Create a virtual machine #

Virtual machines are the most flexible resource type on kthcloud. They are simply a virtual computer running the latest build of Ubuntu Server. You can use them for anything you would do on a physical server, without worrying about power outages, network issues and fan noise!

Creating a VM #

Navigate to the platform #

Go to https://cloud.cbh.kth.se/deploy and login by pressing the button in the top right corner.

If you have any trouble with the login, follow this guide to troubleshoot KTH SSO.

Create your VM #

Once at the dashboard, create the VM using + Create

Name #

This name will be the name of your VM, both in our portal and inside the actual VM. For example with name galactus, your bash prompt will be: root@galactus.

SSH Key #

If you do not have SSH keys yet, upload one on your profile. You can create one using the command ssh-keygen. Check it out here.

Select your desired key, it will be copied into the VM at creation.

Use it to login to the VM (keys in locations outside the default ~/.ssh/id_rsa can be used with the -i argument.

Once your VM is up and running, it is possible to add more keys manually to allow access to other users. Add your new public keys as new lines in the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.

Select specs #

Specs are the capacity of your VM. You can select CPU cores, RAM and disk size.

CPU cores represent the number of threads that can be run simultaneously. We recommend at least 2.
RAM is the memory available in your VM
Disk size is the size of the virtual internal disk in your VM.

Your account has a quota which can be used however you wish, either with multiple small VMs or a single large one, this is up to you.

That’s it! #

If you have any questions, reach out on Discord :)

Using the VM #

Attach a GPU #

Visit this guide for more information.

Installing drivers #

When attaching a GPU, you will need to install the appropriate drivers.

# Ensure the system is up to date
apt update && apt upgrade -y && apt autoremove -y
# You may need to reboot the vm at this point

# Install the drivers
apt install nvidia-driver-XXX-server nvidia-utils-XXX-server -y 
# where XXX is the desired driver version, for example 535.

You can find the latest version at https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/. Look for Linux x86_64/AMD64/EM64T, Latest Production Branch. For example version 535.146.02 can be installed as nvidia-driver-535-server and nvidia-utils-535-server.

After installation, you may need to reboot the vm, and then you can verify that the driver is installed using nvidia-smi. The output should look something like this:

root@raccoon:~# nvidia-smi
Thu Jan 11 14:25:22 2024       
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 535.129.03             Driver Version: 535.129.03   CUDA Version: 12.2     |
|-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
| GPU  Name                 Persistence-M | Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
| Fan  Temp   Perf          Pwr:Usage/Cap |         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
|                                         |                      |               MIG M. |
|=========================================+======================+======================|
|   0  NVIDIA RTX A6000               Off | 00000000:00:06.0 Off |                  Off |
| 30%   47C    P0              73W / 300W |      2MiB / 49140MiB |      0%      Default |
|                                         |                      |                  N/A |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+

Port forwarding #

Port forwarding allows you to access the VM over some custom port. For example, if you are running MongoDB on your VM, it will likely be running on 27017 inside the VM.

To make this accessible externally, create a port forwarding rule with the name of your choice, perhaps “MongoDB”, the port 27017, and TCP protocol. Once the rule is applied, you will receive the public port. This is the port which you can use in MongoDB Compass or in your connection string for other apps.

Instructions to access it will be provided, they might be different depending on which zone your VM is in.

HTTP Proxy #

To access HTTP apps on your VM with a nice domain name, you can use the built in proxy feature of kthcloud.

Select the desired local port forwarding rule, and enter a name. Your app will then be available at the URL listed in the table.

FAQ #

If you have created a ssh key in a location other than the default (usually ~/.ssh/id_rsa), you’ll need to specify it when accessing your VM.

You can use the -i argument:

ssh <user>@<host> -p <port> -i <filepath to your keyfile>

If this still does not work, ensure the key you have uploaded to your profile is the public key, usually denoted by the .pub file extension, like id_rsa.pub.