> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.latitude.sh/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Virtual machines

Latitude.sh virtual machines are optimized for general-purpose computing workloads.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/latitudesh/T4X5auQmsIdYbWED/images/product/53.Docs25Q4.VMCPUdeploy.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=T4X5auQmsIdYbWED&q=85&s=b5ee658c3f4d583bfbeb96db89383e5f" alt="Virtual machine deployment page" width="2782" height="1728" data-path="images/product/53.Docs25Q4.VMCPUdeploy.png" />

## Deploying a virtual machine

Set up your virtual machine with these steps:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Access the instance creation page">
    [Log in to the dashboard](https://www.latitude.sh/dashboard), select a project, navigate to **Virtual machines** in the sidebar and click **Create instance**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Choose plan and location">
    Select the configuration and location based on your workload needs.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select an operating system">
    Choose the operating system for your instance from the available distributions and versions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set billing and instance details">
    Select the billing method (hourly or monthly). Choose the number of instances to deploy (1-5) and name them.

    Names are auto-generated based on your plan and location (e.g., `cpu-vm-ash-1`, `cpu-vm-ash-2`). You can customize the first name and subsequent instances follow the same pattern (e.g., `web`, `web-2`, `web-3`).

    When deploying multiple instances, the pricing summary shows the total cost and unit price per instance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Deploy the instances">
    Click **Create** to deploy your virtual machines. All instances deploy in parallel.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Logging into your instance

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect via SSH">
    Go to the instance details page to find your access credentials. Use the username, password, and public IP provided to connect via SSH.

    The default SSH port is 22. Root access is disabled, so log in with the provided username and use sudo to switch to root if needed.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Power management

To power cycle your virtual machine, go to the instance's overview page and click on the status dropdown. Choose one of the available options.

<Note title="Heads up">
  Shutting down a virtual machine does not pause billing. To avoid charges, you
  have to delete the instance instead.
</Note>

## Resizing a virtual machine

You can vertically upgrade a virtual machine to a larger plan, scaling its vCPU, RAM, and disk. Upgrade from the dashboard or through the API.

Resizing is upgrade-only: the target plan's vCPU, memory, and storage must each be greater than or equal to your current plan. Nothing can shrink, because the underlying volume can't be reduced.

Resizing is disruptive and runs asynchronously: the instance is powered off, migrated to the new plan, and powered back on. Once the disk grows, the guest operating system expands its own partition and filesystem to use the additional space. The managed OS images handle this automatically on boot.

### From the dashboard

Open the instance's detail page and select **Upgrade...** next to the **Plan** property. Choose a larger plan from the list of eligible plans, type the instance name to confirm, and select **Upgrade plan**. Upgrades are only available from a stable state, so the instance must be running or stopped.

### Through the API

Send a `PATCH` request to the [Update a virtual machine](https://www.latitude.sh/docs/api-reference/update-virtual-machine) endpoint with the `plan` attribute set to the target plan. Send `plan` on its own — you can't combine a resize with a `name`, `tags`, or `billing` change in the same request.

The endpoint returns `202 Accepted` and continues the work in the background. If a resize is already in progress for the instance, it returns `409 Conflict`.

## Backups and restore

Capture point-in-time backups of a virtual machine's disk and restore them into new virtual machines whenever you need to recover data or clone a machine. For the full workflow, see [Backups and restore](/vms/backups-and-restore).

## Monitoring

Track your virtual machine's performance metrics including CPU usage, memory usage, storage operations, and network traffic from the monitoring section on your VM's overview page. For detailed charts and historical data, see [Monitoring](/vms/monitoring).

## Deleting a virtual machine

<Steps>
  <Step title="Delete the instance">
    Click **Actions > Delete** and confirm the deletion.
  </Step>
</Steps>