Virtual Machine (VM) Provisioning Guide on MTN Cloud

Step 1 – Select Catalog Item

Navigate to User Settings by clicking the dropdown beside your name at the top right corner of the screen.

Figure 1: Access User Settings from the top right dropdown menu

Step 2 – Configure User Credentials

Locate the Linux Settings section and assign the following:

• Username: Enter a username for Linux VM access.
• Password: Enter a strong password.
• Confirm Password: Re-enter the password to confirm.
• SSH Key: Optionally, select an existing SSH key pair if you have one configured.

Repeat the same process for your Windows Settings if you plan to deploy Windows-based VMs.

Once all details are entered, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.

Figure 2: Fill in the desired username and password

Step 1 – Generate New SSH Key Pair

• Navigate to Infrastructure > Trust > Key Pairs.

Figure 3: Access Key Pairs from the Infrastructure menu.

• Click +Add.
• Select Generate Key Pair.

Figure 4: Select Generate Key Pair and assign a name

• Assign a Name to the key pair.
• Click Save Changes.

Note: Immediately after creation, both the Public and Private keys are displayed on the screen. Handle this information with care and store it securely.

• On the newly generated key pair, select the info icon and copy the key pair if needed for external storage or use.
• Navigate to User Settings.
• Locate Linux Settings.
• On the SSH tab, select your generated SSH key pair from the list.

Figure 5: Selected created keypair

• Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Step 2 – Import Existing SSH Key Pair

• Generate an SSH key pair on your local machine using the command: ssh-keygen -m pem -t rsa
• Navigate to Infrastructure > Trust > Key Pairs.
• Click +Add.

Figure 6: Access Key Pairs from the Infrastructure menu and click Add

• Select Existing Key Pair.

Figure 7: Select Existing Key Pair to import

• Assign a Name for the imported key pair.
• Browse for or paste your Private Key.
• Browse for or paste your Public Key (with .pub file extension).
• Click Save Changes.
• Navigate to User Settings.
• Locate Linux Settings.
• On the SSH tab, select your imported SSH key pair from the list.
• Scroll down and click Save Changes.

Step 1 – Navigate to Instances

Navigate to Provisioning > Instances.

Figure 8: Access Instances from the Provisioning menu

Click +Add to begin provisioning.

Figure 9: Click Add

Step 2 – Select Instance Type and Configure Basic Settings

• Select the Instance Type, which determines the operating system to be installed (e.g., MTN WINDOWS SERVER 2019, MTN CENTOS STREAM 10).

Figure 10: Select the desired operating system

• Select the Group and Cloud where the VM will be deployed (e.g., MTNNG_Cloud_AZ_1).

Figure 11: Select Group and Cloud

• Input a VM Name or leave the automatically generated name provided by MTN Cloud based on naming conventions.
• Choose the appropriate Environment for the VM (e.g., Development, Staging, Production).
• Optionally, add a Label for organizational purposes.
• Click Next.

Step 3 – Configure Compute, Network, and Security Settings

The selected Instance Type automatically determines the Layout and reflects the operating system configuration.

Figure 12: Configure compute and network settings

• Select a Planthat defines the VM’s CPU and memory resources.
• Select the required Volume capacity.
  Note: Windows Server instances require a minimum of 40 GB of storage.
• Select the Resource Pool (Project) that was initially created.
• From the list, select the Network you have created.
• Assign Floating IPs based on the selection made during router creation for the selected network.
• In the Availability Zonesection, select one of the available Fault Domains to define the VM’s physical placement and redundancy.
• Assign the Default Security Group to manage necessary firewall rules and traffic access.

Note: Your custom security groups can be attached after provisioning (see Step 6 below). For detailed instructions on creating and managing security groups, refer to the Security Group Creation documentation.)

Step 4 – Configure Advanced Options

• Open the User Config tab and check the Create Your User box.
• Under Advanced Options, modify any required ports and protocols for the VM (e.g., SSH, HTTP, custom application ports).
  Note: Load balancing requires at least one port to be available, which will then be configured on the available port protocol.

Figure 13: Configure advanced options such as ports and agent installation.

• Allowing Agent install enables alerts and logging for VM health and performance, and other ancillary tasks. This agent installation requires that:
  • The network is attached to a router (refer to the Network and Router Creation Workflow documentation), OR
  • The VM proxies through another instance.
• Specify the Hostname or leave it to be autogenerated. Preference is to add your own identifier (e.g., AppSvr-) in front of the autogenerated placeholder.

Example: AppSvr-${userInitials}-${accountId}-MTN-CLOUD-${type}-${sequence+0}

• Optionally, attach any Automation Workflows/Tasks for pre- or post-provisioning tasks such as software installation, configuration, or monitoring setup.
• Optionally, enable Deployments to keep track of versions.
• Optionally, create a Load Balancer Virtual Service to load balance services from the server. The ports available for this service will match the services already opened earlier in this page.
• Optionally, configure Scale settings by providing Scale Type and Threshold settings for scaling.
• Optionally, configure Backups and Lifecycle policies.

Step 5 – Review and Launch

• Carefully review all configuration details to ensure accuracy and alignment with your deployment requirements.
• Click Complete to launch the VM. MTN Cloud will begin provisioning and display the instance status once deployment is underway.
• Navigate to Provisioning > Instances, click on the VM being deployed (notice the green Rocket icon), and watch the deployment progress.

Figure 14: Monitor VM deployment progress

Step 6 – Attach Additional Security Groups

Once deployment completes:

• Click on Network and toggle the button from Interfaces to Security Groups.

Figure 15: Access security groups from the Network tab.

• Click Edit Security Groups to add your custom security group to the Default group that is currently applied.

Figure 16: Edit security groups

• Type the security group name into the Search Security Group box and click to select from the list that appears.
• Click Save.
• Click on the Summary tab to view your deployed VM details. Take note of the private and public IP addresses.

Figure 17: View deployed VM summary

Accessing the VM should be via the VM Console (within the cloud console) or SSH (based on the use case above).