Manage virtual machines on Distributed Cloud connected servers

This page describes how to manage virtual machines on Google Distributed Cloud connected servers running VM Runtime on Google Distributed Cloud. You must be familiar with VM Runtime on GDC before completing the steps on this page. For a list of supported guest operating systems, see Verified guest operating systems for VM Runtime on GDC.

To learn how virtual machines serve as an essential component of the Distributed Cloud connected platform, see Extending GKE Enterprise to manage on-premises edge VMs.

Distributed Cloud connected clusters support virtual machine webhooks. This allows Distributed Cloud connected to validate user requests made to the local Kubernetes API server. Rejected requests generate detailed information on the reason for rejection.

Configure Symcloud Storage

Google Distributed Cloud connected servers use Rakuten Symcloud Storage, as their storage solution. Symcloud Storage is a third-party solution that acts as a local storage abstraction layer on each Distributed Cloud connected node and makes its local storage available to workloads running on other Distributed Cloud connected nodes.

Symcloud Storage is deployed from Google Cloud Marketplace and is subject to the terms stated therein. Google provides limited support for using Symcloud Storage with Distributed Cloud connected and might engage the third-party provider for assistance. Software updates for Symcloud Storage are included in the Distributed Cloud connected software updates.

Configure your Google Distributed Cloud connected cluster as follows to enable Symcloud Storage for virtual machines:

  1. Create the robinio namespace with the following command:

    kubectl create ns robinio

  2. Obtain the Symcloud Storage license file and apply it to the cluster with the following command:

    kubectl apply LICENSE_FILE

  3. Verify that Symcloud Storage is up and running with the following command:

    kubectl apply LICENSE_FILE

    The command returns output similar to the following:

     Name:         robin
 Namespace:
 Labels:       app.kubernetes.io/instance=robin
               app.kubernetes.io/managed-by=robin.io
               app.kubernetes.io/name=robin
 Annotations:  <none>
 API Version:  manage.robin.io/v1
 Kind:         RobinCluster
 Metadata:
   …
 Spec:
   …
 Status:
   …
   Phase:             Ready
   …

  4. Create the robin-block-immediate storage class by applying the following configuration to the cluster:

    apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: robin-block-immediate
parameters:
  faultdomain: host
  replication: "3"
  blocksize:   "512"
provisioner: robin
reclaimPolicy: Delete
volumeBindingMode: Immediate
allowVolumeExpansion: true

  5. Create the robin-snapshotclass volume snapshot class by applying the following configuration to the cluster:

    apiVersion: snapshot.storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: VolumeSnapshotClass
metadata:
  name: robin-snapshotclass
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: robin
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: robin.io
    app.kubernetes.io/name: robin
  annotations:
    snapshot.storage.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
driver: robin
deletionPolicy: Delete

Enable VM Runtime on GDC support on Distributed Cloud connected

By default, VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support is enabled on Distributed Cloud connected. If you need to manually enable it, complete the steps in this section. The instructions in this section assume that you have a fully functioning Distributed Cloud connected cluster. To disable VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support on your cluster, undo the changes described in this section.

To enable the VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine subsystem, complete the following steps:

  1. Modify the VMRuntime custom resource with the following contents and apply it to your cluster:

    apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VMRuntime
metadata:
  annotations:
    baremetal.cluster.gke.io/vmrumtime-force-disable: "false"
    vm.cluster.gke.io/enable-vm-backup: "true"
spec:
  enabled: true
  storage:
    defaultStorageClass: robin-block-immediate
haPolicy:
  defaultRecoveryStrategy: Reschedule
  nodeHeartbeatInterval: 15s
  nodeMonitorGracePeriod: 55s

    This process typically takes several minutes to complete.

  2. Use the following command to verify that the VMRuntime custom resource has been applied to your cluster:

    kubectl get vmruntime

    The command returns output similar to the following example:

    NAME        AGE   ENABLED   READY   PREFLIGHTCHECK
vmruntime   5m   true      true    true

  3. Modify the storageprofile for the robin-block-immediate storage class with the following contents and apply it to your cluster:

    apiVersion: cdi.kubevirt.io/v1beta1
kind: StorageProfile
metadata:
  name: robin-block-immediate
spec:
  claimPropertySets:
    accessModes:
      ReadWriteMany
  volumeMode: Block

Install the virtctl management tool

You need the virtctl client tool to manage virtual machines on your Distributed Cloud connected cluster. To install the tool, complete the following steps:

  1. Install the virtctl client tool as a kubectl plugin:

    export VERSION=v0.59.0-anthos1.28-gke.8
gcloud storage cp gs://anthos-baremetal-release/virtctl/${VERSION}/linux-amd64/virtctl/usr/local/bin/virtctl
cd /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s virtctl kubectl-virt
sudo chmod a+x virtctl
cd -

  2. Verify that the virt plugin is installed:

    kubectl plugin list

    If the plugin has been successfully installed, the command's output lists kubectl-virt as one of the plugins.

