Creating a VM from a public image

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. Prepare a key pair (public and private keys) for SSH access to the VM.

3. Select one of the Yandex Cloud Marketplace 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.

   To get a list of available images using the CLI, run this command:

   yc compute image list --folder-id standard-images
   

   Result:

   +----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+
   |          ID          |                NAME                 |          FAMILY          |     PRODUCT IDS      | STATUS |
   +----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+
   ...
   | fdvk34al8k5n******** | centos-7-1549279494                 | centos-7                 | dqni65lfhvv2******** | READY  |
   | fdv7ooobjfl3******** | windows-2016-gvlk-1548913814        | windows-2016-gvlk        | dqnnc72gj2is******** | READY  |
   | fdv4f5kv5cvf******** | ubuntu-1604-lts-1549457823          | ubuntu-1604-lts          | dqnnb6dc7640******** | READY  |
   ...
   +----------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+----------------------+--------+
   

4. Select a subnet:

   yc vpc subnet list
   

   Result:

   +----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
   |          ID          |           NAME            |      NETWORK ID      | ROUTE TABLE ID |       ZONE        |      RANGE      |
   +----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
   | b0c6n43f9lgh******** | default-ru-central1-a     | enpe3m3fa00u******** |                | ru-central1-a     | [10.130.0.0/24] |
   | e2l2da8a20b3******** | default-ru-central1-b     | enpe3m3fa00u******** |                | ru-central1-a     | [10.129.0.0/24] |
   | e9bnlm18l70a******** | default-ru-central1-d     | enpe3m3fa00u******** |                | ru-central1-a     | [10.128.0.0/24] |
   +----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------+----------------+-------------------+-----------------+
   

5. Create a VM in the default folder:

   yc compute instance create \
     --name first-instance \
     --zone ru-central1-a \
     --network-interface subnet-name=default-ru-central1-a,nat-ip-version=ipv4 \
     --create-boot-disk image-folder-id=standard-images,image-family=centos-7 \
     --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
   

   Where:

   • --name: VM name. The naming requirements are as follows:

     • The name must be from 3 to 63 characters long.
     • It may contain lowercase Latin letters, numbers, and hyphens.
     • The first character must be a letter and the last character cannot 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.

   • --zone: Availability zone corresponding to the selected subnet.

   • --network-interface: VM network interface settings.

     • subnet-name: Name of the selected subnet.
     • nat-ip-version=ipv4: Public IP address. To create a VM without a public IP address, disable this parameter.

     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.

   • --create-boot-disk: VM boot disk settings:

     • image-family: Image family, e.g., centos-7. This option allows you to install the latest version of the OS from the specified family.

   • --ssh-key: Path to the file with the public SSH key. The VM will automatically create a user named yc-user for this key.

     When creating a VM from a Yandex Cloud Marketplace public image, make sure to provide an SSH key to the VM. By default, SSH access with a username and password is disabled for such images.

     If you want to add several users with SSH keys to the VM at the same time, specify these users' data using the --metadata-from-file parameter.

Once you are done, all the resources you need will be created in the specified folder. You can verify that the resources are there and their configuration is correct using the management console or the following CLI command:

yc compute instance list

When a VM is created, it is assigned an IP address and hostname (FQDN). This data can be used for SSH access.

You can make a public IP address static. For more information, see Making a VM's public IP address static.

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

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" "linux-vm" {
     name        = "linux-vm"
     platform_id = "standard-v3"
     zone        = "<availability_zone>"
   
     resources {
       cores  = "<number_of_vCPU_cores>"
       memory = "<RAM_GB>"
     }
   
     boot_disk {
       disk_id = yandex_compute_disk.boot-disk.id
     }
   
     network_interface {
       subnet_id = yandex_vpc_subnet.subnet-1.id
       nat       = true
     }
   
     metadata = {
       user-data = "#cloud-config\nusers:\n  - name: <username>\n    groups: sudo\n    shell: /bin/bash\n    sudo: 'ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL'\n    ssh_authorized_keys:\n      - ${file("<path_to_public_SSH_key>")}"
     }
   }
   
   resource "yandex_vpc_network" "network-1" {
     name = "network1"
   }
   
   resource "yandex_vpc_subnet" "subnet-1" {
     name           = "subnet1"
     zone           = "<availability_zone>"
     v4_cidr_blocks = ["192.168.10.0/24"]
     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.

     • 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.

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

       If you want to add multiple users with SSH keys to the VM at the same time, specify these users' data in a file and provide it under 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. Make sure the configuration files are correct.

   1. In the command line, go to the folder where you created the configuration file.

   2. Run a check using this command:

      terraform plan
      

   If the configuration is described correctly, the terminal will display a list of created resources and their parameters. If the configuration contains any errors, Terraform will point them out.

3. Deploy cloud resources.

   1. If the configuration does not contain any errors, run this command:

      terraform apply
      

   2. Confirm creating the resources: type yes in the terminal and press Enter.

   Once you are done, all the resources you need will be created in the specified folder. You can verify that the resources are there and their configuration is correct using the management console or the following CLI command:

   yc compute instance list
   

When a VM is created, it is assigned an IP address and hostname (FQDN). This data can be used for SSH access.

You can make a public IP address static. For more information, see Making a VM's public IP address static.