Creating an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers

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Yandex Cloud

Updated at August 6, 2026

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Getting started
Set up your environment
Create an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers
Check the instance group with a Container Optimized Image and multiple Docker containers

You can create an instance group based on a image Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers inside.

We will use the Docker Compose specification to create Docker containers.

Alert

When creating instance groups, keep the limits in mind. Not to disrupt the component Instance Groups, do not update or delete manually created resources: target group Network Load Balancer, VMs, and disks. Instead of this, change or delete the entire group.

Getting started

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.

Set up your environment

Create a service account named group-coi and assign the editor role to it:
Management console

CLI

API
1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create your service account.
2. In the list of services, select Identity and Access Management.
3. Click Create service account.
4. Enter the name: group-coi.
5. To assign the service account the editor role for the current folder, click Add role and select editor.
6. Click Create.
1. Create a service account:
  yc iam service-account create --name group-coi
  Result:
  id: ajeabccde01d******** folder_id: b0g12ga82bcv******** created_at: "2023-03-13T14:32:18.900092Z" name: group-coi
2. Assign the role to the service account:
  yc resource-manager folder add-access-binding b0g12ga82bcv******** \ --role editor \ --subject serviceAccount:ajeabccde01d********
Use the Create method for the ServiceAccount resource.
Create a network named yc-auto-network and a subnet in the same availability zone:
Management console

CLI

API
1. In the management console, select the folder where you want to create your network.
2. Select Virtual Private Cloud.
3. Click Create network.
4. Specify yc-auto-network as the network name.
5. Select the Create subnets option.
6. Click Create network.
1. Create a network:
  yc vpc network create --name yc-auto-network
  Result:
  id: enpabce123hd******** folder_id: b0g12ga82bcv******** created_at: "2023-03-13T14:57:15Z" name: yc-auto-network
2. Create a subnet in the ru-central1-a availability zone:
  yc vpc subnet create --network-id enpabce123hd******** --range 192.168.1.0/24 --zone ru-central1-a
  Result:
  id: e1lnabc23r1c******** folder_id: b0g12ga82bcv******** created_at: "2023-03-13T16:23:12Z" network_id: enpabce123hd******** zone_id: ru-central1-a v4_cidr_blocks: - 192.168.1.0/24
1. Create a network using the Create method for the Networks resource.
2. Create a subnet in the ru-central1-a availability zone using the Create method for the Subnets resource.

Create an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers

Get the ID of the latest version of the public Container Optimized Image.

A Container Optimized Image in Container Registry may get updates and modifications that come with new releases. This will not automatically update the VM image to the latest version. To create an instance group with the latest Container Optimized Image version, manually check whether it is available:
CLI

Yandex Cloud Marketplace
```
yc compute image get-latest-from-family container-optimized-image --folder-id standard-images
```
Result:
```
id: <latest_COI_version_ID>
folder_id: standard-images
...
```
1. Go to the Cloud Marketplace page and select the image with the configuration you need:
  - Container Optimized Image.
  - Container Optimized Image GPU.
2. Under Product IDs, copy the image_id value.

Save the specification of the instance group created from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers to the specification.yaml file:

name: group-coi-containers # Instance group name, unique within the folder.
service_account_id: ajeabccde01d******** # Service account ID.
instance_template:
  service_account_id: ajeabccde01d******** # ID of the service account for accessing private Docker images.
  platform_id: standard-v3 # Platform ID.
  resources_spec:
    memory: 2G # Amount of RAM.
    cores: 2 # Number of vCPUs.
  boot_disk_spec:
    mode: READ_WRITE # Disk access mode: read and write.
    disk_spec:
      image_id: <latest_COI_version_ID>
      type_id: network-hdd # Disk type.
      size: 32G # Disk size. It must be at least 30 GB.
  network_interface_specs:
   - network_id: enpabce123hd******** # Network ID.
     subnet_ids:
       - e1lnabc23r1c******** # Subnet ID.
     primary_v4_address_spec: {
       one_to_one_nat_spec: {
         ip_version: IPV4 # IPv4 specification for public access to the VM.
       }
     }
  metadata: # Values to write to the VM metadata.
   docker-compose: |- # VM metadata key that indicates the use of a Docker Compose specification.
     version: '3.7'
     services:
       app1:
         container_name: nginx
         image: "nginx"
         ports:
           - "80:80"
         restart: always
       app2:
         container_name: redis
         image: "redis"
         restart: always
   ssh-keys: | # Parameter for providing an SSH key to the VM.
     yc-user:ssh-ed25519 ABC...d01 user@desktop.ru # Username for connecting to the VM.
deploy_policy: # Instance deployment policy for the group.
  max_unavailable: 1
  max_expansion: 0
scale_policy: # Instance scaling policy for the group.
  fixed_scale:
    size: 2
allocation_policy: # Policy for allocating instances across availability zones.
  zones:
    - zone_id: ru-central1-a

Note

You can provide an SSH key in the VM metadata using the ssh-keys parameter or in the user-data key with the user metadata. This tutorial uses the first option.

Create an instance group named group-coi-containers using the specification.yaml specification:

CLI

API

Run this command:

yc compute instance-group create --file=specification.yaml

Result:

done (48s)
id: cl0q12abcd4e********
folder_id: b0g12ga82bcv********
...
  target_size: "2"
service_account_id: ajeabccde01d********
status: ACTIVE

Use the CreateFromYaml method for the InstanceGroup resource.

Make sure the instance group based on a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers has been created:

Management console

CLI

API

In the management console, select the folder where you created the instance group.
Navigate to Compute Cloud.
Navigate to Instance groups.
Click group-coi-containers.

yc compute instance-group list-instances group-coi-containers

Result:

+----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+----------------+
|     INSTANCE ID      |           NAME            |            EXTERNAL IP           | INTERNAL IP |         STATUS         | STATUS MESSAGE |
+----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+----------------+
| fhmabcv0de12******** | cl0q12abcs4g********-fmar | 84.201.155.117                   | 10.130.0.14 | RUNNING_ACTUAL [2h35m] |                |
| fhmab0cdqj12******** | cl0q12abcs4g********-fqeg | 84.252.131.221                   | 10.130.0.47 | RUNNING_ACTUAL [2h35m] |                |
+----------------------+---------------------------+----------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+----------------+

View the list of created VM instances using the List method for the InstanceGroup resource.

Check the instance group with a Container Optimized Image and multiple Docker containers

Connect to one of the VM instances over SSH.

CLI

ssh yc-user@84.201.155.117

Result:

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.4.0-54-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management:     https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support:        https://ubuntu.com/advantage
Last login: Mon Mar 13 15:23:28 2023 from 123.456.789.101

View the list of Docker containers running on the VM:

CLI

sudo docker ps -a

Result:

CONTAINER ID  IMAGE  COMMAND                 CREATED             STATUS             PORTS               NAMES
c0a125a1765a  redis  "docker-entrypoint.s…"  About a minute ago  Up About a minute  6379/tcp            redis
01288d7e382f  nginx  "/docker-entrypoint.…"  About a minute ago  Up About a minute  0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp  nginx

Creating an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers

Getting startedGetting started

Set up your environmentSet up your environment

Create an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containersCreate an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers

Check the instance group with a Container Optimized Image and multiple Docker containersCheck the instance group with a Container Optimized Image and multiple Docker containers

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Getting started

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Create an instance group from a Container Optimized Image with multiple Docker containers

Check the instance group with a Container Optimized Image and multiple Docker containers