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Use CMX VMs (Beta)

This topic describes how to use Replicated Compatibility Matrix (CMX) to create and manage ephemeral VMs.

Set Up SSH Access​

To access VMs that you create with Compatibility Matrix, you need to set up SSH access. You can do this using your GitHub account, a personal public/private key, or a service account or bot with shared access.

Use Your GitHub Account​

note

Your GitHub usernames and SSH keys are synced to a VM when it is first created. If you update your GitHub username or keys after creating a VM, you can manually sync by updating your Account Settings in the Vendor Portal and clicking Save.

To set up and verify SSH access for CMX VMs using your personal GitHub account:

  1. Log in to your GitHub account and add an SSH key if you do not have one already. For information about how to generate and add a new SSH key, see Generate a new SSH key and Adding a new SSH key to your GitHub account in the GitHub documentation.

  2. Run the following command to verify that your public/private SSH key is properly set up with GitHub.

    ssh -T git@github.com

    If successful, you will see:

    Hi <username>! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not provide shell access.

  3. Log in to the Vendor Portal and go to Account Settings.

  4. On the Account Settings > Account Information page, for GitHub username, add your GitHub username.

  5. Verify that SSH access was set up successfully:

    1. On the command line, authenticate with the Replicated CLI using your Vendor Portal account:

      replicated login
      note

      To log out of an existing session, first run replicated logout.

    2. Run the following command to verify that your SSH setup is working:

      ssh -T replicated@replicatedvm.com

      If successful, you will see a message similar to the following:

      Hi <username>! You have successfully authenticated, use [VM_ID]@replicatedvm.com to access your VM.
      note

      If you see the prompt Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?, type yes and press Enter to continue. You might see this prompt if it is the first time you are authenticating with the public/private SSH key in your GitHub account.

Use a Personal Public/Private Key​

To set up and verify SSH access for Compatibility Matrix VMs using a personal public/private key pair:

  1. If you do not already have a public and private key, generate a new public/private key pair.

  2. Log in to the Vendor Portal and go to Compatibility Matrix Settings.

  3. On the Compatibility Matrix Settings > SSH Public Keys page, upload your public key.

  4. Verify that SSH access was set up successfully:

    1. On the command line, authenticate with the Replicated CLI using your Vendor Portal account:

      replicated login
      note

      To log out of an existing session, first run replicated logout.

    2. Run the following command to verify that your SSH setup is working:

      ssh -T replicated@replicatedvm.com

      If successful, you will see a message similar to the following:

      Hi <username>! You have successfully authenticated, use [VM_ID]@replicatedvm.com to access your VM.
      note

      If you see the prompt Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])?, type yes and press Enter to continue. You might see this prompt if it is the first time you are authenticating with the public/private SSH key in your GitHub account.

Use a Service Account​

If you are setting up SSH access for VMs created in CI/CD workflows used by your team, you can use the SSH key of a service account or bot with shared access.

To automate the creation of VMs in your CI/CD workflows, use the flag --ssh-public-key to provide the SSH public key. For example:

replicated vm create --distribution ubuntu --version 24.04 --ssh-public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Or, to use multiple SSH public keys:

replicated vm create --distribution ubuntu --version 24.04 --ssh-public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub --ssh-public-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Create VMs​

With the Replicated CLI​

To create VMs with CMX:

  1. (Optional) View the available VM distributions, including the supported VM distribution versions and instance types:

    replicated vm versions

    For command usage, see vm versions.

  2. Run the following command to create a VM:

    replicated vm create --distribution DISTRIBUTION

    To specify more options:

    replicated vm create  --name NAME --distribution DISTRIBUTION --version VERSION --instance-type INSTANCE_TYPE --count COUNT --ttl TTL

    Where:

    • NAME is any name for the VM. If --name is excluded, a name is automatically generated for the VM.
    • DISTRIBUTION is the operating system distribution for the VM (e.g., ubuntu, almalinux).
    • VERSION is the version of the distribution to provision (e.g., 22.04, 24.04 for Ubuntu).
    • INSTANCE_TYPE is the instance type to use for the VM (e.g., r1.medium, r1.large).
    • COUNT is the number of VMs to create. If --count is excluded, one VM is created by default.
    • TTL is the VM Time-To-Live duration (maximum 48h). If --ttl is excluded, the default TTL is 1 hour.

    For command usage and additional optional flags, see vm create.

