Create a Virtual Machine

Create your first virtual machine in IBM Power for Google Cloud

This document walks you through creating your first Virtual Machine in IBM Power for Google Cloud.

LPAR vs Virtual Machine (VM): This document uses the term Virtual Machine (VM) instead of LPAR when referring to AIX, IBM i, or Linux on Power LPAR’s running in IBM Power for Google Cloud (IP4G). All Virtual Machines deploying in IP4G run on native IBM Power hardware as an LPAR. The term Virtual Machine is used because the IP4G control plane manages the compute templates and metadata that turn that LPAR into a Virtual Machine for the customer to manage.

Prerequisites

Accessing Your IP4G VMs with pcloud

pcloud is the command-line tool for managing IP4G (list/create VMs, open consoles, etc.).

Docs: https://docs.converge.cloud/docs/cli/

Install pcloud

Option A — Google Cloud Shell (fastest, no local install)

  1. Go to Downloads
  2. Right-click the linux/amd64 URL and copy
  3. Open Cloud Shell: https://console.cloud.google.com/welcome?cloudshell=true
  4. Download and extract the Linux/amd64 build:
    # Tip: paste the latest linux/amd64 URL from the downloads page
wget https://pforg.converge.cloud/downloads/cli/pcloud-linux-amd64-vX.Y.Z.tar.gz
tar -zxvf pcloud-linux-amd64-vX.Y.Z.tar.gz
mkdir -p ~/bin
mv pcloud ~/bin/
# Ensure ~/bin is in your PATH
echo $PATH
  5. Authenticate (see below).

Option B — Your workstation (Linux/macOS or Windows via WSL)

  1. Go to Downloads
  2. Download the package for your OS/arch and extract it.
  3. Put the pcloud binary in your PATH (e.g., /usr/local/bin).

Windows tip: Install WSL for a Linux-like environment, then follow the Linux steps in your distro.

Authenticate pcloud
# Tip: If pcloud is not in PATH but is in the current directory, use ./pcloud
pcloud auth login
  • Open the shown URL, paste the device code, complete sign-in.

NOTE: Service Accounts: Using Google Cloud Service Accounts with IP4G is supported for the API/Python client, but not with the pcloud CLI.

Create a VM

# List stock images
pcloud compute images list -a
# copy and paste the ID of the desired stock image
pcloud compute images create <image ID>
# view the image being created, repeat until it is ready
pcloud compute images list
# list networks
pcloud compute networks list
# create VM
pcloud compute instances create <vm_name>   -c .25 -m 8   -i <image_name_or_id>   -n <network_name_or_id>   -t shared -T ssd   -k <ssh_key_name_optional>
# view VM status
pclodu compute instances list
# open console to VM, may take few minutes until the VM has provisioned enough to be successful
pcloud compute instances console <vm_name>
# copy the generated URL into your web browser, log in as root
Verify & Explore Help
pcloud --version
pcloud help
pcloud compute help
pcloud compute instances help

Common discovery:

pcloud compute instances list
pcloud compute images list
pcloud compute networks list
pcloud compute sshkeys list

NOTE: Every pcloud level has contextual help (e.g., pcloud compute instances create --help).

Everyday Tasks

List VMs

pcloud compute instances list

Open early boot console (best for troubleshooting)

pcloud compute instances console <vm_name>
# Copy the generated URL into your browser

Hard reboot (keep the console tab open to capture full boot)

pcloud compute instances reboot --hard <vm_name>

Manage SSH keys

pcloud compute sshkeys create <keyname> -p "ssh-rsa AAAA... my_pubkey"
pcloud compute sshkeys list
Where to Learn More

Network & Connectivity

IBM Power for Google Cloud is connected to your Google Cloud environment via Private Service Access (PSA). There is no external or direct internet access to IBM Power for Google Cloud unless the access is provided by your organizations VPC Network. To allow internet access in IBM Power for Google Cloud you must do one of the following:

  • Advertise a 0.0.0.0/0 default route from a Google Cloud Interconnet or Cloud VPN.
  • Create a Google Cloud Secure Web Proxy in your peered VPC Network. See Google Cloud Secure Web Proxy
  • Create a custom Proxy VM (e.g., Squid on a small GCE VM with egress via external IP / Cloud NAT).
  • Create a firewall or router appliance (Palo Alto, Fortinet, or Linux) in the peering VPC Network and advertise a default route to IP4G.

Other Considerations:

  • Google Cloue VPC Flow Logs and Google Cloud Firewall are applied to traffic between IP4G and Google Cloud. Not between Virtual Machines in IP4G.

Docs:

Additional Peerings

The initial peering to IBM Power for Google Cloud is created during signup. Customers using multiple VPC Networks or other Google Cloud services such as Google Cloud VMware Engine or Bare Metal Service may need to create additional peering connections to IBM Power for Google Cloud. Additional VPC Network peerings can be created by opening a support ticket. When opening the support ticket, please provide the following information.

  • Peered Project Name: The Google Cloud Service Producer Project Name of the existing Private Servies Access peering that is associated with the ibm-power-for-gcp VPC Network.
  • Peer VPC Network: The target VPC Network name that you would like to peer with IBM Power for Google Cloud.
  • Peer Project Name: The target Google Cloud Project Name that contains the Peer VPC Network you would like to peer with IBM Power for Google Cloud.

Connect to Virtual Machines

Connect to virtual machines from your existing data center or from Google Cloud. We recommend deploying a jumphost in Google Compute Engine.

  • Create a small Google Compute Engine (GCE) Linux VM
  • Enable IAP and use:
    gcloud compute ssh <user>@<vm> --project <proj> --zone <zone> --tunnel-through-iap
  • Port-forward as needed:
    gcloud compute ssh <user>@<vm> --tunnel-through-iap --ssh-flag "-L localport:destip:destport"
  • Optional SOCKS proxy for browser:
    gcloud compute ssh <user>@<vm> --tunnel-through-iap --ssh-flag "-D 8080"