Getting started with virtual servers
You can deploy IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers in a matter of minutes. The virtual servers are deployed from your choice of virtual server images and in the geographic region that makes sense for your workloads.
A newer version is available. Try our Virtual Servers for VPC. For more information, see Virtual Private Cloud.
When you create a virtual server in the classic infrastructure, you can choose between a public (multi-tenancy) environment or a dedicated (single-tenancy) environment. Then, depending on the chosen environment, you must also select hourly, monthly, or transient virtual servers. With public virtual servers, you can also choose to use either SAN-based storage or local storage.
Before you begin
Before you begin, review the following prerequisites.
- You must have an upgraded account to order virtual servers. This process can take some time and requires your request to be approved before you can continue. For more information about upgrading your account, see Account types.
- Review and choose your deployment options. For more information, see the following topics:
| Deployment options | Description |
|---|---|
| Public virtual server | IBM-managed, multi-tenancy virtual server deployments |
| Transient virtual server | IBM-managed, multi-tenancy virtual server deployments are offered at a reduced cost and best suited for flexible workloads |
| Reserved virtual server | IBM-managed, multi-tenancy virtual server deployments with guaranteed capacity for a contract term |
| Dedicated virtual server | IBM-managed, single-tenancy virtual server deployments |
IBM Cloud® Virtual Servers are powered by Citrix Hypervisor. As with most hypervisors, guest additions help maintain a properly working computing environment. IBM Cloud® uses the information from guest additions to make informed decisions about routine server maintenance. Without the required guest additions, your virtual servers might miss critical maintenance updates. So, don't disable or remove any default guest additions. If you are brining your own image to, you need to install the associated guest images. For more information about installing guest additions, see Preparing and importing images.
Provisioning a virtual server
After you decide upon a deployment option, begin the provisioning process.
| Provisioning instructions | Description |
|---|---|
| Provisioning public instances | Provision public instances with various options |
| Provisioning transient instances | Provision transient instances with various options |
| Provisioning reserved capacity and instances | Provision reserved capacity and instances with various options |
| Provisioning dedicated hosts and instances | Provision private instances or dedicated instances on dedicated hosts |
Next steps
After your virtual server is provisioned and available to use, you can configure your virtual servers by using the IBM Cloud console. For more information, see Configuring virtual servers.