Launching a Virtual Machine (Instance)
After you have created virtual networks for your project, you can create and launch virtual machines. Virtual networks (VNs) are populated with virtual machines (VMs), also called instances. A VM is a simulation of a physical machine, such as a workstation or a server, that runs on a host that supports virtualization. Many VMs can run on the same host, sharing its resources. A VM has its own operating system image that can be different from that of other VMs running on the same host.
You use the OpenStack module to define and launch VMs (instances).
- On the OpenStack dashboard Project tab, make
sure your project is selected in the left column in the Current
Project box, then click Instances.
The Instances screen appears, displaying all instances (VMs) currently in the selected project; see Figure 1.
Figure 1: OpenStack Instances
- To create and launch a new instance, click the Launch
Instance button in the upper right corner.
The Launch Instance window appears, where you can define and launch a new instance. .
Figure 2: Launch Instance , Details Tab
- Make sure the Details tab is active; see Figure 2, then define your instance
using the fields shown in Table 1
Table 1: Launch Instance Details Tab Fields
Field
Description
Instance Source
Select from the list the source type: Image or Snapshot.
Image
Select from a list the image to use for this instance. The images represent the operating systems and applications available for this project.
Instance Name
Enter a name for this instance. .
Flavor
Select from a list the OpenStack Flavor for this instance. Flavors provide general definitions for sizing VMs. The Flavor Details of the Flavor you select displays on the right column of this window.
Instance Count
Enter the number of instances you want to launch using the details defined in this screen. On the right side column, Project Quotas displays the number of instances currently active and the number still available for this project.
Compute Hostname
To launch a VM on a specific compute node, enter the name of the compute node. This functionality is only available to administrators.
- Click the Networking tab on the Launch
Instance screen to identify one or more networks to associate
with this instance; see Figure 3.
Figure 3: Launch Instance, Networking Tab
- When finished defining this instance, click the Launch button at the lower right.
Your new VM instance is launched as part of your project.