Create a Cloud Storage bucket for virtual machine images

Complete the steps in this section to create a Cloud Storage bucket for your virtual machine images. If you already have an established image repository, skip this section.

  1. Complete the steps in Create buckets to create a bucket.

  2. Configure a service account and a key to for accessing the bucket with the following commands:

    export PROJECT_ID=$(gcloud config get-value project)
gcloud iam service-accounts create image-access
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:image-access@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com" \
  --role="roles/storage.objectViewer" \
gcloud iam service-accounts keys create ./image-access-gcr.json \
  --iam-account="image-access@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

  3. Create a secret in the cluster for accessing the bucket. If your bucket is public, skip this step. This secret must exist in the same namespace as your virtual machine disks. You must create a secret in each affected namespace.

    kubectl create secret generic gcs-image-sa --from-file=creds-gcp.json=./image-access-gcr.json -n NAMESPACE

    Replace CLUSTER_ID with the name of the target namespace.

  4. Store your images in the bucket.

Create a virtual machine disk from a virtual machine image

Complete the steps in this section to create a virtual machine disk from a virtual machine image.

Create a disk from an image stored in Cloud Storage

Create a virtual machine disk from a virtual machine stored in your Cloud Storage bucket by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

 apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
 kind: VirtualMachineDisk
 metadata:
   name: DISK_NAME
   namespace: NAMESPACE
 spec:
   source:
     gcs:
       url: gs://{PROJECT_ID}-vm-images/IMAGE_FILE
       secretRef: gcs-image-sa
   size: DISK_SIZE
   storageClassName: robin-block-immediate

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of this virtual machine disk.
  • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.
  • IMAGE_FILE: the name of virtual machine image file.
  • DISK_SIZE: the desired disk size. This must be larger than the virtual-size value of the virtual machine image file. You can find this value with the command qemu-img info DISK_SIZE.

If you don't specify a storageClassName value, the default value specified in the VMRuntime resource is used.

Create a disk from an existing disk image

Create a virtual machine disk from an existing virtual machine disk or image file on your cluster as follows.

  1. Create the target disk by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

    apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineDisk
metadata:
  name: IMAGE_DISK_NAME
  namespace: NAMESPACE
spec:
  source:
    virtualMachineDisk:
      name: EXISTING_DISK_NAME
  size: DISK_SIZE
  storageClassName: robin-block-immediate

    Replace the following:

    • IMAGE_DISK_NAME: the name of this virtual machine disk.
    • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.
    • EXISTING_DISK_NAME: the name of the existing virtual machine disk.
    • DISK_SIZE: the desired disk size. This must be equal to or larger than the size of the existing disk or image file.

    You can obtain the size of your existing disk or image file using the qemu-img tool as follows:

    qemu-img info EXISTING_DISK_NAME

    If you don't specify a storageClassName value, the default value specified in the VMRuntime resource is used.

  2. Create a new disk from your existing image file by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

    apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineDisk
metadata:
  name: DISK_NAME
  namespace: NAMESPACE
spec:
  source:
    virtualMachineDisk:
      name: IMAGE_DISK_NAME
  size: DISK_SIZE
  storageClassName: robin-block-immediate

    Replace the following:

    • IMAGE_DISK_NAME: the name of the virtual machine disk you created in the previous step.
    • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.
    • DISK_SIZE: the desired disk size. Must be equal to the size of the virtual machine disk you created in the previous step.

  3. Resize the target disk to the desired size using the following command:

    kubectl edit gdisk DISK_NAME -n NAMESPACE

    Replace the following:

    • DISK_NAME: the name of the virtual machine disk you created in the previous step.
    • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.

  4. Modify the spec.size value in the configuration of the disk and apply it to your cluster.

Create an empty disk

Create an empty virtual machine disk by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

 apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
 kind: VirtualMachineDisk
 metadata:
   name: DISK_NAME
   namespace: NAMESPACE
 spec:
   size: DISK_SIZE
   storageClassName: robin-block-immediate

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of this virtual machine disk.
  • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.
  • DISK_SIZE: the desired disk size in gibibytes. This must be larger than the virtual-size value of the virtual machine image file. You can find this value with the command qemu-img info DISK_SIZE.

If you don't specify a storageClassName value, the default value specified in the VMRuntime resource is used.

Configure virtual networking

Follow the steps in Networking to configure the virtual networking for your virtual machines.

