How to operate a running Quake AI VM

Use these procedures to connect over SSH, rotate access, attach storage, check resource usage, transfer files, and recover access to a running VM.

Connect to the VM#

For a Linux VM, connect over SSH with your key pair. If SSH is unavailable, use the web console.

Linux (SSH):

ssh -i ~/.ssh/KEY_FILE deploy@VM_ADDRESS

Replace KEY_FILE with your private key, deploy with your login user, and VM_ADDRESS with the instance floating IP or reachable private IP.

Recovery (web console): follow How to use the virtual machine console.

Password login: set or reset a password with How to set a password on a virtual machine instance. Use password access for break-glass recovery and keys for routine access.

Manage SSH keys and rotate access#

Quake AI injects the selected OpenStack key pair when it creates an instance. After launch, manage the instance user's keys in the guest authorized_keys file.

Add a new public key to an existing user:

echo 'ssh-ed25519 AAAA... comment' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Remove a compromised key: edit ~/.ssh/authorized_keys and delete the line for the old key.

Register a new key pair for future instances:

Existing instances continue using their injected keys until you update authorized_keys in the guest.

Attach and use a block volume#

Attach persistent storage through the control plane, then format and mount the device in the guest.

Inside the instance, locate the new block device and mount it:

lsblk -f
sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/data
echo '/dev/sdb /mnt/data ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
sudo mount -a
df -h /mnt/data

See How to create a volume for attach details and How to extend a volume when you outgrow capacity.

Check resource usage#

In the guest:

top -bn1 | head -20
free -m
df -h
iostat -x 1 3 2>/dev/null || true

In the control plane: open Compute > Instances, select your instance, and review its status, flavor, addresses, and attached volumes. For CPU, memory, and disk time series, use in-guest tools or your monitoring stack.

Transfer files#

Copy files over SSH with scp or rsync:

scp -i ~/.ssh/KEY_FILE ./app.tar.gz deploy@VM_ADDRESS:/tmp/
rsync -avz -e "ssh -i ~/.ssh/KEY_FILE" ./config/ deploy@VM_ADDRESS:/etc/myapp/

These commands use the same SSH path as interactive login.

Recover access when SSH fails#

1. Open the web console and log in with a password or recovery user.
2. Fix sshd configuration, restore authorized_keys, or repair the host firewall.
3. If you did not configure password login, set one with How to set a password on a virtual machine instance, use the console to log in, then repair SSH keys.

Related documentation#

• How to provision a VM for production: launch workflow that precedes ongoing operations
• How to patch and update a Quake AI VM: OS updates after the VM is running
• How to maintain a Quake AI VM over its lifetime: resize, disk hygiene, and decommissioning