ibmvm

A simple CLI for managing IBM Cloud VPC virtual machines.

Prerequisites

• IBM Cloud CLI with the VPC plugin (ibmcloud plugin install vpc-infrastructure)
• jq
• An IBM Cloud account

Setup

Run once to configure your region, resource group, VPC, subnet, and SSH key:

./ibmvm setup

Usage

ibmvm start   <name>    Start a VM (creates it if it doesn't exist)
ibmvm ssh     <name>    SSH in (starts if stopped, prompts to allow your IP if needed)
ibmvm stop    <name>    Stop a running VM
ibmvm rm      <name>    Remove a VM and its floating IP
ibmvm rm      --all     Remove all ibmvm-* VMs (optionally tears down infra)
ibmvm list              List all VMs
ibmvm status  <name>    Show VM details
ibmvm create  <name>    Explicitly create a VM
ibmvm info              Show configured infrastructure and create defaults

VM names are automatically prefixed with ibmvm- — so ibmvm start myvm creates ibmvm-myvm.

Access control

SSH access is managed through a dedicated ibmvm-access security group. Only IPs you explicitly allow can reach your VMs on port 22.

ibmvm access list           Show currently allowed IPs and when they were added
ibmvm access allow          Allow your current public IP
ibmvm access allow 1.2.3.4  Allow a specific IP
ibmvm access deny           Remove your current public IP
ibmvm access deny --all     Lock down (remove all SSH access rules)

ibmvm ssh checks whether your current public IP is allowed and prompts to add it if not. Both IPv4 and IPv6 are supported. Use ibmvm access deny --all when you're done to close the door.

Options

--profile <name>    VM profile for create (default set during setup, e.g. bx2-2x8)
--image   <name>    Image name or pattern for create, e.g. ubuntu-24 (overrides setup default)

Examples

ibmvm setup                              # first-time setup
ibmvm ssh myvm                           # SSH in (auto-allows your IP, creates VM if needed)
ibmvm ssh ubuntu@myvm                    # SSH as a specific user
ibmvm ssh myvm -- -L 8080:localhost:8080 # SSH with port forwarding
ibmvm create myvm --profile cx2-8x16    # create with a specific profile
ibmvm access deny --all                  # lock down when done
ibmvm rm --all                           # remove all VMs

Config

Settings are stored per IBM Cloud account in ~/.ibmvm/config.<account-id>, managed by ibmvm setup.

Run ibmvm info to see the active region, VPC, subnet, SSH key, access security group, and the profile and image that new VMs will use.