# Creating an HVM cluster

## About this task

An HVM cluster is the basic unit of management in VM Essentials, you need to create a cluster even if you are only using one HVM host for testing or for edge data centers. A cluster is a construct that allows you to access the advanced functionality of the solution.

Once the VM Essentials manager is configured, you are ready to create your HVM cluster.

## Procedure

1. Go to Infrastructure > Clusters and click + Add Cluster.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-635E364E-0361-4187-B38C-3BB225FB2A52-high.png)
2. Select HVM as the cluster type and click Next.
3. Select the Group the cluster will belong to.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-08F032FA-0C99-403B-A449-015FFA0EBE42-high.png)
4. Give your cluster a name and, optionally, enter a description and any label to identify it.

   NOTE

   Only fields with a green mark on the left are mandatory.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-DA2D5AF6-F53D-40E6-8A86-46279D6168F3-high.png)
5. Fill in the required fields.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-E3FD5376-D7FC-464D-A9CB-1F97C67AFAC2-high.png)

   - Leave the layout at the default HVM 1.2 Cluster on HVM/Ubuntu 24.04.
   - For SSH Hosts, click the + sign on the right to add as many hosts as you need. Enter a name for each host and its management IP address. The exact name entered here is not vital as it's simply an identifier for that specific host within the user interface. It could be the hostname or some other identifier specific to that host.
   - Enter an SSH Username and SSH Password. This is a set of credentials for an admin user account configured on each host.
6. Enter the network interfaces in the designated fields.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-2A624E8E-455B-4D54-BBAA-CB64148CC176-high.png)

   - Management net interface: Enter the tagged bond you created for host management.
   - Compute net interface: To route virtual machine traffic using different VLANs through the same ports your management network uses, enter the untagged bond you created.
   - Compute VLANs: Enter any VLANs you need, the respective Portgroups will be created.

     NOTE

     - You can obtain the interface names from the host's CLI using the command: `ip address show`.
     - Selecting the bond with NO TAGGING is crucial for the virtual switch to allow VLANs to flow through.
7. You can safely leave all the remaining settings by default. Here is a short description.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-650C4EE6-B51F-41A1-A6AC-F5D1966475AC-high.png)

   - CPU Type: Only x86\_64 is supported.
   - CPU Model: This setting will define the CPU used for virtual machines, you should leave it as “host-passthrough” unless your cluster nodes have different CPU families each.
   - Dynamic placement: If enabled, the cluster will balance the load automatically by live migrating virtual machines between nodes.
   - Power policy: Defines if the hosts will optimize for performance or for power consumption.
8. Click Next and then Complete.

   You are taken back to the cluster screen where you’ll see your cluster name and an icon showing the cluster is being created.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-1DE897F2-CDC9-451B-A0D7-2BB31D6A8D5C-high.png)
9. To follow up on the creation process, click on the cluster name and then go to the History tab. When the Provision and the Post-Provision activities finish with a green check mark, your cluster is ready to run virtual machines.

   ![VM Essentials manager initial setup](https://support.hpe.com/hpesc/public/api/document/sd00007332en_us/GUID-A7CA7ED2-30EC-49B3-8147-8E05C2A219DF-high.png)