Virtual machines
A VM is similar to a server in the cloud infrastructure.
VM as a Yandex Cloud resource
A VM is created in one of the folders in your cloud and inherits access rights from them. More information about the Yandex Cloud resource model.
You cannot currently move a created VM to a different folder.
Each VM has a unique ID and name. The name is unique within the folder. The ID is generated automatically when the VM is being created and is unique within Yandex Cloud.
Availability zone
When creating a VM, you can choose the Yandex Cloud availability zone where it will be located.
You can't move a VM to a different availability zone, but you can create a copy of it in a different availability zone.
Computing resources
When creating a VM, you specify the amount of computing resources to be allocated to it: the number and performance of processor cores (vCPUs) and the amount of RAM. You can choose the computing resources that are appropriate for the expected load. For more information, see vCPU performance levels.
Disks
At least one disk must be attached to a VM, that is, a boot disk. Currently, you can only attach a boot disk when creating a VM.
You can also attach additional disks to the VM. You can either attach a previously created disk or create a disk along with the VM. The new disk can be empty, or you can restore it from a snapshot or image.
Note
Empty disks do not have a file system. If you attach an empty disk, partition and mount it manually. Alternatively, instead of attaching an empty disk, you can create a snapshot of the boot disk and create a VM based on the snapshot.
You can attach and detach additional disks even after you created the VM.
Read more about disks in Disks.
Statuses
The status of a VM affects which operations you can currently perform on it.
For example, the
STOPPEDstatus means that the VM is stopped and you can't connect to it. To connect to the VM, you must start it first. After the status changes toRUNNINGand the OS loads, you'll be able to connect to the VM.
For more information about statuses, see VM statuses.
Metadata
You can set your own metadata when creating or updating VMs. For example, to connect to a Linux VM, you need to pass an SSH key to it. This is done using the metadata service. For more information, see VM instance metadata.
Network
When creating a VM, you need to set the settings of the network interface connected to it: select the subnet to connect the VM to, configure internal and public IP addresses, and add the necessary security groups. This allows the VM to interact with other services on the intranet and internet.
Note
Security groups are at the Preview stage. If they aren't available in your network, all incoming and outgoing traffic will be allowed for the VM and no additional setup is required.
For more information, see Network on a VM.