Virtual machines on Hikube
Hikube virtual machines (VMs) provide full virtualization of the hardware infrastructure, to run heterogeneous operating systems and business applications in isolated environments.
In the Hikube console, VMs are managed from the Infrastructure > VM Instances menu: guided creation, start and stop, changes to resources, disks and network, deletion.
What you can do from the console
| Need | Where to do it |
|---|---|
| Create a VM (image, instance type, disks, network, SSH keys, cloud-init, GPU) | VM Instances > Create an Instance |
| Start, stop, restart | Actions menu in the list, or Actions section of the detail page |
| Change the instance type, add a disk or a GPU, change the open ports | Detail page > Edit |
| Replay the cloud-init script | Reload UserData, then Restart |
| Get the ready-to-copy SSH command | Detail page, Network & Security section > SSH Connection |
| Connect the VM to a private network | Network step of the wizard, or Networking menu (see VPCs and subnets) |
| Back up the VM and its disks, restore it | Detail page, Backups tab (see Backups) |
Architecture and operation
Separation of compute and storage
Hikube decouples compute and storage:
Compute layer
- The VM runs on physical servers spread across 3 datacenters.
- If the node hosting it fails, the VM is restarted on another node.
- Downtime is limited to the restart time.
Storage layer
- VM disks are replicated across several physical nodes, in synchronous or asynchronous mode (chosen disk by disk in the wizard).
- Disks survive hardware failures and remain attachable to the relocated VM.
- They exist independently of the VM: deleting a VM detaches its disks without deleting them. They remain visible in the Disks menu (see Disks).
Multi-datacenter architecture
Instance types
At the Configuration step of the wizard, the console offers three series. Choose the series first, then the instance size.
Standard (S) series — 1:2 ratio
Economical use, for development and testing.
| Instance | vCPU | RAM |
|---|---|---|
s1.small | 1 | 2 GB |
s1.medium | 2 | 4 GB |
s1.large | 4 | 8 GB |
s1.xlarge | 8 | 16 GB |
s1.3large | 12 | 24 GB |
s1.2xlarge | 16 | 32 GB |
s1.3xlarge | 24 | 48 GB |
s1.4xlarge | 32 | 64 GB |
s1.8xlarge | 64 | 128 GB |
Universal (U) series — 1:4 ratio
General use: web servers, applications.
| Instance | vCPU | RAM |
|---|---|---|
u1.medium | 1 | 4 GB |
u1.large | 2 | 8 GB |
u1.xlarge | 4 | 16 GB |
u1.2xlarge | 8 | 32 GB |
u1.4xlarge | 16 | 64 GB |
u1.8xlarge | 32 | 128 GB |
Memory (M) series — 1:8 ratio
Memory-optimized: databases, caches.
| Instance | vCPU | RAM |
|---|---|---|
m1.large | 2 | 16 GB |
m1.xlarge | 4 | 32 GB |
m1.2xlarge | 8 | 64 GB |
m1.3xlarge | 12 | 96 GB |
m1.4xlarge | 16 | 128 GB |
m1.8xlarge | 32 | 256 GB |
- Development, testing, lightweight services: S series.
- Web and business applications: U series.
- Databases, caches, analytics: M series.
The instance type can be changed afterwards from Edit; the change takes effect on the next VM restart, which you trigger with Restart.
Operating systems
The system disk is created from an image provided by Hikube. The wizard shows the available images as cards, with a version selector:
| Image | Versions |
|---|---|
| AlmaLinux | 8, 9 |
| CentOS Stream | 9, 10 |
| CloudLinux | 8, 9 |
| Debian | 12, 13 |
| openSUSE | 15.6, 16.0 |
| Oracle Linux | 8, 9, 10 |
| Rocky Linux | 8, 9, 10 |
| Ubuntu | 22.04, 24.04 |
| Windows Server | 2022, 2025 |
The list shown in the console is authoritative: it changes with the supported versions.
Importing a custom image (ISO or QCOW2 from an HTTPS URL) is done by creating a disk in the Disks menu. That disk can then be chosen as the system disk of a new VM (Existing option). See Create a system disk from an image.
Connectivity and access
- Public IP: Public IPv4 Address option, enabled by default. The VM is then reachable from the Internet.
- Firewall: Enable Firewall option, enabled by default. Only the checked ports (22 by default; 80, 443 or any custom port optionally) are open for inbound traffic. Without the firewall, all ports of the public IP are open.
- Private networks: the VM can be connected to one or more VPCs to communicate privately with other VMs in the project.
- SSH: the detail page shows the ready-to-copy
ssh <user>@<ip>command, with the image's default user. For a custom image, that user is not known: the console says so instead of showing a command. Access uses the public SSH keys entered in the wizard. - Windows: an administrator password is generated at creation and shown only once. Access is over RDP.
Serial console or VNC access is not offered in the console; contact support if you need it for diagnostics.
Isolation and security
- Each project is an isolated space: the VMs of one project cannot see those of another.
- Each VM runs in its own virtualization process, isolated at the kernel level.
- Disks can be encrypted at rest (LUKS), with the Disk Encryption option at creation.