Moving a VM to a different cloud

While directly moving a VM to a different cloud is not supported, you can create an image from its boot disk and then create a VM from this image in a different cloud.

1. Use the boot disk of your VM to create an image.

2. Get the boot disk image ID:

   Management console

   CLI

   Terraform

   API

   1. In the management console, select the folder the disk image is in.
   2. Navigate to Compute Cloud.
   3. In the left-hand panel, select Images.
   4. Copy the value from the ID column for the image in question.

   If you do not have the Yandex Cloud CLI yet, install and initialize it.

   The folder used by default is the one specified when creating the CLI profile. To change the default folder, use the yc config set folder-id <folder_ID> command. You can also specify a different folder for any command using --folder-name or --folder-id. If you access a resource by its name, the search will be limited to the default folder. If you access a resource by its ID, the search will be global, i.e., through all folders based on access permissions.

   Get a list of disk images in the default folder:

   yc compute image list
   

   Result:

   +----------------------+----------------+--------+-------------+--------+
   |          ID          |    NAME        | FAMILY | PRODUCT IDS | STATUS |
   +----------------------+----------------+--------+-------------+--------+
   | xc8n3spmksqm******** | original-image |        |             | READY  |
   +----------------------+----------------+--------+-------------+--------+
   

   With Terraform, you can quickly create a cloud infrastructure in Yandex Cloud and manage it using configuration files. These files store the infrastructure description written in HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL). If you change the configuration files, Terraform automatically detects which part of your configuration is already deployed, and what should be added or removed.

   Terraform is distributed under the Business Source License. The Yandex Cloud provider for Terraform is distributed under the MPL-2.0 license.

   For more information about the provider resources, see the guides on the Terraform website or its mirror.

   If you do not have Terraform yet, install it and configure the Yandex Cloud provider.

   To manage infrastructure using Terraform under a service account or user accounts (a Yandex account, a federated account, or a local user), authenticate using the appropriate method.

   1. In the configuration file, prepare the output variable with the output data:

      resource "yandex_compute_snapshot" "snapshot-1" {
        name           = "<image_name>"
        source_disk_id = "<disk_ID>"
      }
      ...
      output "snapshot_id" {
        value = yandex_compute_snapshot.snapshot-1.id
      }
      

      Where value is the boot disk image ID. In the example above, the boot disk image is described in the yandex_compute_snapshot resource named snapshot-1.

   2. Apply the changes:

      1. In the terminal, navigate to the configuration file directory.

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

         terraform validate
         

         If the configuration is valid, you will get this message:

         Success! The configuration is valid.
         

      3. Run this command:

         terraform plan
         

         You will see a list of resources and their properties. No changes will be made at this step. Terraform will show any errors in the configuration.

      4. Apply the configuration changes:

         terraform apply
         

      5. Type yes and press Enter to confirm the changes.

   3. Save the boot disk image ID to the snapshot_id.txt file using this console command:

      terraform output snapshot_id > snapshot_id.txt
      

   Use the list REST API method for the Image resource or the ImageService/List gRPC API call.

3. Get the ID of the target cloud you plan to move your VM to (next: <target_cloud_ID>):

   Management console

   CLI

   Terraform

   API

   1. In the management console, click the cloud in the list on the left.
   2. On the Overview tab, copy the ID value.

   Get a list of clouds with their IDs:

   yc resource-manager cloud list
   

   Result:

   +----------------------+------------+--------------------------+
   |          ID          |    NAME    |      ORGANIZATION ID     |
   +----------------------+------------+--------------------------+
   | b1g66mft1vop******** | my-cloud-1 |                          |
   | b1gd129pp9ha******** | my-cloud-2 |                          |
   +----------------------+------------+--------------------------+
   

   1. In the configuration file, prepare the output variable with the output data:

      resource "yandex_resourcemanager_cloud" "cloud-1" {
        name            = "<cloud_name>"
        organization_id = "<organization_ID>"
      }
      
      output "destination_cloud_id" {
        value = yandex_resourcemanager_cloud.cloud-1.id
      }
      

      Where destination_cloud_id is the target cloud ID. In the example above, the cloud is described in the yandex_resourcemanager_cloud resource named cloud-1.

   2. Apply the changes:

      1. In the terminal, navigate to the configuration file directory.

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

         terraform validate
         

         If the configuration is valid, you will get this message:

         Success! The configuration is valid.
         

      3. Run this command:

         terraform plan
         

         You will see a list of resources and their properties. No changes will be made at this step. Terraform will show any errors in the configuration.

      4. Apply the configuration changes:

         terraform apply
         

      5. Type yes and press Enter to confirm the changes.

   3. Save the target cloud ID named destination_cloud_id.txt using this console command:

      terraform output destination_cloud_id > destination_cloud_id.txt
      

   To get a list of clouds with their IDs, use the list REST API method for the Cloud resource or the CloudService/List gRPC API call.

4. Add a user from the target cloud (where you want to move your VM) to the cloud hosting the folder with the source image.

5. Assign the target cloud user the resource-manager.clouds.member and compute.images.user roles for the cloud hosting the folder with the source image.

6. Create a new image in the target cloud:

   CLI

   API

   yc compute image create \
     --name <new_image_name> \
     --source-image-id <source_image_ID> \
     --cloud-id <target_cloud_ID> \
     --folder-id <destination_folder_ID>
   

   Use the create REST API method for the Image resource or the ImageService/Create gRPC API call. Specify the image ID in your request.

7. In the target cloud, create a VM from the image you created.