Attach a VM

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.rafftechnologies.com/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

_{Updated May 8, 2026} Attaching a VM to a VPC adds a private network interface inside that VPC’s CIDR. The VM gets an IP from the VPC’s range and can immediately reach every other VM on the same VPC at near-line-rate over the private network. The VM keeps any other interfaces it already has (other VPCs, public IPs) — the new interface is added, not swapped.

​

Three places to start the flow

All three entry points open the same Add VM dialog — pick whichever is closest to where you are. You can also attach at VM-creation time — pick the VPC under the network section of the create-VM flow. That path covers the brand-new-VM case; this page covers attaching an existing VM.

​

Open the Add VM dialog

This walkthrough uses the VPC detail page. From Networking → VPCs, click into a VPC, switch to the VMs tab, and click + Attach VM. The dialog has two fields that matter — the VM, and how its IP gets assigned.

​

1. Pick the Virtual Machine

The Select a VM dropdown lists every VM in the same region as this VPC that isn’t already attached to it. Pick one. A VM can be in multiple VPCs at once — being in another VPC doesn’t remove it from this list. The VPC name is shown right below the dropdown so you can confirm where the VM is going. VMs in other regions never appear here — VPCs are region-scoped, so cross-region attach is impossible. To put a VM on this VPC, it has to live in the same region (us-east today).

​

2. Choose IP Assignment

The dialog shows the current Available range (e.g. 10.7.0.1 - 10.7.0.253) — the gateway .1 is reserved but is shown in the range; the validator will reject it. .0 (network) and .255 (broadcast for /24 and larger) are also reserved and rejected. For Specific IP, the validator also checks the address isn’t already in use by another VM in the same VPC. If it is, the dialog shows the conflict before you submit.

​

3. Click Connect

The interface is created and attached in seconds. The VPC’s VMs tab refreshes with the new row showing:

• VM name (with a green dot if active)
• Private IP — the address you got from the VPC
• Public IP — unchanged from before
• Specs — vCPU and RAM
• Detach action for later removal

The VM also picks up the VPC’s DNS setting on its next DHCP renewal. You usually don’t need to do anything inside the guest — virtio-net + DHCP handle it. If you set a Specific IP and the guest doesn’t pick it up immediately, force a DHCP renewal (dhclient -r && dhclient on Linux, ipconfig /renew on Windows) or reboot.

​

What this changes inside the VM

• A new virtual NIC appears as enp1s0 / eth1 / vtnet1 (or whatever the next index is on your image — check ip a or Get-NetAdapter)
• The new interface has the VPC IP and is reachable from every other VM in the VPC over private IP
• The default route stays whatever it was before — a VPC interface alone doesn’t create a default gateway. To send the VM’s outbound traffic through this VPC’s Platform Router or Firewall Appliance, change the in-guest default route or remove the VM’s other interfaces

​

Multiple VPC interfaces, briefly

A single VM can be in two or three VPCs at once. Each VPC gives it a separate NIC with its own private IP. This is how you build hub-and-spoke networks today — a “router VM” with one NIC in each spoke VPC, manually configured to forward traffic between them. When the VM appears in the Networking Diagram, you’ll see its card duplicated inside each VPC box, each instance showing the IP from that VPC’s range. The same VM is one VM — only the visualization repeats it.

​

Detach later

Use the Detach action on the row when you no longer want the VM in this VPC. Detach is blocked if it would leave the VM with zero network interfaces — keep at least one VPC or one public IP. See Manage a VPC → VMs tab for the full rules.

​

Related