n8n Virtual Machine is a pre-configured cloud server with a platform for automating business processes using AI tools. The tool allows you to integrate AI tools into workflows and automate processes without writing code or with minimal code usage.
The image from which the server is deployed contains:
n8n — a platform for automating business processes using AI tools;
Ollama — a platform for locally downloading and running LLMs. Ollama is installed automatically only when creating a server with a GPU. For more information, see the Minimum resource requirements subsection;
Docker — a platform for running containerized applications;
Docker Compose — a tool for running multi-container applications in Docker;
automating business processes between services, for example: CRM, ERP, email, chats;
automating marketing scenarios: mailing lists, reactions to user actions, audience segmentation by behavior or data;
processing and transforming data between sources (ETL-like workflows);
creating workflows using a visual editor — no coding required.
Minimum resource requirements
Number of vCPUs
2
RAM
4 GB
Boot volume
25 GB
GPU
Optional *
* Ollama is installed automatically only when creating a server with a GPU. With Ollama, you can download a local LLM and integrate it with n8n. On a server without a GPU, you can only connect to external LLMs — running on other servers or via an API.
Get started with n8n
For n8n to work, the cloud server must be accessible from the internet. To do this, when creating the server, create a private subnet and attach a public floating IP address.
Enter the server name. It will be set as the hostname in the operating system.
Select the location where the server will be created. The location determines the list of available server configurations and the resource cost. You cannot change the location after the server is created.
Source
Open the Applications tab.
Select n8n VM.
Optional: if you need a different current or archived version of the application, select the desired version in the Version field.
Configuration
Select a configuration of the GPU line starting from 2 vCPUs, RAM from 4 GB, and boot disk size from 25 GB. Two types of server configurations are available for the line:
fixed configurations — line configurations with different technical specifications where the resource ratio is fixed;
custom configurations — configurations where you can specify any resource ratio.
Configurations use different processors depending on the line and pool segment. You can customize the selected configuration. After creating the server, you will be able to change the configuration.
Fixed configuration
Custom configuration
Open the tab with the GPU line.
Click Fixed.
Optional: you can configure the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:
3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.
3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Selecting a vendor is not available in all pools.
3.3. Optional: if you do not want the cloud server vCPUs to be bound to physical processor cores, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. Learn more in the Dedicated cores instructions.
3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.
3.5. Optional: if you are creating a server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. Learn more in the Placing on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated cores instructions.
If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as a boot drive:
local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.
The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. The allocated amount on the server can be checked using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.
Open the tab with the GPU line.
Click Custom.
Optional: you can configure the configuration if you create a server in the multizone pool segment ru-6 or pool segments ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b:
3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.
3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Selecting a vendor is not available in all pools.
3.3. Optional: if you do not want the cloud server vCPUs to be bound to physical processor cores, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. Learn more in the Dedicated cores instructions.
3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a cloud server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.
3.5. Optional: if you are creating a cloud server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A cloud server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. Learn more in the Placing on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated cores instructions.
If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as a boot drive:
local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.
The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. The allocated amount on the server can be checked using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.
Drives
If you did not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox when configuring the configuration, the first specified network drive will be used as the server boot drive. To configure it:
1.2. Specify the network boot drive size in GB or TB. Mind the network drive limits on the maximum size.
1.3. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is not limited.
Optional: add an additional network drive for the server :
2.3. Specify the network disk size in GB or TB. Mind the network drive limits on the maximum size.
2.4. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is not limited.
The cloud server will be added to a private subnet connected to a cloud router with 1:1 NAT and internet access. Access to and from the internet will be provided through the cloud router. The server will be accessible from the internet via a public floating IP address.
In the Connect from the internet field, select the access type Public floating IP address.
A cloud server can be added to an existing or a new private subnet.
Existing private subnet
New private subnet
In the Subnet field, select a private subnet.
Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.
In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.
If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.
In the Subnet field, select New private subnet.
In the Network field, select an existing network or create a new one.
Optional: change the subnet CIDR.
Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.
In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.
If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.
Security
Select security groups to filter traffic on the server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be denied. If the block is absent, traffic filtering (port security) is disabled on the server network. With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.
Access
Place a project SSH key on the server for secure connection:
1.1. If the project SSH key has not been added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH key, enter a key name, paste the public key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.
1.2. If the project SSH key has been added to the cloud platform, select an existing key in the SSH key field. The SSH key is only available in the pool where it is placed.
Optional: in the Password for root field:
2.1. Copy the password of the root user — a user with unlimited permissions for all actions on the system.
2.2. Save the password in a safe place and do not share it in plain text.
Additional settings
If you plan to create multiple servers and want to increase the fault tolerance of your infrastructure, add the server to a placement group:
1.1. To create a new group, in the Placement group field, click Create.
1.2. Select New group and enter the group name.
1.3. Select a placement policy on different hosts:
preferred — soft-anti-affinity. The system will try to place the servers on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, it will be created on the same host;
required — anti-affinity. Servers in the group are required to be placed on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, the server will not be created.
1.4. If the group has been created, select the placement group in the Placement group field.
To add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. Operating system and configuration tags are added automatically. To add a new tag, enter a tag in the Tags field.
To add a script that will be executed using the cloud-init agent at the first startup of the operating system, in the Automation block, in the User data field:
open the Text tab and paste the script as text;
or open the File tab and upload the script file.
In the control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Servers.
Enter the server name. It will be set as the hostname in the operating system.
Select the location where the server will be created. The list of available server configurations and resource costs depends on the location. After the server is created, the location cannot be changed.
Source
Open the Applications tab.
Select n8n VM.
Optional: if you need another current or archived version of the application, in the Version field, select the desired version.
