This page describes how to manage virtual machines on Google Distributed Cloud connected racks 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.
Upgrade existing virtual machines to Distributed Cloud connected version 1.7.0
You must add the following to the spec
section of the VMRuntime
resource on your cluster
and then apply the modified resource to the cluster before upgrading the cluster to
Distributed Cloud connected software to version 1.7.0:
spec: haPolicy: defaultRecoveryStrategy: Reschedule nodeHeartbeatInterval: 15s nodeMonitorGracePeriod: 55s
Enable VM Runtime on GDC support on Distributed Cloud connected
By default, VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support is disabled on Distributed Cloud connected. To enable it, complete the steps in this section. The instructions in this section assume that you have a fully functioning Distributed Cloud connected cluster.
Modify the
VMRuntime
custom resource with the following contents and apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VMRuntime metadata: name: vmruntime spec: # Enable Anthos VM Runtime support enabled: true # vmImageFormat defaults to "raw" if not set vmImageFormat: "raw" # Set node grace period to 55 seconds; required for upgrading to 1.7.0 haPolicy: defaultRecoveryStrategy: Reschedule nodeHeartbeatInterval: 15s nodeMonitorGracePeriod: 55s
Do not change the value of the
vmImageFormat
parameter. Distributed Cloud connected does not support any other virtual disk formats.This process typically takes several minutes to complete.
Do not change the value of the
vmImageFormat
parameter. Distributed Cloud connected does not support any other virtual disk formats.This process typically takes several minutes to complete.
Use the following command to verify that the
VMRuntime
custom resource has been applied to your cluster:kubectl get vmruntime -o yaml
The command returns output similar to the following example:
- apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VMRuntime metadata: name: vmruntime ... spec: enabled: true vmImageFormat: raw status: ... ready: true ...
Use the following command to verify that VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support has been enabled on your cluster:
kubectl get pods -n vm-system
The command returns output showing the VM Runtime on GDC subsystem Pods running on your cluster, similar to the following example:
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE cdi-apiserver-6c76c6cf7b-n68wn 1/1 Running 0 132m cdi-deployment-f78fd599-vj7tv 1/1 Running 0 132m cdi-operator-65c4df9647-fcb9d 1/1 Running 0 134m cdi-uploadproxy-7765ffb694-6j7bf 1/1 Running 0 132m macvtap-fjfjr 1/1 Running 0 134m virt-api-77dd99dbbb-bs2fb 1/1 Running 0 132m virt-api-77dd99dbbb-pqc27 1/1 Running 0 132m virt-controller-5b44dbbbd7-hc222 1/1 Running 0 132m virt-controller-5b44dbbbd7-p8xkk 1/1 Running 0 132m virt-handler-n76fs 1/1 Running 0 132m virt-operator-86565697d9-fpxqh 2/2 Running 0 134m virt-operator-86565697d9-jnbt7 2/2 Running 0 134m vm-controller-controller-manager-7844d5fb7b-72d8m 2/2 Running 0 134m vmruntime-controller-manager-845649c847-m78r9 2/2 Running 0 175m
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:
Install the
virtctl
client tool as akubectl
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 -
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.
Provision a virtual machine on Distributed Cloud connected
This section provides configuration examples that illustrate how to provision a Linux virtual machine and a Windows virtual machine on a Distributed Cloud connected cluster with the Symcloud Storage abstraction layer.
Note that you cannot create a virtual machine on a Distributed Cloud connected cluster directly
by using the kubectl virt
command because Distributed Cloud connected does not provide
file system storage to virtual machines.
Before completing the steps in this section, you must first complete the steps in Configure Distributed Cloud connected for Symcloud Storage. If you later disable Symcloud Storage on the cluster, virtual machines configured to use Symcloud Storage will fail.
Provision a Linux virtual machine on Distributed Cloud connected
The following example illustrates how to provision a Linux virtual machine with Symcloud Storage running Ubuntu Server 22.04. The installation source is the Ubuntu Server 22.04 ISO disc image.
