Launching Virtual Machine

This guide helps to launch a running instance (virtual machine) with SSH login enabled.

Preparation

You need to create a public/private key pairs before you can use SSH to login to the newly created instance. The public will be inserted into the instance and the private key is used on your desktop/laptop.

Windows User

Use PuTTYgen key generator to generate the required key pair.

  • Download PuTTYgen (puttygen.exe) from PuTTYgen download page

  • Launch the PuTTYgen application by double clicking the puttygen.exe

  • Default setting is fine for this case, click the 'Generate' button

  • Save your public key by clicking 'Save public key' button. You should give a name that you can better identify the key in the future

  • Save your private key by clicking 'Save private key' button. It is the same as public key to give a sensible name for future reference. Ignore the passphrase

Linux/Mac User

Type ssh-keygen in console and enter. This generates a public key (id_rsa.pub) and a private key(id_rsa). By default, the two keys are located in ~/.ssh

Import Public Key

Public key generated by Windows/Linux/Mac are required to be imported into NeCTAR cloud dash board before use.

  • Log into the dashboard at Cloud Dashboard

  • Go to Access and Security Tab and then to the Keypairs page

  • Click 'Import Key Pair' button

  • Type in a keypair name and paste the contents of the public key. For Windows User, open PuTTYgen and click 'Load' button to load the related private key and copy/paste the public key contents. For Linux/Mac user, type cat id_rsa.pub and copy/paste the public key contest from console output

NeCTAR Cloud Dashboard

Key pairs can also be created directly through the NeCTAR Cloud Dashboard.

  • login to the dashboard at Cloud Dashboard

  • Go to Access and Security Tab and then to the Keypairs page

  • Click 'Create Key Pair' button

  • Type in a keypair name in the pop out window and click 'Create Key Pair' button

  • Save the private key into a directory

Notes: If you are running a Windows machine the SSH private key may need to be converted (use PuTTYgen for converting keys)

  • Open PuTTYgen

  • Click 'Load' button to load private key

  • Click 'Export OpenSSH key' from 'Conversions' menu

  • Type a private key name and save

Select an Image

You need to select an image to be used for your instance. The image defines what operating system the instance uses and thus you need to select an image based on your needs. NecTAR Cloud offers a list of predefined official images and for simplicity, these images are recommended. You can find a complete list of official images from NeCTAR image catalog. You can also find all available from Cloud Dashboard.

For advanced users, you can also create your own images. Please refer to openstack documentation for more details.

Configure Instance

Before you can launch a instance, you need to configure the below options:

Details

  • Instance Name: your choice of name for the instance to reference in future

  • Flavour: the specification of the instance. It gives your number of VCPUs, size of root disk, size of ephemeral disk and size of RAM. Your allocated flavour or lesser configurations can be selected (the default is m1.small a 1 CPU machine)

  • Instance Count: number of instance to launch (the default is 1)

  • Instance Boot Source: the media used to boot the instance. you can boot from image, snapshot and volume(the default is boot from image)

  • Boot from image: Boot instance using an image

  • Boot from snapshot: Boot instance using an snapshot

  • Boot from volume: Boot instance from volume storage

  • Image Name: the name of an Image. This option depends on instance boot source

Access & Security

  • Key Pair: the public/private keys used to log into the instance. See above to see how to create them

  • Security Groups: add network access to your instances. This determines what services can be accessed on the instance. You must select 'SSH' Security Groups to allow you to login via SSH. If 'SSH' Security Groups is not available, you can create it by going to Access $ Security tab on the right hand side of the Cloud Dashboard. The default Security Group (no network access at first) is pre-selected

To create a Security Group:

  • login to the dashboard at Cloud Dashboard

  • Go to Access & Security tab

  • Click 'Create Security Group' button

  • Give a name for the Security Group

  • Give a meaningful description for the Security Group

  • Click 'Create Security Group' button

The newly created Security Group has no rules added(no network access defined). To add rules to a Security Group:

  • Go to Access $ Security tab

  • Tick to select the Security Group to add rules

  • Click 'Manage Rules' button

  • Click 'Add Rule' button

  • Select what type of Rule you want to create

  • Select Open Port 'Port' to open one single port, Select Open Port 'Port Range' to open a range of ports

  • Select remote. You specify the source of the traffic to be allowed via this rule. You may do so either in the form of an IP address block (CIDR) or via a source group (Security Group).

  • Click 'Add' button

You can also click 'Delete Rule' button to delete a rule

Availability Zone

Select the Availability Zone for your instance. The Availability Zone is the location for your instance. By default, the system will select an available location for you. You can also click the 'Advanced' button to select a complete list of available Availability Zones

Post-Creation

You can execute a customization script after you launch your instance. You can do any initialization and customization to your instance by using this and it is executed only once at the first boot of your instance. You can copy/paste your script by selecting 'Direct Input' or you can upload a script file. The script can be shell script or Cloud-init script.

Advanced Options

You can choose whether you automatic or manual create disk partition. In most cases, you shouldn't change the default.

Notes: The above configuration options can be set in the 'Launch Instance' popup window. To launch the popup window, you can to go Dashboard Instances tab and click 'Launch Instance' button.

To get more information about the terms used, please refer to glossary.

Launch Instance

  • login to the dashboard at Cloud Dashboard

  • Go to Dashboard Instances tab

  • Click 'Launch Instance' button

  • Type instance name

  • Select a flavour. Flavour indicates the specification of a instance. You can find more information in the Flavour Details.

  • Select an NeCTAR offical image (we suggest selecting a Ubuntu image such as NeCTAR Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic) amd64)

  • Click Access & Security tab

  • Select a key pair created earlier

  • Select security groups to use. Tick 'ssh' and 'http' (these are pre-defined group)

  • Click AVailability Zone

  • Select the location of your instance or leave as unselected(the system will auto select available location)

  • Click launch button and the page will change to the Instances Tab

  • After a while(usually a couple of minutes), your instance will become active and will have an IP address. The IP address is available in the Instances table

The launch button begins Cloud provisioning and initialisation of a running instance from the selected image and your configuration options. The instance will normally pass from status "Build" to "Active". Depending on your image size and cloud activity, the length of time required may vary, refresh your browser to see the status change. Your instance will have a public IP address and be reachable according to the Security Groups selected.

You can connect to your new instance via Accessing Your Instance

If Launch is Unsuccessful

You may get a message that you your quota has been exceeded or you have insufficient resources. Check the table to the right on the Launch Instance page it lists the number of instances you may run simultaneously, then check the Instances tab to see how many Instances you already have running. You may have to terminate a running Instance to free resources before you can launch another (see Instance tab to Terminate). If you need more resources see the allocation tab to apply for an increase.

If the above doesn't apply to you, alternatively, you can send an email to the Cloud Help Desk. Please find how to lodge a support ticket from NeCTAR Support.