Set up a host
Join a dedicated server to the panel as a KVM host, add its IP addresses and watch its room.
A host is a dedicated server that runs VPSs. It needs nothing but a fresh system: the join command installs the hypervisor, makes the network bridge and connects the server to this panel.
Where: HF Cloud (https://cld.yourdomain.com) › Hosts
What the server needs
- Ubuntu 22.04 to 26.04, Debian 12 or 13, or AlmaLinux or Rocky Linux 9 or 10, freshly installed.
- A processor with hardware virtualisation (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) switched on.
- The same processor type as this panel's server (both x86-64 or both ARM64).
- Root access over SSH.
Add a host
- Click Create on the Add a host card.
- Type a Name (up to 40 characters, for example
host-1), and optionally its Location and Provider. Customers can be placed by location. - Click Add a host. The Join command opens.
- Click Copy, sign in to the dedicated server as root and paste the command.
The command works once, for 24 hours. A host that has not joined yet shows Waiting to join; its Join command button makes a new command.
Important: the command moves the server's main network card into a bridge. If the server cannot reach its gateway and this panel afterwards, the old network comes back by itself after 3 minutes. Run it from a console you can get back to (your provider's rescue or KVM console) the first time.
When the join finishes, the host shows Online with its threads, memory and disk.
Add its IP addresses
VPSs need public addresses. Under IP pools, click Create on the New pool card and choose the Kind:
| Kind | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Extra IPs with a virtual MAC | Single extra IPv4 addresses from your provider, each with its own virtual MAC address. Add the addresses as IP MAC lines. The Gateway is the host's own gateway. |
| Bridged network | A network on the host's own network segment: a routed subnet for IPv4, or the host's IPv6 /64. Enter the Network with its prefix length, for example 2001:db8:304:200::/64. IPv6 addresses are given out of it by themselves. |
| Routed IPs | Single IPv4 addresses your provider routes to the host without virtual MACs. Add one IP per line. |
Choose the Host the addresses belong to, or Any host for addresses every host can use. Then click
Addresses on the pool's row to add them: one per line, 203.0.113.40 02:00:00:aa:bb:01 for extra IPs with a
virtual MAC, 203.0.113.40 for routed IPs. A free address can be removed there; one in use cannot.
Watch a host's room
Each host card shows:
| Line | What it means |
|---|---|
| Memory given to VPSs | Memory of its VPSs out of the host's memory, less what is kept for the host itself. |
| Disk given to VPSs | The same for disk. |
| VPSs, free IPs, CPU | How many VPSs run there, free IPv4 addresses it can use, and its processor load now. |
A host that takes new VPSs and has fewer than three free IPv4 addresses shows a notice: order more addresses from your provider and add them to a pool.
Change a host
- Edit: its name, location and provider, the Memory kept for the host, MB (2048 by default), the Disk kept for the host, GB (50) and the vCPUs per CPU thread (4: how many vCPUs share one thread).
- Refresh: ask the host for its size and load now (otherwise every 5 minutes).
- Stop new VPSs here / Take new VPSs here: keep the host out of automatic placement, for example before maintenance. Its VPSs keep running.
- Remove: only a host with no VPSs.