Create a virtual machine

Complete the steps in this section to create a virtual machine on your Distributed Cloud connected server deployment. The instructions in this section are examples meant to illustrate configurations for different scenarios. For detailed information on configuring virtual machines, see Create a VM with specific CPU and memory resources using VM Runtime on GDC.

Create a virtual machine using Google Cloud console

To create a virtual machine using Google Cloud console, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Clusters page.

    Go to Clusters

  2. Select the target Google Cloud project.

  3. (Optional) If you have not already done so, log into the target cluster:

    1. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. In the Anthos Managed Clusters list, click the target cluster.

    3. In the information pane on the right-hand side, click LOG IN.

    4. In the pop-up dialog that appears, select your preferred authentication method, input your credentials, and click LOG IN.

  4. Go to the Virtual Machines page.

    Go to Virtual Machines

  5. Click CREATE.

  6. In the Basics section, do the following:

    1. In the Name field, enter a meaningful name for the virtual machine.

    2. In the Select cluster field, select the target cluster for the virtual machine.

    3. In the Namespace field, select the target namespace.

    4. In the OS Type field, select the target operating system.

    5. (Optional) If you want to add one or more labels to this virtual machine's configuration, click ADD LABEL.

  7. In the Machine Configuration section, do one of the following:

    • If you want to specify the number of vCPUs and the amount of memory for this virtual machine, select Custom Configuration and enter the target values, then click NEXT.

    • If you want to use a predetermined number of vCPUs and amount of memory for this virtual machine, select Standard Configuration and select a machine configuration from the Machine Type drop-down list, then click NEXT.

  8. In the Storage section, do one of the following:

    • If you want to create a new virtual disk for this virtual machine, select Add a new disk and enter a meaningful name in the Name field, a size in gigabytes in the GiB field, and a URL in the Image field.

    • If you want to use an existing virtual disk for this virtual machine, select Select an existing disk and select the target disk image from the Select a disk drop-down list.

    • Specify whether you want the disk to be read-only and whether it will be automatically deleted when this virtual machine is deleted using the Read-only and Auto delete checkboxes.

    • Specify a virtual disk driver in the Driver drop-down list.

    • To add another disk to this virtual machine, click ADD A DISK in the Additional disks section.

    • Click NEXT.

  9. In the Network section, do the following:

    1. In the Default network interface subsection, specify the name of the primary network interface for this virtual machine in the Interface name field.

    2. Select the corresponding network type from the Network type drop-down list.

    3. Specify whether to allow external access to this network interface using the Allow external access checkbox. If you enable this option, you must enter a comma-separated list of ports to expose externally in the Exposed ports field.

    4. If you want to add one or more secondary network interfaces to this virtual machine, click ADD A NETWORK INTERFACE.

    5. Click NEXT.

  10. In the Advanced options section, use the Auto-restart on update checkbox to specify whether to restart this virtual machine after the
    Distributed Cloud connected software on the target cluster has been updated.

  11. In the Firmware section, do the following:

    1. Select the target firmware type in the Bootloader type field. If you select UEFI firmware, you have the option to enable secure boot using the Secure boot checkbox.

    2. Specify a serial number for this virtual machine in the Serial field.

    3. Specify a Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) for this virtual machine in the UUID field.

  12. In the Cloud-init section, do the following:

    • Specify a network data secret value in the Network data secret field.

    • Specify a user data secret value in the User data secret field.

  13. Click CREATE VM to create the virtual machine.

Create a virtual machine from a YAML file

To create a virtual machine from a YAML configuration file, do the following:

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Clusters page.

    Go to Clusters

  2. Select the target Google Cloud project.

  3. (Optional) If you have not already done so, log into the target cluster:

    1. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. In the Anthos Managed Clusters list, click the target cluster.

    3. In the information pane on the right-hand side, click LOG IN.

    4. In the pop-up dialog that appears, select your preferred authentication method, input your credentials, and click LOG IN.

  4. Go to the Virtual Machines page.

    Go to Virtual Machines

  5. Click CREATE WITH YAML.

  6. In the Select cluster field, select the target cluster for the virtual machine.

  7. Paste the virtual machine configuration in YAML format into the YAML field.

  8. Click CREATE.

Create a virtual machine from a bootable disk image

To create a virtual machine from a bootable disk image, apply the following configuration to your cluster:

kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
  name: my-virtual-machine
  namespace: my-vm-namespace
spec:
  osType: Linux/Windows
  guestEnvironment: {} // comment out this line to enable guest environment for access management
  autoRestartOnConfigurationChange: true 
  compute:
    cpu:
      vcpus: 6
    memory:
      capacity: 8Gi
  interfaces:
      - name: eth0
        networkName: network-410
        ipAddresses:
        - 10.223.237.10/25
  disks:
    - virtualMachineDiskName: my-boot-disk
      boot: true
    - virtualMachineDiskName: my-data-disk

Replace the following:

  • DISK_NAME: the name of this virtual machine disk.
  • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.

