Create a VM

_{Updated May 8, 2026} Create a new VM by picking a region, an OS template, a plan, and authentication. Optional steps add storage, backups, tags, and let you launch up to 20 VMs at once.

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Before you start

• A Raff Platform account
• A project to deploy into (the dashboard’s project picker is at the top-left, next to the Raff Technologies badge)
• A payment method — Google Pay or a credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Diners). Applied at checkout; you don’t need to pre-fund a balance.
• An SSH public key on your machine, or a password you’ll set during creation

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1. Open the create flow

From any page, click the orange + Create button at the top right and choose Instance. The new-VM page opens with sensible defaults pre-selected.

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2. Pick a region

Pick the location closest to your users. The footer summary updates with the selected region. A VM cannot move regions after creation; pick carefully if latency matters. See Regions for the full availability list and how region choice affects pricing and VPCs.

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3. Pick an OS template

Pick the operating system, then the version. Two source tabs:

• OS — vanilla operating systems (no preinstalled apps)
• Marketplace — pre-built application images (databases, web stacks, dev tools)

OS lineup: Version picker — once you select an OS, the Version dropdown shows every supported version. Pick the version your application targets; defaults to the newest stable release. For Linux, multiple LTS releases per distribution are available (e.g. Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04). For Windows Server, the available SKUs are: The footer summary shows the final selection (e.g. Ubuntu 24.04×64).

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4. Choose size

Pick the billing term, plan family, and plan. Billing term (top tabs): Plan family:

• General Purpose — flexible compute for websites, dev environments, and everyday workloads.
• CPU-Optimized — dedicated vCPU resources for production apps, databases, and consistent performance.

Plan card — each card shows vCPU, RAM, and base NVMe SSD. Bandwidth is unlimited on every plan and is not part of the choice. Pick the smallest plan that fits the workload; you can resize up later. See Plans & sizing for what each plan family includes and how to choose. The footer summary updates immediately with the picked plan and price.

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5. Networking

The defaults work for most VMs.

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6. Authentication (required)

Pick how you’ll log in to the VM. The form blocks checkout until this is set.

• SSH Key — recommended. Pick an existing key from your account or paste a new public key.
• Password — username and password. Easier for one-off VMs, but less secure for production.

You can change auth later, but the initial choice determines how you connect for the first time.

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7. Additional storage (optional)

Add a block volume that attaches at boot, beyond the plan’s base disk.

• Presets — None, 50, 100, 150 GiB
• Custom — type a value or drag the slider, up to 1000 GiB
• The total storage line shows base + additional and the per-month cost

Skip this step if you only need the plan’s base NVMe SSD. You can attach a volume later without recreating the VM.

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8. Backup (optional)

Enable a recurring backup schedule.

• Shared free-storage pool. Backups and snapshots share one account pool — 50 GB free plus 10% (Standard) or 15% (Premium) of each VM’s disk. Same for Daily and Weekly schedules.
• $0.05/GB/mo for combined backup + snapshot storage above the pool.
• Daily and Weekly cost the same per GB — pricing is by storage, not by frequency. Pick by your RPO: Daily = up to 24h of data loss in a worst case, Weekly = up to 7 days.

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9. Quantity, tags, hostnames

Launch up to 20 VMs at once and label them for filtering.

• VM Quantity — 1 to 20 VMs from this configuration. Each becomes its own VM with its own IP.
• Tags — free-form labels for filtering in the VM list (prod, web, customer-acme). Press Enter, Space, or Comma to add.
• Hostnames — auto-generated as <os>-<cpu>-<ram>-NN; edit per-VM if you want specific names. Allowed: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, hyphen. 3-63 characters.

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10. Proceed to checkout and pay

Click Proceed to Checkout in the footer summary bar. The checkout page opens with the order summary on the right and the payment form on the left. Order Summary (right side) shows what you’re buying and how it’s paid: Payment Method (left side) — pick one:

• Subscribe with G Pay — one-click Google Pay
• Use saved cards — any card you’ve used before; auto-charges with the saved CVC
• Add new — enter card number, expiry, CVC, and name. The card is saved to your account for future payments; remove it any time from Settings → Payment Methods.

Click Proceed to confirm. By confirming, you authorise Raff Technologies LLC to charge the card for this and future renewals. The VM starts provisioning immediately. Returns are covered by the 14-day money-back guarantee shown on the checkout page.

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After launch

The VM transitions through these states before it’s reachable: Provisioning typically takes 30-90 seconds depending on template and region. Once active, the VM detail page shows the public IPv4 you’ll use to connect.

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Next steps