Create a VM that uses the reservation-bound model

This document explains how to create a standalone virtual machine (VM) instance by using the reservation-bound provisioning model. This provisioning model lets you create A4X, A4, or A3 Ultra VMs by consuming pre-reserved capacity.

For other methods to create VMs by using the reservation-bound provisioning model, see Deployment options overview in the AI Hypercomputer documentation.

Before you begin

If you haven't already, set up authentication. Authentication verifies your identity for access to Google Cloud services and APIs. To run code or samples from a local development environment, you can authenticate to Compute Engine by selecting one of the following options:
Select the tab for how you plan to use the samples on this page:
Console

When you use the Google Cloud console to access Google Cloud services and APIs, you don't need to set up authentication.
gcloud
1. Install the Google Cloud CLI. After installation, initialize the Google Cloud CLI by running the following command:
  gcloud init
  If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity.
  
  Note: If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update.
2. Set a default region and zone.
REST

To use the REST API samples on this page in a local development environment, you use the credentials you provide to the gcloud CLI.
For more information, see Authenticate for using REST in the Google Cloud authentication documentation.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to create VMs by using the reservation-bound provisioning model, ask your administrator to grant you the Compute Instance Admin (v1) (roles/compute.instanceAdmin.v1) IAM role on the project. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

This predefined role contains the permissions required to create VMs by using the reservation-bound provisioning model. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand the Required permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to create VMs by using the reservation-bound provisioning model:

compute.instances.create on the project
To use a custom image to create the VM: compute.images.useReadOnly on the image
To use a snapshot to create the VM: compute.snapshots.useReadOnly on the snapshot
To use an instance template to create the VM: compute.instanceTemplates.useReadOnly on the instance template
To specify a subnet for your VM: compute.subnetworks.use on the project or on the chosen subnet
To specify a static IP address for the VM: compute.addresses.use on the project
To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a VPC network: compute.subnetworks.useExternalIp on the project or on the chosen subnet
To assign a legacy network to the VM: compute.networks.use on the project
To assign an external IP address to the VM when using a legacy network: compute.networks.useExternalIp on the project
To set VM instance metadata for the VM: compute.instances.setMetadata on the project
To set tags for the VM: compute.instances.setTags on the VM
To set labels for the VM: compute.instances.setLabels on the VM
To set a service account for the VM to use: compute.instances.setServiceAccount on the VM
To create a new disk for the VM: compute.disks.create on the project
To attach an existing disk in read-only or read-write mode: compute.disks.use on the disk
To attach an existing disk in read-only mode: compute.disks.useReadOnly on the disk

You might also be able to get these permissions with custom roles or other predefined roles.

Create a VM that uses the reservation-bound provisioning model

To create an A4X, A4, or A3 Ultra VM by using the reservation-bound provisioning model, you must wait until the auto-reservation that you want to use reaches its start time. Additionally, the VM that you intend to create must meet all of the following requirements:

The VM and the reservation must have matching properties.
The VM must specifically target the reservation for consumption.
The VM must be stopped or deleted at the reservation's end time.

The following example creates a future reservation request in calendar mode for five A3 Ultra VMs, and then creates an A3 Ultra VM by consuming the auto-created reservation for the request.

To create an example VM by using the reservation-bound provisioning model, select one of the following options:

Console

Create an example request for five A3 Ultra VMs and submit it for review:
1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Reservations page.
  
  Go to Reservations
2. Click the Future reservations tab.
3. Click Create future reservation. The Create a future reservation page appears.
4. In the Hardware configuration section, select Specify machine type, and then specify an A3 Ultra instance.
5. In the Obtainability method section, complete the following steps:
  1. Select Search for capacity for up to 90 days.
  2. In the Region and Zone lists, specify the region and zone where to reserve resources. For this example, select us-central1 and us-central1-a respectively.
  3. In the Total capacity needed field, enter 5.
  4. In the Reservation period section, specify the reservation period for the reservation.
6. Specify the remaining fields, and then click Submit.
At the request start time, to create an A3 Ultra VM to consume the example auto-created reservation, do the following:

Important: The following steps show how to create a single-NIC A3 Ultra VM, which is useful for quick tests. To create a multi-NIC A3 Ultra VM, see instead Create an A3 Ultra or A4 instance.
1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Create an instance page.
  