Create a virtual machine from an ISO optical disc image

To create a virtual machine from an ISO optical disc image, complete the steps in Create a Windows VM from ISO image in Google Distributed Cloud.

Create a virtual machine with GPU support

Complete the steps described on this page to create a virtual machine configured to meet your business requirements, then complete the steps in Configure a virtual machine to use GPU resources.

Access a virtual machine

Complete the steps in this section to access a virtual machine running on your Distributed Cloud connected server deployment.

Obtain access credentials

Complete the steps in this section to obtain the credentials necessary to access your virtual machine using the Linux guest environment feature.

  1. Enable the Linux guest environment for the target virtual machine by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

    kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
 name: my-virtual-machine
 namespace: my-vm-namespace
spec:
 osType: Linux
 guestEnvironment: {}
 autoRestartOnConfigurationChange: true

  2. Generate an id_rsa.pub file containing an SSH key pair with the following command:

    ssh-keygen -t rsa

  3. Create a VirtualMachineAccessRequest resource by applying the following configuration to your cluster:

    apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1alpha1
kind: VirtualMachineAccessRequest
metadata:
 name: RESOURCE_NAME
 namespace: NAMESPACE
spec:
  vm: VM_NAME
  user: USER_NAME
  ssh:
    key: RSA_KEY
    ttl: 2h

Replace the following:

  • RESOURCE_NAME: a descriptive name for this virtual machine access request resource.
  • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.
  • VM_NAME: the name of the target virtual machine.
  • USER_NAME: the name of the user to whom access is being granted.
  • RSA_KEY: the contents of the id_rsa.pub file you generated in the previous step.

  1. Check the status of the access request with the following command:

    kubectl get vmar

    When the command returns a Configured status, proceed to the next step.

  2. Access the virtual machine with SSH or Remote Desktop:

    • If the virtual machine is connected to your local network, you can access it directly.
    • If the virtual machine is connected to the Pod network, you must create a load balancer service to access the required ports.

Start, restart, or stop a virtual machine

Use the following commands to start, restart, or stop a virtual machine:

  • Start a virtual machine: kubectl virt start vmVM_NAME-nNAMESPACE
  • Restart a virtual machine: kubectl virt restart vmVM_NAME-nNAMESPACE
  • Stop a virtual machine: kubectl virt stop vmVM_NAME-nNAMESPACE

Replace the following:

  • VM_NAME: the name of the target virtual machine.
  • NAMESPACE: the target namespace.

Start or stop a virtual machine using Google Cloud console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Clusters page.

    Go to Clusters

  2. Select the target Google Cloud project.

  3. (Optional) If you have not already done so, log into the target cluster:

    1. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. In the Anthos Managed Clusters list, click the target cluster.

    3. In the information pane on the right-hand side, click LOG IN.

    4. In the dialog that appears, select your preferred authentication method, input your credentials, and click LOG IN.

  4. Go to the Virtual Machines page.

    Go to Virtual Machines

  5. In the list of virtual machines, select the checkbox(es) for the target virtual machine(s).

  6. At the top of the page, click START or STOP as applicable.

View the status of a virtual machine using Google Cloud console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Clusters page.

    Go to Clusters

  2. Select the target Google Cloud project.

  3. (Optional) If you have not already done so, log into the target cluster:

    1. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. In the Anthos Managed Clusters list, click the target cluster.

    3. In the information pane on the right-hand side, click LOG IN.

    4. In the pop-up dialog that appears, select your preferred authentication method, input your credentials, and click LOG IN.

  4. Go to the Virtual Machines page.

    Go to Virtual Machines

  5. Click the target virtual machine.

  6. In the page that appears, click the Details, Events, and YAML tab to view the corresponding information about this virtual machine.

Modify a virtual machine

To modify a virtual machine, you must delete it and re-create it with the updated configuration.

Delete a virtual machine using Google Cloud console

  1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Clusters page.

    Go to Clusters

  2. Select the target Google Cloud project.

  3. (Optional) If you have not already done so, log into the target cluster:

    1. In the left-hand navigation pane, click Clusters.

    2. In the Anthos Managed Clusters list, click the target cluster.

    3. In the information pane on the right-hand side, click LOG IN.

    4. In the dialog that appears, select your preferred authentication method, input your credentials, and click LOG IN.

  4. go to the Virtual Machines page.

    Go to Virtual Machines

  5. In the list of virtual machines, select the checkbox for the target virtual machine.

  6. At the top of the page, click DELETE.

  7. In the confirmation dialog that appears, enter the virtual machine's name and click DELETE.

What's next