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Create a pod

Walk-through of the Create Pod page at lium.io. You land here when you click RENT NOW on a row in Browse Pods.

Create Pod page top — pod name, machine card, template, SSH key

Don't put secrets on a non-CVM pod

The page itself reminds you: "Do not upload private keys, seed phrases, API keys, or other secret files to a rented pod. The GPU provider may have access to the pod environment."

If you must run sensitive workloads, filter for Confidential Computing machines on Browse Pods. Full model: Pod security and CVM guide.

The fields, top to bottom​

Pod Name​

Auto-generated like Proud Machine Cloud. Click and rename to anything you'll recognize in the Your Pods list later.

Template​

The Docker image your container is built from. The default is the most-used template for the chosen GPU (Pytorch (Cuda) - daturaai/pytorch for most NVIDIA cards), pre-cached on the host so deploys finish in ~1 minute.

  • Click the × on the template card to swap. The picker drawer marks the host's canonical image with a blue Fast deploy badge and shows a green Previously used badge on templates you've deployed before.
  • After picking, watch the right-hand summary's Est. Deploy Time row. A small cached badge there means the image is on this specific node right now (deploy in seconds); no badge means a pull is needed (1–10 min).
  • Need something specific (vLLM, SD-WebUI, your own image)? See Templates for picking and creating one.

SSH Key​

The chips show which keys will be installed in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the pod. The dropdown picks from existing keys; Add an SSH Key opens an inline form to paste a new public key — same as Access → SSH Keys.

You need at least one SSH key to reach the pod.

Volume​

Optional. Mount an external Volume at /mnt so data survives pod termination. One volume per pod at a time.

If you don't attach a volume, anything outside the pod's local mount (/root) is gone when the pod is deleted.

Initial Port Count​

How many TCP ports to forward from the host. Each pod gets a port range; one is used for SSH, the rest are free for your services (Jupyter, vLLM, etc.). The right side shows the host's max — click Max to grab them all.

Auto-Termination (Optional)​

Type a number of hours and the pod will be deleted automatically when it elapses. Cheap insurance against forgetting. You can also set this later — see Scheduled termination.

Install Jupyter​

Tick the box and the pod's startup script installs JupyterLab and exposes it on a forwarded port. The pod detail page will show the URL.

Restore (optional)​

Bring a backup into the new pod's filesystem on first boot.

  • Volume path is fixed to /root — the local volume mount where your backup will be extracted.
  • Click Select a Backup to pick one of your existing archives, or tick Enter backup ID directly to paste a UUID.

Full details and path rules: Restores.

# of GPUs (when GPU splitting is on)​

If the host supports GPU splitting, a count selector appears. The provider sets a minimum (e.g. 2 of 8); you can pick any count between that minimum and the host's total.

CPU, memory, and storage are sliced proportionally to the GPU count you take:

cpu       = total_cpu      × rented_gpu_count / total_gpu_count
memory_gb = (total_mem_gb - 2) × rented_gpu_count / total_gpu_count
disk      = free_disk      × rented_gpu_count / total_gpu_count
volume_limit  = int(disk × 2 / 3)
storage_limit = int(disk × 1 / 3)

Advanced — Skip agent SSH key​

The platform installs a small agent key alongside yours. It powers the web terminal and pod-health checks. Untick Skip agent SSH key to remove it — you'll lose the web terminal and we can't tell the GPU provider if SSH breaks. Default: leave it on.

Right-hand summary​

The summary panel mirrors your selections — CPU, memory, hard disk, network, estimated deploy time, location, max CUDA driver, GPU cost per hour, GPU count, Total cost / hour. Only the Total cost number includes splitting; verify before you click Deploy.

Right-hand summary panel with Deploy button

After deploying​

Click Deploy, and the pod appears in Your Pods with status PROVISIONING then RUNNING. From there:

  • Copy the SSH command from the SSH CONNECTION strip on the pod detail page.
  • Connect Discord and request a private provider support channel if you need help with the running pod — see Discord support.
  • Set up automated Backups.
  • Schedule termination if you forgot during creation.

If a pod ever shows a red BROKEN status, the provider force-closed it — you're credited and it can only be deleted. See Broken pods.