Every satellite and ground station carries one required type key — the single switch that decides how VSNES creates it, reaches it, and tears it down. There is no back-compat with older isVM/is_external_vm/is_docker flags; a config using them is rejected at load-config with a clear per-node error.

type	Lifecycle	Reached via
vm	Internal libvirt VM: cloned from clone_VM.name_VM with virt-clone (machine-id reset before first boot so DHCP leases don’t collide), started/resumed with virsh	SSH, for configuration only
vm_external	Never created/destroyed by VSNES — must already be running	SSH; init fails fast (~seconds, not a blind multi-minute retry) if unreachable
container	Local Docker container: VSNES generates docker-compose.yml and brings up exactly the missing services (--no-recreate --no-build — a live cluster inside is never disturbed)	docker exec
container_external	A container on another host — never created/removed by VSNES	validated over the network like vm_external

Required keys per type:

• ip_ext: required for every type except vm (internal VMs get their address from virsh domifaddr).
• clone_VM.name_VM: required only for type = 'vm' — the base libvirt domain to clone.
• interface: always required — the node’s NIC (eth0 for containers, the VM’s real NIC name, e.g. enp1s0, for VMs).

Mixed scenarios are supported (e.g. a container constellation with one vm_external ground station) — VSNES configures each node type appropriately in the same run, including data-plane shaping (netem) across both the Docker/IFB path and the classic VLAN+vxlan path.