You can add up to eight network interfaces to a single VM.

     • metadata: In metadata, provide the public key for SSH access to the VM. For more information, see VM metadata.

   • yandex_vpc_network: Description of the cloud network.

   • yandex_vpc_subnet: Description of the subnet your VM will be connected to.

   Note

   If you already have suitable resources, such as a cloud network and subnet, you do not need to describe them again. Use their names and IDs in the appropriate parameters.

   For more information about the resources you can create with Terraform, see the provider documentation.

2. Create resources:

   1. In the terminal, change to the folder where you edited the configuration file.

   2. Make sure the configuration file is correct using the command:

      terraform validate
      

      If the configuration is correct, the following message is returned:

      Success! The configuration is valid.
      

   3. Run the command:

      terraform plan
      

      The terminal will display a list of resources with parameters. No changes are made at this step. If the configuration contains errors, Terraform will point them out.

   4. Apply the configuration changes:

      terraform apply
      

   5. Confirm the changes: type yes in the terminal and press Enter.

   All the resources you need will then be created in the specified folder. You can check the new resources and their configuration using the management console.

Use the create REST API method for the Instance resource or the InstanceService/Create gRPC API call.