  Go to Create an instance
2. In the Name field, enter a name for the VM. For this example, enter example-vm.
3. Specify the Region and Zone where you want to reserve resources. For this example, select us-central1 and us-central1-a respectively.
4. Click the GPUs tab, and then, in the GPU type list, select NVIDIA H200 141GB. This action specifies an A3 Ultra VM and sets the provisioning model to Reservation-bound.
5. In the navigation menu, click Advanced.
6. In the Reservations section, select Choose a reservation, and then click Choose a reservation.
7. On the Choose a reservation pane, do the following:
  1. Select a specific reservation. If you want to consume a shared reservation that exists in a different project, then, in the Project list, select the project in which the reservation exists.
  2. Click Choose.
8. In the Provisioning model section, expand the VM provisioning model advanced settings section.
9. In the On VM termination list, select Stop (default) or Delete.
10. Click Create.

gcloud

To create an example request for five A3 Ultra VMs and submit it for review, use the gcloud beta compute future-reservations create command:

gcloud beta compute future-reservations create example-fr \
    --auto-delete-auto-created-reservations \
    --deployment-type=DENSE \
    --planning-status=SUBMITTED \
    --require-specific-reservation \
    --reservation-mode=CALENDAR \
    --reservation-name=example-reservation \
    --share-type=local \
    --start-time=2025-10-05T00:00:00Z \
    --end-time=2025-10-19T00:00:00Z \
    --machine-type=a3-ultragpu-8g \
    --total-count=5 \
    --zone=us-central1-a

Assume that Google Cloud approves the request and Compute Engine automatically creates an empty reservation. At the request start time, on October 5, 2025, Compute Engine increases the number of reserved GPU VMs in the reservation. You can then consume the reservation.

At the request start time, to create an A3 Ultra VM to consume the example auto-created reservation, use the gcloud compute instances create command with the following flags:
- The --instance-termination-action flag.
- The --provisioning-model flag set to RESERVATION_BOUND.
- The --reservation flag.
- The --reservation-affinity flag set to specific.
The command is similar to the following. For the full requirements to create an A3 Ultra VM, see instead Create an A3 Ultra or A4 instance.
```
gcloud compute instance create example-vm  \
    --machine-type=a3-ultragpu-8g \
    --instance-termination-action=TERMINATION_ACTION \
    --provisioning-model=RESERVATION_BOUND \
    --reservation-affinity=specific \
    --reservation=RESERVATION_URL \
    --zone=us-central1-a \
    ...
```
The command includes the following values:
- TERMINATION_ACTION: whether Compute Engine stops (STOP) or deletes (DELETE) the VM at the end of the reservation period.
- RESERVATION_URL: the URL of the reservation, which is formatted as follows:
  - If the auto-created reservation exists in your project: example-reservation.
  - If the auto-created reservation exists in a different project: projects/PROJECT_ID/reservations/example-reservation.

REST

To create an example request for five A3 Ultra VMs and submit it for review, make a POST request to the beta futureReservations.insert method:

POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/futureReservations

{
  "name": "example-request-calendar-mode",
  "autoDeleteAutoCreatedReservations": true,
  "deploymentType": "DENSE",
  "planningStatus": "SUBMITTED",
  "reservationMode": "CALENDAR",
  "reservationName": "example-reservation",
  "shareSettings": {
    "shareType": "LOCAL"
  },
  "specificReservationRequired": true,
  "specificSkuProperties": {
    "machineType": "a3-ultragpu-8g",
    "totalCount": 5
  },
  "timeWindow": {
    "startTime": "2025-10-05T00:00:00Z",
    "endTime": "2025-10-19T00:00:00Z"
  }
}

At the request start time, to create an A3 Ultra VM to consume the example auto-created reservation, make a POST request to instances.insert method. In the request body, include the following fields:
- The reservationAffinity.consumeReservationType field set to SPECIFIC_RESERVATION.
- The reservationAffinity.key field set to compute.googleapis.com/reservation-name.
- The reservationAffinity.values field set to the URL of the reservation.
- The scheduling.instanceTerminationAction field.
- The scheduling.provisioningModel field set to RESERVATION_BOUND.
The request is similar to the following. For the full requirements to create an A3 Ultra VM, see instead Create an A3 Ultra or A4 instance.
```
POST https://compute.googleapis.com/compute/beta/projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/instances

{
  {
    "machineType": "projects/example-project/zones/us-central1-a/machineTypes/a3-ultragpu-8g",
    "name": "example-vm",
    "reservationAffinity": {
      "consumeReservationType": "SPECIFIC_RESERVATION",
      "key": "compute.googleapis.com/reservation-name",
      "values":[
        "RESERVATION_URL"
      ],
    },
    "scheduling": {
      "instanceTerminationAction": "TERMINATION_ACTION",
      "provisioningModel": "RESERVATION_BOUND"
    },
    ...
  }
}
```
The request body includes the following values:
- RESERVATION_URL: the URL of the reservation, which is formatted as follows:
  - If the auto-created reservation exists in your project: example-reservation.
  - If the auto-created reservation exists in a different project: projects/PROJECT_ID/reservations/example-reservation.
- TERMINATION_ACTION: whether Compute Engine stops (STOP) or deletes (DELETE) the VM at the end of the reservation period.

What's next

Try it for yourself

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Create a VM that uses the reservation-bound model Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Before you begin

Console

gcloud

REST

Required roles

Required permissions

Create a VM that uses the reservation-bound provisioning model

Console

gcloud

REST

What's next

Try it for yourself

Create a VM that uses the reservation-bound model