How to Create a VM on a Public Network

How-to · Updated Jun 2026

Coming from another cloud?

▸AWS·EC2 Instances

EC2 Instanceshigh

Uses EC2 RunInstances API instead of Nova servers.create.
Requires predefined instance type selection.
Supports per-second On-Demand billing and Spot/Reserved options.
Includes hibernation state not standard in OpenStack.

AWS docs ↗

▸Azure·Virtual Machines

Virtual Machineshigh

Uses Azure Resource Manager (ARM) REST API at /providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines instead of OpenStack Nova API at /v2.1/servers.
Tightly integrated with Azure services like Azure Active Directory for authentication, unlike OpenStack's Keystone.
VM creation requires specifying size from predefined series with hardware-specific features (e.g., AMD/Intel/ARM), not custom flavor configs.
Billed per second with complex pricing tiers based on series/reservation options, vs OpenStack's typically hourly or usage-based.

Azure docs ↗

▸DigitalOcean·Droplets

Dropletshigh

API surface is DigitalOcean’s proprietary REST/CLI/Terraform tooling rather than OpenStack Nova/Neutron/Glance APIs (Droplets are managed via DigitalOcean UI/CLI/API/Terraform).
Billing is usage-based with per-second billing (60-second minimum and monthly cap) rather than the typical per-hour, quota-based charge model users often see in OpenStack-based clouds.
Droplets include a bundled outbound transfer allowance with each plan (starting at 500 GiB/month) rather than a separate bandwidth quota/metering model users often encounter in OpenStack deployments.
Droplets are described as Linux-based VMs on virtualized hardware with local SSD storage, whereas OpenStack deployments commonly expose distinct block storage (Cinder) and image services (Glance) and may not bundle bandwidth/monitoring/firewalls into the instance offering.

DigitalOcean docs ↗

▸Google Cloud·VM instances

VM instanceshigh

Uses REST API 'instances.insert' instead of Nova 'servers.create' with different auth via service accounts vs Keystone.
Supports bare metal instances (no hypervisor), not in standard OpenStack Nova.
Network interfaces tied to VPC subnets; differs from Neutron ports/floating IPs.

Google Cloud docs ↗

▸Hetzner·Cloud Servers

Cloud Servershigh

Servers provisioned individually via Hetzner API (hcloud), not OpenStack Nova flavors; fixed instance types like CX11 (1 vCPU, 2GB RAM, 20GB NVMe).
No flavor customization; choose from predefined shared/dedicated vCPU series.
Billing hourly with monthly cap per server (e.g., €3.29/mo cap for CX11), charged even when powered off until deleted, unlike typical OpenStack stop-to-pause billing.
Custom REST API at api.hetzner.cloud/v1/servers instead of OpenStack Nova /v2.1/servers (different auth, payloads, response formats).

Hetzner docs ↗

How to create a VM on a public network

Create a virtual machine directly on the PublicEphemeral network for quick testing. The instance gets a public IP address automatically, so you can SSH in immediately.

Prerequisites

ConsoleLogged in to the Quake AI console
CLIOpenStack CLI installed and authenticated (clouds.yaml or openrc sourced)
APIAPI token generated with $OS_TOKEN and service endpoint variables set

Windows: CLI examples use bash. Set up a Linux CLI environment on Windows before proceeding.

An SSH key pair uploaded to your account
A security group with SSH (port 22) allowed: create one in the steps below if needed

Step 1. Create a security group with SSH access#

Skip this step if you already have a security group allowing SSH.

Select Network > Security Groups > Create Security Group.
Name it quickStart and select OK.
On the new group's row, open the Settings gear icon dropdown and select Create Rule.
Select SSH for the protocol (TCP port 22).
Select OK to add the rule.

Step 2. Create the instance#

Select Compute > Instances > Create Instance.
Name the instance (e.g., quickstartvm).
Select us-east-1a for the availability zone.
Select a flavor (e.g., c2a.large or s1a.micro for shared vCPUs).
Select Ubuntu-22.04 for the image and set the disk to 10 GiB. Check Deleted with the instance.
Select Next: Network Config.
Select the Public Networks tab, then select PublicEphemeral.
For subnets, select Automatically Assigned Address.
Select the default and quickStart security groups.
Select Next: System Config.
Select Keypair for the login type and choose your key pair.
Select Next: Confirm Config and confirm.

Step 3. Connect to the instance#

Once the instance is active, SSH in using the assigned public IP:

bash

ssh ubuntu@INSTANCE_IP_ADDRESS

Type yes to accept the host key. Your prompt changes to ubuntu@quickstartvm.

Step 4. View instance details#

Select Compute > Instances, then select your instance. The detail view exposes eight tabs:

Detail: configuration, flavor, security groups, key pairs
Volumes: the boot volume and any attached volumes
Instance Snapshots: snapshots taken from this instance
Interfaces: the ports connecting the VM to one or more networks
Floating IPs: any floating IPs associated with the instance
Security Groups: applied groups
Action Logs: console actions (create, reboot, attach volume, etc.)
Console Log: recent serial console output, useful for boot debugging

Usage Guidelines

The sample code, software libraries, command line tools, proofs of concept, templates, and other related technology on this page (including any of the foregoing that is provided by Quake AI personnel) is provided to you as Quake AI Content under the Quake AI Customer Agreement, or the relevant written agreement between you and Quake AI (whichever applies). Do not use this Quake AI Content in your production accounts, or on production or other critical data. You are responsible for testing, securing, and optimizing the Quake AI Content (such as sample code) as appropriate for production grade use based on your specific quality control practices and standards. Deploying Quake AI Content may incur Quake AI charges for creating or using Quake AI chargeable resources, such as running Compute instances or storing data in Object Storage. Your use is also subject to the Acceptable Use Policy.

For the full policy, see Usage Guidelines.

Last validated: 04.06.2026

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How to Create a VM on a Public Network

How to create a VM on a public network

Step 1. Create a security group with SSH access#

Step 2. Create the instance#

Step 3. Connect to the instance#

Step 4. View instance details#

See also#

Usage Guidelines

Quick answers

See Also