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Compute Guide

Compute Guide

A practical, step-by-step walkthrough to launch, configure, and manage virtual machine instances. This guide complements the overview at Compute.

1) Launch an Instance

  1. Open the dashboard and go to Menu → Compute → Virtual Machine → Create Instance.
Instance Create
  1. Enter a meaningful Name (e.g., app-web-01).
Instance Create

Select an Image

  • Choose the operating system image (e.g., Ubuntu).
  • Tip: Ubuntu images may require specific flavors; see "Flavor note" below.
Instance Create

Choose a Flavor

  • Pick a flavor (CPU/RAM/Disk) that fits your workload (e.g., m1.medium, m1.large, m1.xlarge).

Flavor note: When using certain Ubuntu images, only flavors containing m1.medium, m1.large, or m1.xlarge are accepted by the form. If the Launch button is disabled, try one of these flavors.

Instance Create

Optional: Attach a New Volume

  • Enable "Attach new volume" to create persistent storage.
  • Specify Volume name (optional) and Size in GB.
  • Learn more in Storage.
Instance Create

Optional: Enable SSH & Select Keypair

  • Critical: Keep in mind that SSH Keypair is needed to access the instance from another system (your pc etc.)

  • Enable "SSH access" to allow secure logins.

  • Select an existing keypair from the dropdown.

  • Important: SSH requires the instance to be Public. If SSH is enabled but the instance is not Public, the form will show an error.

  • The keypair needs to be created before selecting it, see the guide Creating a Keypair

Instance Create

Select Security Groups

  • Choose one or more security groups to control inbound/outbound traffic (e.g., allow TCP 22 for SSH, 80/443 for web).
  • Create groups and rules in Security Groups.
Instance Create

Select Network

  • Pick a private network for internal connectivity.
  • One default network is created for you for free but you can add more, see Networking.
Instance Create

Network Visibility (Public / Domain Name)

  • Toggle "Public" to make the instance reachable via a public route.
  • Optionally specify a Domain Name; otherwise, one will be generated with suffix .redu.cloud.
  • Public + SSH + Keypair allows SSH to the instance using a mapped port.
Instance Create

Important: If you want to use your own custom domain (for example, example.com) instead of a .redu.cloud domain, you must configure your DNS provider to point your domain to the Redu Cloud routing endpoint.

Once your DNS is configured, propagation may take up to 24 hours.

For provider-specific DNS setup guides:

Optional: Configuration Script (User Data)

  • Paste a cloud-init or shell script to run on first boot.
  • You can also upload from file (.yaml/.yml/.txt/.sh).

Example cloud-init:

#cloud-config
packages:
  - nginx
runcmd:
  - systemctl enable --now nginx
Instance Create

Launch

  • Review the Summary pane (hourly/monthly estimate, chosen image/flavor, security groups, etc.).
  • Click Launch. If the button is disabled, ensure all required fields are selected and any image/flavor constraints are met.

2) Manage Instances

After launch, go to Menu → Compute → Virtual Machine → Instances.

Instance Create

Actions in the next subsections are accessed by Actions menu in the instance row in the table

Make Public / Private

  • Make Public: assigns public reachability and sets up DNS records automatically.
  • Make Private: removes the public route and cleans up any related port mappings.

Manage DNS

  • Click Manage DNS on an instance to add or adjust domain entries used for routing.
  • When making public, a default domain like <instance-id>.redu.cloud may be created.

Delete Instance

  • Use the Delete action to remove an instance when no longer needed.

3) Connect via SSH

If you enabled SSH, selected a keypair, and made the instance public:

  1. Get the DNS label from the instance (e.g., host.redu.cloud).
  2. Use the generated port mapping to connect. An example command looks like:
ssh -p <mapped_port> ubuntu@<host_name>

The UI also provides a Copy SSH command from Instance Actions once the route is established.

Troubleshooting

  • Launch button disabled:
    • Ensure Name, Image, Flavor, at least one Security Group, and a Network are selected.
    • For Ubuntu images, choose a flavor containing m1.medium, m1.large, or m1.xlarge.
  • SSH option errors:
    • If "Enable SSH" is checked, you must select a keypair and set the instance to Public.
  • Volume creation:
    • If attaching a new volume, ensure the size is a positive integer and a sensible name is set.
  • Network not listed:

Related

Keypairs Guide