Configuration
Select a configuration starting from 2 vCPUs, RAM from 4 GB, and boot disk size from 25 GB. For all lines, except for Shared and Dedicated, two types of server configurations are available:
fixed configurations — line configurations with different specifications, where the resource ratio is fixed;
custom configurations — configurations where you can specify any resource ratio.
Different processors are used in configurations depending on the line and pool segment. You can customize the selected configuration. After creating the server, you will be able to change the configuration.
Fixed configuration
Custom configuration
Open the tab with the line.
Click Fixed.
Optional: you can customize the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:
3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.
3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Vendor selection is not available in all pools.
3.3. Optional: if you do not want the physical processor cores to be pinned to the cloud server vCPUs, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores instructions.
3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.
3.5. Optional: if you are creating a server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores instructions.
If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as the boot drive:
local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.
The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated amount on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.
Open the tab with the line.
Click Custom.
Optional: you can customize the configuration if you are creating a server in the ru-6 multizone pool segment or ru-3b, ru-7a, and ru-7b pool segments:
3.1. Expand the block with the configuration settings description.
3.2. Optional: select a processor vendor. Vendor selection is not available in all pools.
3.3. Optional: if you do not want the physical processor cores to be pinned to the cloud server vCPUs, clear the Dedicated cores checkbox. For more information, see the Dedicated Cores instructions.
3.4. Optional: if you want to disable Hyper-Threading for a cloud server with dedicated cores, clear the Hyper-Threading (SMT) checkbox.
3.5. Optional: if you are creating a cloud server with dedicated cores and want to place a multiprocessor server on a single NUMA node, select the Mandatory placement on a single NUMA node checkbox. A cloud server with 4 vCPUs or more can be placed on a single NUMA node. If the cloud server resources cannot be placed on a single node, it will not be created. For more information, see the Placement on a single NUMA node section of the Dedicated Cores instructions.
Specify the number of vCPUs.
Specify the RAM size.
If you need to add GPUs to the server, click Add GPU, select the GPU type, and specify the number of GPUs. The selected line will change to the GPU line. If in the Source block you selected an image without GPU optimization and the Autoselect GPU image toggle is on, the selected image will automatically change to a GPU-optimized image.
If both local and network drives are available in the selected configuration, select the drive to be used as the boot drive:
local drive — select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox. A server with a local drive can only be created from images and applications;
network drive — do not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox.
The amount of RAM allocated to the server may be less than specified in the configuration — the operating system kernel reserves part of the RAM depending on the kernel version and distribution. You can check the allocated amount on the server using the sudo dmesg | grep Memory command.
Disks
If you did not select the Local SSD NVMe drive checkbox when configuring, the first specified network drive will be used as the server boot drive. To configure it:
1.2. Specify the network boot drive size in GB or TB. Note the network drive limits on the maximum size.
1.3. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is unlimited.
Optional: add an additional network drive of the server :
2.3. Specify the network disk size in GB or TB. Note the network drive limits on the maximum size.
2.4. If you selected the Universal v2 or Fast SSD v2 drive type, specify the total number of read and write operations in IOPS. After creating the drive, you can change the number of IOPS — decrease or increase it. The number of IOPS changes is unlimited.
The cloud server will be added to the private subnet connected to the cloud router with 1:1 NAT and internet access. Internet access to and from will be routed through the cloud router. The server will be accessible from the internet via a public floating IP address.
In the Internet connection field, select the Public floating IP address access type.
Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.
In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.
If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.
In the Subnet field, select New private subnet.
In the Network field, select an existing network or create a new one.
Optional: change the subnet CIDR.
Optional: in the IP address field, change the default IP address.
In the Router field, select an existing router or create a new one.
If the router is not connected to the internet, it will be automatically connected to the internet after creating the server.
Security
Select security groups to filter traffic on server ports. Without security groups, traffic will be blocked. If the block is missing, traffic filtering (port security) is disabled in the server network. With traffic filtering disabled, all traffic will be allowed.
Access
Place a project SSH key on the server for secure connection:
1.1. If the project SSH key has not been added to the cloud platform, click Add SSH key, enter the key name, paste the public key in OpenSSH format, and click Add.
1.2. If the project SSH key has been added to the cloud platform, in the SSH key field, select an existing key. The SSH key is only available in the pool where it is placed.
Optional: in the Password for "root" field:
2.1. Copy the password of the root user — a user with unlimited rights to perform all actions on the system.
2.2. Store the password in a secure place and do not share it in plain text.
Additional settings
If you plan to create multiple servers and want to increase infrastructure fault tolerance, add the server to a placement group:
1.1. To create a new group, in the Placement group field, click Create.
1.2. Select New group and enter the group name.
1.3. Select a placement policy on different hosts:
optional — soft-anti-affinity. The system will try to place the servers on different hosts. If there is no suitable host when creating the server, it will be created on the same host;
mandatory — anti-affinity. Servers in the group must be located on different hosts. If no suitable host is available when creating the server, the server will not be created.
1.4. If the group is created, in the Placement group field, select the placement group.
To add additional information or filter servers in the list, add server tags. Operating system and configuration tags are added automatically. To add a new tag, in the Tags field, enter the tag.
To add a script that will run using the cloud-init agent at the first operating system boot, in the Automation block, in the User data field:
open the Text tab and paste the script as text;
or open the File tab and upload the file with the script.
3. Create an account
Open the http://<ip_address> page in a browser.
Specify <ip_address> — the public floating IP address of the cloud server that you created in step 1.
In the Email field, enter your email.
In the First Name field, enter your first name.
In the Last Name field, enter your last name.
In the Password field, enter a password.
Click Next.
4. Run n8n
Open the http://<ip_address> page in a browser.
Specify <ip_address> — the public floating IP address of the cloud server that you created in step 1.