Create a virtual machine
Spin up a Linux virtual machine from the console in about five minutes. This page walks the Create Instance wizard end-to-end — sizing, OS, storage, network, access.
Before you start
- An account on console.thewahda.com
- A project with available instance, vCPU, memory, and volume quota (the wizard shows you live quota usage on the right)
- An SSH public key (we'll create one in the wizard if you don't have one)
Concepts
| Concept | What it is |
|---|---|
| Project | The tenant boundary. Instances, networks, volumes, and IPs all live inside one project. |
| Availability zone | A failure-isolated location inside a region. Pick the default unless you're explicitly running multi-AZ. |
| Specification | A pre-defined VM size — vCPU + memory + included internal-network bandwidth. |
| Image | A bootable OS template — Ubuntu, Debian, Rocky Linux, Windows, etc. |
| System Disk | The root disk created at launch, attached as a persistent volume. |
| Network | A private network inside your project, optionally connected to the internet via a router. |
| Security Group | A firewall ruleset attached to the VM. Defaults block all inbound traffic. |
| Key Pair | The SSH keypair installed at boot so you can log into the VM. |
1. Sign in
Open console.thewahda.com and sign in with your account.
After login you land on the project Home dashboard with a summary of your project, your role, and quotas in this region.
:::tip Switch project Use the project name in the top bar to jump between projects you have access to. Quotas are scoped per project. :::
2. Go to Instances
From the left navigation: Compute → Instances. The list shows every VM in the current project — empty if this is your first one.
Click Create in the top-right.
3. Step 1 — Base Config
The longest step. You're picking the physical shape of the VM here.
Five required choices, top to bottom:
a) Available Zone
Leave the default (e.g. in-north-az1). Pick a specific AZ only if you need to pin location for multi-AZ HA.
b) Specification (flavor)
Each row is a pre-defined size — vCPU, memory, included internal-network bandwidth. Click the radio on the row to select it. The Selected chip below the table reflects your pick, and the Quota sidebar on the right updates live.
For a first VM, m1.small (1 vCPU / 2 GB RAM) is a good starting point.
| Flavor (typical) | vCPU | RAM | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
m1.tiny | 2 | 512 MB | Trial / smallest workload |
m1.small | 1 | 2 GB | Single-service container, light web app |
m1.medium | 2 | 4 GB | Web app, CI runner, small worker |
m1.large | 4 | 8 GB | Production app server, small DB |
c) Start Source & Operating System
Leave Start Source on the default Image tab (the other tabs let you boot from an existing snapshot or volume).
Under Operating System, click the OS family icon — Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Rocky, Windows, etc. The table below refreshes to show every available image for that family.
Click the row of the image you want (we recommend the latest LTS for Linux). The selection is confirmed by the Selected Image chip below.
:::tip Image rows You can click anywhere on the row — Name, Project, System Version — to select the image. The blue radio dot on the left appears once selected. :::
d) System Disk
Below the image table:
| Field | Set it to |
|---|---|
| Boot From Volume | Yes - Create a new system disk (default). This gives the VM a persistent root disk. |
| System Disk → Type | Pick SSD-GP1 (general-purpose SSD) from the dropdown. |
| System Disk → Size | At least 20 GiB. The minimum is set by the image; the wizard rejects anything smaller. |
| Deleted with the instance | Leave checked. Uncheck only if you want the root volume to survive instance deletion. |
| Data Disk (optional) | Click Add Data Disks if you need additional persistent volumes. |
| Count | 1 (use higher to launch identical copies of this configuration). |
e) Advance to Step 2
When all required fields have values, the Next: Network Config button in the footer becomes active. Click it.
4. Step 2 — Network Config
Attach the VM to a private network inside your project. The wizard lists every network you have access to; pick one row by ticking its checkbox. The subnet is auto-selected from the network's available subnets.
| Field | What to choose |
|---|---|
| Network | A private network inside your project. Most projects have a private network created automatically. |
| Subnet | Inherited from the network's first subnet — change only if you have multiple. |
| Security Groups | The firewall ruleset(s) attached to the VM. By default, all inbound traffic is blocked. To SSH in, you must attach a group that allows port 22. See Security groups →. |
Click Next: System Config.
5. Step 3 — System Config
Set the VM's name and how you'll log in.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Instance Name | A short hostname — letters, numbers, hyphens. Example: web-01. |
| Login Type | Key Pair (recommended) or Password. Production VMs should always use key pairs. |
| Key Pair | Pick an existing key pair from your project, or click Create Key Pair to generate one in the browser. |
| User Data (optional) | A cloud-init script that runs on first boot — install packages, write config files, set up users. |
:::caution Download your key If you generate a new key pair in the browser, you're shown the private key only once. Download it and store it somewhere safe (a password manager works). Without it you can't SSH into the VM later. :::
Click Next: Confirm Config.
6. Step 4 — Confirm Config
Review every choice from the previous three steps. Look for typos in the name, the right OS image, the right network. Anything wrong, click Previous to fix; everything good, click Create.
7. Wait for the VM to come up
The wizard closes and your VM appears in the Instances list. The status moves through Building → Active. Initialization usually takes 30–90 seconds depending on the image.
When status is Active, copy the VM's IP Address from the list.
8. Connect
ssh -i ~/Downloads/my-key.pem ubuntu@<vm-ip>
The default user depends on the image:
| Image family | Default user |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu | ubuntu |
| Debian | debian |
| Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux | rocky / almalinux |
| Fedora | fedora |
| Windows | use RDP — see Connect over SSH/RDP → |
If you can't reach the VM from your laptop, the most common cause is the security group blocking port 22. See Security groups → for the recommended SSH-only ruleset.
Next steps
- Connect to your VM → — bastion, floating IP, SSH config
- Security groups → — open ports the right way
- Floating IPs → — give the VM a public IPv4
- Choose an image → — full catalog and bring-your-own