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This page describes how to manage virtual machines on Google Distributed Cloud connected racks running VM Runtime on Google Distributed Cloud. You must be familiar with VM Runtime on GDC before completing the steps on this page. For a list of supported guest operating systems, see Verified guest operating systems for VM Runtime on GDC.
Note: Virtual machine workloads are only supported on legacy Distributed Cloud connected rack hardware ("Config 1" and "Config 2") and on Distributed Cloud connected servers. Virtual machine workloads are not supported on the refreshed Distributed Cloud connected rack hardware.To learn how virtual machines serve as an essential component of the Distributed Cloud connected platform, see Extending GKE Enterprise to manage on-premises edge VMs.
Distributed Cloud connected clusters support virtual machine webhooks. This allows Distributed Cloud connected to validate user requests made to the local Kubernetes API server. Rejected requests generate detailed information on the reason for rejection.
Enable VM Runtime on GDC support on Distributed Cloud connectedBy default, VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support is disabled on Distributed Cloud connected. To enable it, complete the steps in this section. The instructions in this section assume that you have a fully functioning Distributed Cloud connected cluster.
Modify the VMRuntime custom resource with the following contents and apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VMRuntime
metadata:
name: vmruntime
spec:
# Enable Anthos VM Runtime support
enabled: true
# vmImageFormat defaults to "raw" if not set
vmImageFormat: "raw"
# Set node grace period to 55 seconds;
haPolicy:
defaultRecoveryStrategy: Reschedule
nodeHeartbeatInterval: 15s
nodeMonitorGracePeriod: 55s
Do not change the value of the vmImageFormat parameter. Distributed Cloud connected does not support any other virtual disk formats.
This process typically takes several minutes to complete.
Do not change the value of the vmImageFormat parameter. Distributed Cloud connected does not support any other virtual disk formats.
This process typically takes several minutes to complete.
Use the following command to verify that the VMRuntime custom resource has been applied to your cluster:
kubectl get vmruntime -o yaml
The command returns output similar to the following example:
- apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VMRuntime
metadata:
name: vmruntime
...
spec:
enabled: true
vmImageFormat: raw
status:
...
ready: true
...
Use the following command to verify that VM Runtime on GDC virtual machine support has been enabled on your cluster:
kubectl get pods -n vm-system
The command returns output showing the VM Runtime on GDC subsystem Pods running on your cluster, similar to the following example:
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
cdi-apiserver-6c76c6cf7b-n68wn 1/1 Running 0 132m
cdi-deployment-f78fd599-vj7tv 1/1 Running 0 132m
cdi-operator-65c4df9647-fcb9d 1/1 Running 0 134m
cdi-uploadproxy-7765ffb694-6j7bf 1/1 Running 0 132m
macvtap-fjfjr 1/1 Running 0 134m
virt-api-77dd99dbbb-bs2fb 1/1 Running 0 132m
virt-api-77dd99dbbb-pqc27 1/1 Running 0 132m
virt-controller-5b44dbbbd7-hc222 1/1 Running 0 132m
virt-controller-5b44dbbbd7-p8xkk 1/1 Running 0 132m
virt-handler-n76fs 1/1 Running 0 132m
virt-operator-86565697d9-fpxqh 2/2 Running 0 134m
virt-operator-86565697d9-jnbt7 2/2 Running 0 134m
vm-controller-controller-manager-7844d5fb7b-72d8m 2/2 Running 0 134m
vmruntime-controller-manager-845649c847-m78r9 2/2 Running 0 175m
virtctl management tool
You need the virtctl client tool to manage virtual machines on your Distributed Cloud connected cluster. To install the tool, complete the following steps:
Install the virtctl client tool as a kubectl plugin:
export VERSION=v0.59.0-anthos1.28-gke.8
gcloud storage cp gs://anthos-baremetal-release/virtctl/${VERSION}/linux-amd64/virtctl/usr/local/bin/virtctl
cd /usr/local/bin
sudo ln -s virtctl kubectl-virt
sudo chmod a+x virtctl
cd -Verify that the virt plugin is installed:
kubectl plugin list
If the plugin has been successfully installed, the command's output lists kubectl-virt as one of the plugins.
This section provides configuration examples that illustrate how to provision a Linux virtual machine and a Windows virtual machine on a Distributed Cloud connected cluster with the Symcloud Storage abstraction layer.
Note that you cannot create a virtual machine on a Distributed Cloud connected cluster directly by using the kubectl virt command because Distributed Cloud connected does not provide file system storage to virtual machines.
Before completing the steps in this section, you must first complete the steps in Configure Distributed Cloud connected for Symcloud Storage. If you later disable Symcloud Storage on the cluster, virtual machines configured to use Symcloud Storage will fail.
Provision a Linux virtual machine on Distributed Cloud connectedThe following example illustrates how to provision a Linux virtual machine with Symcloud Storage running Ubuntu Server 22.04. The installation source is the Ubuntu Server 22.04 ISO disc image.
