Cloud Servers

Cloud Servers are virtual machine instances.

Image

When a Cloud Server is created, an Image is chosen, the contents of which are copied to the Cloud Server local disk. An Image is typically a current version of a Linux distribution made available to customers by Brightbox, or a Snapshot of another Cloud Server created by the customer.

Server Type

Each Cloud Server has a Server Type which describes the specific amounts of RAM, CPU and local disk storage which should be allocated to it.

Resizing a Cloud Server

Cloud Servers created with a Server Type designated for use with Block Storage can be resized to a different Server Type at any time.

Billing

Cloud Server usage is billed by the hour according to the Server Type.

Billable States

Cloud Servers created with local storage Server Types are billable when in both active and inactive state. Billing stops when the server becomes deleted.

Cloud Servers created with Block Storage Server Types are only billable when in active state, so do not incur charges when shut down (Block Storage Volume usage is billed separately).

Networking

By default, each Cloud Server has a private IPv4 address and a block of IPv6 addresses. Additional public addresses can be added and removed to them using the Cloud IP functionality. More information can be found in the network reference.

Cloud Servers have a number of dns records associated with them.

Snapshots

Cloud Servers can be snapshotted which results in a new Image resource.

Automated Snapshots

Snapshots can be created manually at any time and also automatically by specifying an automated snapshot schedule.

The snapshot schedule enables an automated snapshot to be created each day, each week or each month at a specified time.

By default, new Cloud Servers do not have an automated snapshot schedule set.

Snapshot Retention Policy

The automated snapshot retention policy describes the maximum number of automated snapshots which should be kept. When the number of automated snapshots exceeds this number, the oldest snapshot will be deleted to maintain the specified retention count.

By default, the retention policy is to keep all automated snapshots i.e not to delete any automatically.

Firewalling

Access to and from Cloud Servers can be controlled using the Cloud Firewall.

Load Balancing

Cloud Servers can be added as backends to Load Balancers.

Locking

As with other Brightbox cloud resources, Cloud Servers support resource locking to prevent accidental deletion.