    Example:

    The following example creates an Ubuntu VM with version 22.04, a disk size of 50 GiB, and an instance type of r1.medium.

    replicated vm create --distribution ubuntu --version 22.04 --disk 50 --instance-type r1.medium

With the Vendor Portal​

To create a VM from the Vendor Portal:

  1. In the Vendor Portal, go to Compatibility Matrix.

  2. Click Create > Create VM.

    create vm page in the vendor portal

    View a larger version of this image

  3. On the Create a Virtual Machine page, complete the following fields:

    FieldDescription
    OS distributionSelect the OS distribution for the VM.
    VersionSelect the OS version. The options available are specific to the distribution selected.
    Name (optional)Enter an optional name for the VM.
    TagsAdd one or more tags to the VM as key-value pairs.
    Set TTLSelect the Time to Live (TTL) for the VM. When the TTL expires, the VM is automatically deleted. TTL can be adjusted after VM creation with vm update ttl.

  4. For VM Config, complete the following fields:

    Instance typeSelect the instance type to use for the nodes in the node group. The options available are specific to the distribution selected.
    Disk sizeSelect the disk size in GiB to use per node.
    CountSelect the number of VMs to provision.

  5. Click Create VM.

Connect to a VM​

You can SSH into a VM using one of the following methods:

  • CMX Forwarder: To use the CMX Forwarder, you only need to know the VM ID to connect to the machine with SSH. This is more approachable for users less familiar with SSH clients.

  • Direct SSH: When you connect to a VM using direct SSH, you can use your SSH tool of choice and pass any client supported flags, without any added connection lag of being routed through the CMX Forwarder. Example use cases for direct SSH include transferring large assets such as air gap bundles to the VM using SCP, or passing specific SHH flags during testing workflows.

For information about how to copy files to a VM after connecting, see Copy Files to a VM.

CMX Forwarder​

To connect to a VM using the Forwarder:

  • SSH into the VM:

    ssh VMID@replicatedvm.com

    Where VMID is the ID of the VM.

For information about copying files to the VM after connecting, see Copy Files to a VM.

Direct SSH​

Connecting to a VM with direct SSH requires Replicated CLI v0.104.0 or later.

To connect to a VM using direct SSH:

  1. Get the SSH endpoint for the VM:

    replicated vm ssh-endpoint VMID_OR_VMNAME [--username GITHUB_USERNAME]

    Where:

    • VMID_OR_VMNAME is the ID or name of the VM. Run replicated vm ls.
    • (Optional) GITHUB_USERNAME is a GitHub username used to connect to the SSH endpoint. This is an optional flag that overrides the GitHub username listed in your Vendor Portal account. The --username flag is required if you want to:
      • Use a different GitHub username than what is in Vendor Portal (or if there is no username set in the Vendor Portal)
      • When creating a VM, you used the --ssh-public-key flag to associate the VM with a GitHub service account, and this doesn't match the GitHub username set in Vendor Portal

    Example:

    replicated vm ssh-endpoint aba1acc2

    The output of the command displays the SSH endpoint that you can use to connect to the VM:

    ssh://[github-user-name]@[ssh-endpoint]:[port]

    For example, ssh://yourusername@37.27.52.116:46795.

    note

    You can also get the SSH endpoint and port in JSON format by running replicated vm ls --output json.

  2. Copy the SSH endpoint.

  3. SSH into the VM using the SSH endpoint that you copied:

    ssh ssh://YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME@SSH_ENDPOINT:PORT

    Where GITHUB_USERNAME, SSH_ENDPOINT, and PORT are all copied from the SSH endpoint that you retrieved.

    Example:

    ssh ssh://yourusername@37.27.52.116:46795

    Alternatively, run the following command to SSH into the VM without needing to copy the endpoint:

    ssh $(replicated vm ssh-endpoint VMID_OR_VMNAME)

    Example

    ssh $(replicated vm ssh-endpoint aba1acc2)

Create Air Gap VMs (Beta)​

You can create a VM that uses an air-gapped network by setting the network policy to airgap.

For more information, see Test in Use Air Gap Networks (Beta).

To set the network policy of a VM to airgap:

  1. Create a VM:

    replicated vm create --distribution VM_DISTRIBUTION

  2. After the VM is running, SSH onto the VM:

    ssh VM_ID@replicatedvm.com

    Where VM_ID is the ID of the VM from the output of the vm ls command.

    For more information and additional options, see Connect to a VM.

  3. Set the network policy to airgap:

    replicated network update NETWORK_ID --policy airgap

    Where NETWORK_ID is the ID of the network from the output of the vm ls command.