Choosing your required virtual machine (VM) configuration

Once logged in, you will be taken to the Virtual Machines (VM) page where you can start a new machine or connect to an existing one.

You will be offered a variety of virtual machine types.

Warning

Choose the Basic machine unless a script requires high memory or increased CPU capacity, and is ready to go. Test your script on the Basic machine first, as other options are more expensive.

Note

Some machine types have many CPUs, which are suitable for multithreaded applications like plink or regenie that can fully utilise them. These applications may sometimes run input/output operations too quickly for standard Google bucket storage, requiring you to copy key files to faster local storage (see Understanding TRE folders and buckets).

Choosing a custom machine configuration

It is possible you may require a Virtual Machine that offers resources different to the standard flavors i.e. higher-memory, higher-cpu or memory-optimised instances. You can choose a custom VM configuration from the Virtual Machines page by expanding the Use custom Virtual Machine profile section at the bottom.

Warning

Choose the Use custom Virtual Machine profile only when absolutely necessary. Excess use of higher-spec machines can significantly impact running costs.