---
title: "Launching NetMRI VM Instance"
canonical: "https://docs.infoblox.com/space/OCDeployGuide/142902290/Launching%20NetMRI%20VM%20Instance"
format: markdown
---
Prerequisites:

- Prepared NetMRI VM configuration file or text in the YAML format.

To launch a NetMRI VM instance:

1. Log in to the OpenStack dashboard.
2. Select the appropriate project.
3. On the **Project** tab, go to **Compute** > **Instances**.
4. Select the required NetMRI instance.
5. Click **Launch Instance**.
6. On the** Details** tab, specify the following:
  - **Availability Zone**: By default, this value is set to the availability zone given by the cloud provider (for example, **us-west** or** apac-south**). In some cases, it could be **nova**.
  - **Instance Name**: A name for the NetMRI VM.
  - **Flavor**: Select the required flavor.
  - **Instance Count**: Set to one. You can launch a number of NetMRI VM instances from the image that you created. However, in this case, cloud-init configures all of them with the same IP address. You can create a custom script to set different IP addresses.
  - **Instance Boot Source**: Select **Boot from image**.
  - **Image Name**: Select the NetMRI image that you created earlier.
7. On the **Networking** tab, select the networks to add to the instance. Click the plus sign in the **Available networks** field.
8. On the **Post-Creation** tab, do one of the following for **Customization Script Source**:
  - Select **Direct input** and insert the contents of your **VM** configuration file in the **Script Data** field.
  - Select **File** and browse for your VM configuration file.
9. If you want to use the Configuration Drive to pass the previously specified configuration file to the VM, click the **Advanced Options** tab and select **Configuration Drive**.
10. Click **Launch**.

Once the instance is launched, right-click it in the instances table and select **Open Link in New Tab**. In the new **Instance Details** tab, use the **Log** tab to see the progress of the NetMRI VM automatic configuration. Use the **Console** tab to work with the NetMRI VM.

> ⚠️ **Note**
> ⚠️ 
> ⚠️ It may takes up to 10 minutes for cloud-init to perform the configuration.