> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cloud.vessl.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Understand VM Clusters > Rent 8+ GPUs for multi-node training, with full root access, InfiniBand, and shared storage. **VM Clusters is in Beta.** It's ready for production pilots. For large or time-critical deployments, [talk to sales](https://vessl.ai/en/talk-to-sales?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=referral\&utm_campaign=vm_clusters_en\&utm_content=overview_beta). With **VM Clusters**, you rent a dedicated cluster of high-performance GPU nodes, each with 8 GPUs. GPUs from NVIDIA's Hopper to Blackwell generations (H100, H200, B200, B300) are available. [Talk to sales](https://vessl.ai/en/talk-to-sales?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=referral\&utm_campaign=vm_clusters_en\&utm_content=overview_other_gpus) to scope a cluster for your workload. VESSL Cloud manages the GPU supply and provisioning; you get **full root access** on every node, with no other customers sharing your hardware.
VM Clusters page listing clusters with their status, GPU, nodes, and contract dates Example: VM Clusters list with multiple lifecycle states
## Why VM Clusters * **Multi-node distributed training** — InfiniBand is provisioned by default, giving you high-bandwidth, low-latency RDMA networking between nodes for data- or model-parallel workloads. * **Full root control** — swap GPU drivers, load custom kernel modules, and configure the OS however you need. * **Near bare-metal GPU performance** — each VM gets its GPUs directly using GPU passthrough, keeping virtualization overhead minimal. * **Bring your own stack** — install Slurm, Kubernetes, security agents, or your own deployment scripts. Root access on every node. ## What you get | | | | ------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Form factor** | VM with directly attached GPUs (passthrough), not bare metal | | **GPU** | 8 per node | | **Cluster size** | Multi-node, each node with 8 GPUs, [scoped with sales](https://vessl.ai/en/talk-to-sales?utm_source=docs\&utm_medium=referral\&utm_campaign=vm_clusters_en\&utm_content=overview_cluster_size) for your workload | | **OS image** | Ubuntu 24.04 with CUDA preinstalled | | **Networking** | InfiniBand between nodes, a dedicated public IP per node | | **Boot disk** | 2 TiB per node | | **Storage** | Optional NFS shared storage, 1–200 TiB | | **Access** | Full root access on every node | | **Contract length** | Arranged with sales; billed for the full term, including reboots and unhealthy windows | **Boot disk data is not durable.** If a node is reprovisioned (for example, after a hardware failure), all data on its boot disk is lost. Keep training data, checkpoints, and any other important files on **NFS shared storage**, which is mounted across every node in the cluster. **Data is deleted at contract expiry.** Once a contract ends, all VMs are stopped and all associated data — including boot disks and NFS storage — is permanently deleted. There's no grace period. We send reminder emails before expiry so you can back up or [extend the contract](/vm-clusters/extend-contract) in time. ## Core features * **[NFS shared storage](/vm-clusters/nfs-storage)** — a shared filesystem mounted across all nodes in the cluster. * **[Firewall rules](/vm-clusters/firewall-rules)** — inbound access control for the whole cluster, managed by you. * **InfiniBand by default** — for node-to-node communication in multi-node training. A single-node cluster doesn't use InfiniBand; that node uses all of its resources exclusively. * **[Health checks](/vm-clusters/health-checks)** and **[Metrics](/vm-clusters/metrics)** — per-node health verdict with GPU, InfiniBand, and ECC checks, plus time-series charts for GPU and system metrics. Refreshed every minute. * **[Reboot](/vm-clusters/reboot)** — restart a VM yourself when you need to. ## Workspace vs VM Cluster If you only need a containerized environment for development or single-node work, a [workspace](/member/workspace/overview) is faster to start and cheaper. Choose a VM cluster when you need kernel or driver control, multi-node training with InfiniBand, or a reserved cluster. See [Workspace vs VM Cluster](/vm-clusters/vs-workspace) for a full comparison. VM Clusters is an Organization-level resource, managed by **Admin** members. Tell us what you need and we'll scope and provision it.