Virtual Machine Types

A virtual machine type, known as a VM type, defines the number of CPUs, the size of memory, and the size of storage that is given to an instance when it boots. There are five pre-defined VM types in Eucalyptus. You can change the quantity of resources associated with each of the five VM types, but you cannot change the name of the VM types or the number of VM types available. If you customize the sizes they must be well-ordered. That means that the CPU, memory, and storage sizes of the next VM type must be equal to, or larger than, the size of the preceding VM type. 

The VM type used to instantiate an EMI must have a defined disk size larger than the EMI file. If a 6GB EMI is loaded into an instance with a VM type defined with a 5GB disk, it will fail to boot. The status of the instance will show as pending.  The pending status is the result of the fact that the Walrus cannot finish downloading the image to the Node Controller because the Node Controller has not allotted sufficient disk space for the download. Starting with Eucalyptus 3.2, if the user attempts to launch an instance with a VM type that is too small, they will receive an on-screen warning and the operation will terminate.

Available VM Types

Eucalyptus, like AWS, offers families of VM types. These families are composed of varying combinations of CPU, disk size, and memory. Eucalyptus offers enough VM types to give you the flexibility to choose the appropriate mix of resources for your applications. For the best experience, we recommend that you launch instance types that are appropriate for your applications.

The following tables list each VM type Eucalyptus offers. Each type is listed in its associate VM family.

Table 1. General Purpose VM Types
Instance Type Virtual CPU Disk Size Memory
m1.small 1 5 256
m1.medium 1 10 512
m1.large 2 10 512
m1.xlarge 2 10 1024
m3.xlarge 4 15 2048
m3.2xlarge 4 30 4096
Table 2. Compute Optimized VM Types
Instance Type Virtual Cores Disk Size Memory
c1.medium 2 10 512
c1.xlarge 2 10 2048
cc1.4xlarge 8 60 3072
cc2.8xlarge 16 120 6144
Table 3. Memory Optimized VM Types
Instance Type Virtual Cores Disk Size Memory
m2.xlarge 2 10 2048
m2.2xlarge 2 30 4096
m2.4xlarge 8 60 4096
cr1.8xlarge 16 240 16384
Table 4. Micro VM Types
Instance Type Virtual Cores Disk Size Memory
t1.micro 1 5 256