Set Up a Confidential VM

Confidential VM is a hardware-isolated compute service provided by IONOS CLOUD that encrypts VM memory at the CPU level using AMD SEV-SNP. This guide shows how to create a Confidential VM in the Data Center Designer (DCD) using your uploaded Confidential VM image.

Prerequisites:

• Confidential VMs are currently available in the Germany / Frankfurt am Main (de/fra/2) data center. To deploy, ensure you have an active IONOS CLOUD account in this location.
• You have a Confidential VM image uploaded to IONOS CLOUD. For more information, see Prepare a Confidential VM Image.
• Only contract owners, administrators, or users with the Create Data Center privilege can provision changes.

Create a Confidential VM from the Workspace

To configure a Confidential VM, follow these steps:

1

Open the Data Center Designer

1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Virtual Data Centers.

2. Select the data center in the Germany / Frankfurt am Main (de/fra/2) location to configure a Confidential VM within it.

Important:

• The procedure listed here applies only to the Canvas mode.
• If you do not have a data center, create one using the Canvas mode in the Germany / Frankfurt am Main (de/fra/2) location. Only data centers in this location support Confidential VMs.
• If you created a VM using Xpress mode, it will appear in your Workspace in a Running state. You can continue configuring it to optimize performance and settings.

A Confidential VM provisioned using the Xpress mode

2

Add a Confidential VM

1. Drag the Confidential VM element from the Palette into the Workspace. The Add Confidential VM dialog appears.

Important: If the dialog shows a "No confidential VM image found" warning, you must prepare and upload a Confidential VM image before continuing. Follow the steps shown in the dialog:

1. Prepare your image.
2. Follow the instructions to upload your image using FTP.
3. Reopen this dialog and select the image from the drop-down list.

1. In the Add Confidential VM dialog, select your uploaded Confidential VM image from the drop-down list. Only images prepared with the Confidential VM flow appear here. CPU Architecture and Cores are automatically derived from the image and cannot be edited. You can set the RAM, but it cannot be modified later.

Important: Expand Confidential VMs: Capabilities and constraints to review the limitations before adding the VM. Key constraints include:

• CPU Cores and RAM cannot be changed after creation.
• Storage volume is cryptographically tied to the image and cannot be swapped.
• In-guest restart commands terminate the VM. They do not restart it. Use the DCD Reset action for a full restart.

1. Click Add.
2. The Confidential VM appears in the Workspace. In the Inspector pane, review and configure the Settings tab:

• Name: Enter a name for the Confidential VM, unique within your VDC.
• Hostname: Enter the hostname the operating system uses to identify the VM.
• CPU Architecture: Read-only. Derived from the uploaded image; cannot be changed.
• Cores: Read-only. Derived from the uploaded image; cannot be changed.
• RAM (GB): Read-only. Set at provisioning; cannot be resized.
• Network Security Groups: Optionally assign the VM to one or more network security groups.
• NIC Multi-Queue: Enable to improve network throughput by distributing NIC interrupts across CPU cores.

Confidential VM selected in the Workspace with the Inspector Settings tab

3

Configure the network

1. Connect the Confidential VM to other elements in the Workspace, such as an internet access element, by dragging a line from the VM's Autoport to the element's NIC.
2. In the Inspector pane, configure the network interface in the Network tab:

• Name: Choose a name unique to this VDC.
• MAC: (Optional). Leave blank to have the platform assign a MAC address automatically.
• LAN: Select the LAN to attach this NIC to. The LAN must exist in the same data center.
• Primary IPv4: Set to Automatic to use DHCP, or select a reserved IP from the drop-down.
• DHCP: Enabled by default. When checked, the platform assigns a gateway IP automatically.
• Add IP: Optionally assign additional static IP addresses to this NIC.
• Firewall: Configure firewall rules as required.
• Flow Log: Optionally enable flow logging to capture NIC traffic metadata for monitoring and auditing.
• Network Security Groups: Select one or more network security groups to associate with the VM.

Configure network

4

Review the startup volume

The startup volume is attached automatically when you add the Confidential VM. Configure its name, zone, and size in the Inspector pane as mentioned in Configure Storage.

5

Configure Storage

1. Click the startup volume attached to the Confidential VM in the Workspace.
2. In the Inspector pane, enter a Name that is unique within your VDC.
3. Select an Availability Zone in which you want the storage device to be maintained. When you select Auto, our system assigns the optimal Zone. The Availability Zone cannot be changed after provisioning.
4. Specify the required Storage Type. You can increase the size after provisioning, even while the Confidential VM is running, if its operating system supports it. Reducing the storage size after provisioning is impossible.
5. Your associated Image is automatically listed.
6. Configure the SSH access within the image before you upload the image. For more information, see Prepare your image.
7. Provision your changes. The storage device is now provisioned and configured according to your settings.

6

Provision

1. Click PROVISION CHANGES in the Inspector pane.
2. In the Provision Data Center dialog, review your changes in the Validation tab.
3. Confirm changes by entering your password, then click Provision Now.

Note: During provisioning, the platform performs a hardware-enforced startup. VM memory is encrypted by the CPU from the moment the VM starts. If you configured an attestation service, the initrd contacts it during startup to obtain the disk-unlock key. This process takes slightly longer than a standard VM start.

Result: Your Confidential VM is running. Memory is encrypted by the CPU from the moment the VM starts, with or without attestation. The DCD displays a Provisioning Complete notification when the VM is ready.

A Confidential VM in a Running state after a successful provisioning

After creation

The following properties are immutable for Confidential VMs after creation and cannot be changed:

Property	Reason
Cores	Derived from the image; cannot be overridden
CPU Architecture	Derived from the image; cannot be overridden
RAM	Set at provisioning; cannot be resized
Availability Zone	Hardware placement is fixed at creation
Startup volume	Cryptographically tied to the image; cannot be swapped

Note: An in-guest restart (for example, running reboot from inside the OS) terminates the VM without restarting it automatically. To restart the VM, use the DCD Reset action or the IONOS CLOUD API.