Persistent Virtual Machine

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Note.png Note

This page is actively maintained by the Grid'5000 team. If you encounter problems, please report them (see the Support page). Additionally, as it is a wiki page, you are free to make minor corrections yourself if needed. If you would like to suggest a more fundamental change, please contact the Grid'5000 team.

Grid'5000 infrastructure may provide one persistent virtual machine to each user.

Such a VM runs inside the Grid'5000 network and is available permanently (i.e. it is not required to have an OAR job running).

It has the following specifications:

  • 1 vCPU
  • 2GB of RAM
  • 8GB of disk space (see below if more is required)
  • An address in the form <username>-vm.<site>.grid5000.fr
  • Debian "stable" operating system
  • No direct network access from the outside of the Grid'5000 network (but SSH tunneling, VPN or reverse HTTP proxy are possible, just like for nodes)

Upon the creation of your VM, you will be able to connect to the VM using SSH as root, from the Grid'5000 network. Thus, you will have full privileges on the machine, and will be able to modify it as it pleases you.

Terms of service
  • No backup of the VM disk will be provided by the Grid'5000 team
  • The Grid'5000 team will not provide assistance to manage your VM (software installation, configuration, security updates if relevant...)
  • ... but you can contact the Grid'5000 team if you encounter an issue that prevent you from using your VM (lost access to the VM, unusual poor performance, ...)
  • The location of the VM might have to change (due to hosting concerns), thus the Grid'5000 site where your VM is hosted must not be considered immutable.
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In a first phase at least, this service may be provided thanks to recycled service machines, which might have higher failure rates. The backup of any sensible data is of your responsibility. Also it will not be possible to choose what Grid'5000 site will host your VM.

Asking for a persistent virtual machine

To request your VM, please send an email to support-staff@lists.grid5000.fr. Please copy/paste the following text and fill all the required information

  • Email subject:
Persistent Virtual Machine Creation
  • Email content:
username: <Fill with your Grid'5000 login>

intended usage: <Fill with the intended usage for the VM, in 5-10 lines. If you require extra disk space, please explain how much and why>

expiration date: <Until when you will need the VM. You will need to contact us again to extend this. We will contact you before removing your VM. Maximum: 2 years>