Create a VirtualMachineDisk resource with the following contents for the Ubuntu Server installation disc image, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineDisk
metadata:
name: ubuntu-iso-disk
spec:
size: 20Gi
storageClassName: robin
diskType: cdrom
source:
http:
url: https://releases.ubuntu.com/jammy/ubuntu-22.04.3-live-server-amd64.isoCreate a VirtualMachineDisk resource with the following contents for the virtual machine's virtual hard disk, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: "ubuntu-main-disk" spec: size: 200Gi storageClassName: robin
Create a VirtualMachineType resource with the following contents that specifies the virtual machine's configuration, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineType
metadata:
name: small-2-20
spec:
cpu:
vcpus: 2
memory:
capacity: 20GiCreate a VirtualMachine resource with the following contents that instantiates and starts the virtual machine on the cluster, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
labels:
kubevirt.io/vm: ubu-vm
name: ubu-vm # Propagate the virtual machine name to the VMI
spec:
osType: Linux
compute:
virtualMachineTypeName: small-2-20
interfaces:
- name: eth0
networkName: my-network
default: true
disks:
- virtualMachineDiskName: ubuntu-main-disk
boot: true
- virtualMachineDiskName: ubuntu-iso-disk
You must also configure the following features on your cluster:
Install Ubuntu Server on the virtual machine:
importer Pod to download the Ubuntu Server installation disc image.Check the status of the virtual machine:
kubectl get gvm VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm in this example.
Log on to the virtual machine using either SSH or Remote Desktop.
Complete the Ubuntu Linux installation steps.
Clean up:
Stop the virtual machine:
kubectl virt stop VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm in this example.
Edit the virtual machine's YAML file to remove the reference to the installation disc image:
kubectl edit gvm VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm in this example.
Start the virtual machine:
kubectl virt start VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—ubu-vm in this example.
Delete the VirtualMachineDisk resource for the installation disc image:
kubectl delete virtualmachinedisk ubuntu-iso-disk
The following example illustrates how to provision a Windows virtual machine with Symcloud Storage. The steps are similar to provisioning a Linux virtual machine, with the addition of the virtio driver disk image, which is required for installing Windows.
Obtain a licensed copy of Windows and its installation media image.
Create a VirtualMachineDisk resource with the following contents for the Windows installation disc image, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineDisk
metadata:
name: windows-iso-disk
namespace: default
spec:
size: 5Gi
storageClassName: robin
diskType: cdrom
source:
http:
url: WINDOWS_ISO_URL
Replace NAT_GATEWAY with the full URL to the target Windows installation ISO disc image.
Create a VirtualMachineDisk resource with the following contents for the virtio driver, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineDisk
metadata:
name: windows-virtio-driver
namespace: default
spec:
size: 1Gi
storageClassName: robin
diskType: cdrom
source:
http:
url: https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.isoCreate a VirtualMachineDisk resource with the following contents for the virtual machine's virtual hard disk, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VirtualMachineDisk metadata: name: windows-main-disk namespace: default spec: size: 15Gi storageClassName: robin
Create a VirtualMachineType resource with the following contents that specifies the virtual machine's configuration, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachineType
metadata:
name: small-2-20
spec:
cpu:
vcpus: 2
memory:
capacity: 20GiCreate a VirtualMachine resource with the following contents that instantiates and starts the virtual machine on the cluster, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1
kind: VirtualMachine
metadata:
labels:
kubevirt.io/vm: win-vm
name: win-vm # Propagate the virtual machine name to the VMI
spec:
osType: Windows
compute:
virtualMachineTypeName: my-vmt
interfaces:
- name: eth0
networkName: my-network
default: true
disks:
- virtualMachineDiskName: windows-main-disk
boot: true
- virtualMachineDiskName: windows-iso-disk
- virtualMachineDiskName: win-virtio-driver
You must also configure the following features on your cluster:
Install Windows on the virtual machine:
importer Pod to download the Windows installation disc image.Check the status of the virtual machine:
kubectl get gvm VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—win-vm in this example.
Complete the Windows installation by following the steps in Connect to Windows VM and complete OS install.
Clean up:
Stop the virtual machine:
kubectl virt stop VM_NAME
Replace VM_NAME with the name of the virtual machine—win-vm in this example.
Complete the steps in Detach the ISO image and drivers disk.
For instructions about managing virtual machines running on Distributed Cloud connected, see the following VM Runtime on GDC documentation:
To manage virtual machines running on Distributed Cloud connected, you must first Configure kubectl connectivity.
Follow the steps in this section to disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected. Before you can disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected, you must stop and delete all the virtual machines on your Distributed Cloud connected cluster as described in Delete a VM.
To disable VM Runtime on GDC on Distributed Cloud connected, modify the VMRuntime custom resource by setting the enabled spec parameter to false as follows, and then apply it to your cluster:
apiVersion: vm.cluster.gke.io/v1 kind: VMRuntime metadata: name: vmruntime spec: # Disable Anthos VM Runtime enabled: false # vmImageFormat defaults to "raw" if not set vmImageFormat: "raw"What's next
Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. For details, see the Google Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-07 UTC."],[[["This guide outlines the process of managing virtual machines on Google Distributed Cloud connected racks, which requires familiarity with VM Runtime on GDC."],["VM Runtime support is disabled by default on Distributed Cloud connected and can be enabled by modifying the `VMRuntime` custom resource, setting `enabled: true` and `vmImageFormat: raw`, and then applying it to the cluster."],["The `virtctl` client tool is necessary for managing virtual machines on Distributed Cloud connected, and it can be installed as a `kubectl` plugin."],["Virtual machines cannot be created directly with `kubectl virt` due to the lack of file system storage, and Symcloud Storage must be configured beforehand when provisioning VMs."],["VM runtime on GDC can be disabled by editing the `VMRuntime` custom resource, setting `enabled: false`, and then applying it to the cluster, but all VMs must first be deleted."]]],[]]
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