Compute (Early Access)
Stratum Compute runs KVM virtual machines on your Stratum nodes, and connects each one to the node's networking before it starts: the machine's port is locked to its own address, separated from other tenants, and covered by the firewall, address translation and bandwidth rules you already use.
Early access. Compute is in development and is not sold online. It runs on pre-release builds, with a licence we issue after we have talked with you. What these pages describe works in those builds; details can change before release. The limits page lists what is not there yet. To take part, get in touch.
How it fits together
| Piece | What it is |
|---|---|
| Image | A base disk a machine starts from — a Linux cloud image you register once per node (Images). |
| Virtual machine | CPUs, memory and a disk made from an image, plus one to four network interfaces (Creating virtual machines). |
| Interface | Either an endpoint on one of your networks, or a public address your provider routes to the server (Networks and public addresses). |
| Tenant | The customer a machine belongs to. A tenant's machines attach only to that tenant's networks, and are kept apart from every other tenant's (Tenants). |
Everything is managed on the node itself, with cenvero-str-ctl or the
local API — the same tools as the rest of Stratum. The machine's
first boot is configured for you (hostname, SSH keys, addresses), so a standard
cloud image comes up reachable with nothing typed inside it.
What a node needs
| Requirement | |
|---|---|
| Processor | 64-bit Intel or AMD (x86_64) with hardware virtualization (Intel VT-x or AMD-V), switched on in the firmware |
| Memory | At least 4 GiB |
| Disk | At least 10 GiB free where the machines' disks will live (50 GiB or more is sensible) |
| Operating system | Debian 12 or newer, or Ubuntu 22.04 or newer (early access is tested on Debian 13). RHEL-family hosts are not validated for Compute yet |
| Licence | An early-access licence that includes Compute |
Proxmox VE hosts are not supported: another platform already manages virtual machines there.
Installing with Compute
Install with the compute profile (networking and virtual machines) or suite
(everything your licence includes). Your account's licence page offers the
matching command; the profile can also be added to the URL or set in the
environment:
curl -fsSL "https://stratum.cenvero.com/install?key=YOUR_LICENSE_KEY&profile=compute" -o /tmp/cenvero-install.sh
sudo bash /tmp/cenvero-install.shBefore it changes anything, the installer checks that the server can run virtual machines — processor, memory, free space, operating system — and stops with the reason if it cannot. (When your licence does not include Compute, those checks only warn, and the server is set up for networking only.) It then sets up the virtualization software and a disk pool for the machines, and finishes by checking that the node reports Compute as ready.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
CENVERO_PROFILE=compute or suite | The same as &profile= in the URL |
CENVERO_VM_POOL=/srv/vm | Keep the machines' disks on another disk. The directory must exist (mount the disk there first); the disks go in a cenvero-str-vm folder inside it |
CENVERO_ALLOW_EMULATION=1 | Go ahead on a server without usable hardware virtualization. Machines then run in software emulation, many times slower — for trying things out, not for customers |
CENVERO_API_TOKEN=off | Leave the local API — and the web console — off. By default the compute and suite profiles turn it on with a generated token, stored root-only in /etc/cenvero-str/api-token, and the installer prints the console's address at the end |
A server that already runs another panel's virtual machines is supported. Stratum only ever touches machines it created; it never starts, stops, changes or deletes anything else. The installer notices the other machines, installs no virtualization software on its own if some is missing (it tells you what to install), and leaves the settings those machines share — whether guests start and stop with the server, and the built-in NAT network — exactly as they are. It prints the setting to use if you want them applied anyway.
To add Compute to a node that already runs Stratum, run the installer again with
CENVERO_REINSTALL=1 and the profile.
Checking that it is ready
cenvero-str-ctl compute status| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
state | active — ready; not_licensed — this node's licence has no Compute yet (it switches on by itself when the licence does); connecting — starting up; unavailable — see reason |
reason | Why Compute is not active, in plain words, with what to do |
hypervisor.virt | kvm (hardware virtualization) or emulated (software emulation) |
pool | Where the disks live, and its free and total space |
counts | Machines, running machines, images |
warnings | For example software emulation, or a pool over 85 % or 95 % full |
The licence and your machines
- What a Compute licence includes. Virtual machines, with volumes, snapshots and backups, and the networking they need: private networks, anti-spoofing, the firewall, address translation, DHCP, DNS and bandwidth shaping. BGP, load balancing and overlays come with Fabric or the Suite (Licensing).
- Speed. Each plan has a speed ceiling per node, the same as Fabric's tiers: Core 10 Gbps, Cloud 25 Gbps, Enterprise 100 Gbps.
- An early-access licence issued before volumes, snapshots and backups came with Compute may not include them; the web console then says Storage is not in the plan. Ask us to reissue it.
- Creating, starting, stopping and deleting machines and images need a licence that includes Compute and is not frozen.
- Looking —
compute status,vm list,vm show,image list— and opening a machine's console always work, whatever the licence says. - Running machines keep running when a licence expires or is frozen, like the rest of Stratum: changes are frozen, workloads are not.
Next
- Images — register the image machines start from.
- Creating virtual machines — sizes, first boot, tenants.
- Firmware, resizing, interfaces and the guest agent — UEFI and TPM, changing a machine, the guest agent.
- Networks and public addresses — how a machine is connected.
- Consoles — the serial and graphical console.
- Lifecycle and restarts — what happens on stop, crash, reboot and update.
- Current limits — what early access does not do yet.