Create a
VirtualMachineDisk
resource with the following contents for the Ubuntu Server installation disc image, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: ubuntu-iso-disk spec: size: 20Gi storageClassName: robin diskType: cdrom source: http: url: https://releases.ubuntu.com/jammy/ubuntu-22.04.3-live-server-amd64.iso
Create a
VirtualMachineDisk
resource with the following contents for the virtual machine's virtual hard disk, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: "ubuntu-main-disk" spec: size: 200Gi storageClassName: robin
Create a
VirtualMachineType
resource with the following contents that specifies the virtual machine's configuration, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineType metadata: name: small-2-20 spec: cpu: vcpus: 2 memory: capacity: 20Gi
Create a
VirtualMachine
resource with the following contents that instantiates and starts the virtual machine on the cluster, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachine metadata: labels: kubevirt.io/vm: ubu-vm name: ubu-vm # Propagate the virtual machine name to the VMI spec: osType: Linux compute: virtualMachineTypeName: small-2-20 interfaces: - name: eth0 networkName: my-network default: true disks: - virtualMachineDiskName: ubuntu-main-disk boot: true - virtualMachineDiskName: ubuntu-iso-disk
You must also configure the following features on your cluster:
Install Ubuntu Server on the virtual machine:
- Wait for the
importer
Pod to download the Ubuntu Server installation disc image. Check the status of the virtual machine:
kubectl get gvm VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm
in this example.Log on to the virtual machine using either SSH or Remote Desktop.
Complete the Ubuntu Linux installation steps.
- Wait for the
Clean up:
Stop the virtual machine:
kubectl virt stop VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm
in this example.Edit the virtual machine's YAML file to remove the reference to the installation disc image:
kubectl edit gvm VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm
in this example.Start the virtual machine:
kubectl virt start VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm
in this example.Delete the
VirtualMachineDisk
resource for the installation disc image:kubectl delete virtualmachinedisk ubuntu-iso-disk
Provision a Windows virtual machine on Distributed Cloud connected
The following example illustrates how to provision a Windows virtual machine with
Symcloud Storage. The steps are similar to provisioning a Linux virtual machine,
with the addition of the virtio
driver disk image, which is required for installing
Windows.
Obtain a licensed copy of Windows and its installation media image.
Create a
VirtualMachineDisk
resource with the following contents for the Windows installation disc image, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: windows-iso-disk namespace: default spec: size: 5Gi storageClassName: robin diskType: cdrom source: http: url: WINDOWS_ISO_URL
Replace
NAT_GATEWAY
with the full URL to the target Windows installation ISO disc image.Create a
VirtualMachineDisk
resource with the following contents for thevirtio
driver, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: windows-virtio-driver namespace: default spec: size: 1Gi storageClassName: robin diskType: cdrom source: http: url: https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso
Create a
VirtualMachineDisk
resource with the following contents for the virtual machine's virtual hard disk, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: windows-main-disk namespace: default spec: size: 15Gi storageClassName: robin
Create a
VirtualMachineType
resource with the following contents that specifies the virtual machine's configuration, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineType metadata: name: small-2-20 spec: cpu: vcpus: 2 memory: capacity: 20Gi
Create a
VirtualMachine
resource with the following contents that instantiates and starts the virtual machine on the cluster, and then apply it to your cluster:apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachine metadata: labels: kubevirt.io/vm: win-vm name: win-vm # Propagate the virtual machine name to the VMI spec: osType: Windows compute: virtualMachineTypeName: my-vmt interfaces: - name: eth0 networkName: my-network default: true disks: - virtualMachineDiskName: windows-main-disk boot: true - virtualMachineDiskName: windows-iso-disk - virtualMachineDiskName: win-virtio-driver
You must also configure the following features on your cluster:
Install Windows on the virtual machine:
- Wait for the
importer
Pod to download the Windows installation disc image. Check the status of the virtual machine:
kubectl get gvm VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—win-vm
in this example.Complete the Windows installation by following the steps in Connect to Windows VM and complete OS install.
- Wait for the
Clean up:
Stop the virtual machine:
kubectl virt stop VM_NAME
Replace
VM_NAME
with the name of the virtual machine—win-vm
in this example.Complete the steps in Detach the ISO image and drivers disk.
Manage virtual machines running on Distributed Cloud connected
For instructions about managing virtual machines running on Distributed Cloud connected, see the following VM Runtime on GDC documentation:
To manage virtual machines running on Distributed Cloud connected, you must first
Configure kubectl
connectivity.
Disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected
Follow the steps in this section to disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected. Before you can disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected, you must stop and delete all the virtual machines on your Distributed Cloud connected cluster as described in Delete a VM.
To disable VM Runtime on GDC on
Distributed Cloud connected, modify the VMRuntime
custom resource
by setting the enabled
spec parameter to false
as follows, and then apply
it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VMRuntime metadata: name: vmruntime spec: # Disable Anthos VM Runtime enabled: false # vmImageFormat defaults to "raw" if not set vmImageFormat: "raw"
What's next
- Manage virtual machines on Distributed Cloud connected servers
- Deploy workloads on Distributed Cloud connected
- Manage GPU workloads
- Manage zones
- Manage machines
- Manage clusters
- Manage node pools