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A practical FAQ for running workloads on Compute with Hivenet. It covers billing, instances, templates, networking, and inference. If you’re new, start here. If you’re stuck, jump to Troubleshooting at the end.

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Billing and pricing

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How does billing work?

Compute uses pre‑paid credits (in euros) with per‑second billing. You add credits first, then start instances. Your balance decreases while instances run.

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What’s the minimum balance to start an instance?

Have at least one hour of credit for your chosen configuration. If your balance is lower, add funds or select a smaller instance.

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Are there hidden fees?

Storage attached to your on-demand instance and network traffic are included in the instance price. Hivenet Object Storage is a separate service with its own storage charges.
Auto top‑up is available after your first purchase. Set a threshold and amount so your balance refills before it hits zero.

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What happens if I run out of credits?

As the organization balance runs low, Compute instances may stop or be terminated. Top up ahead of time or enable auto top-up. Running Inference Service endpoints with a nonzero effective cost stop at zero credits; fully discounted endpoints with an effective cost of €0 are not stopped solely for that reason. See Billing information.

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How is storage billed?

For on-demand instances, the included local disk is NVMe SSD storage. Hivenet Object Storage is separate: self-service usage draws from the shared prepaid balance, while customers with an invoicing agreement receive monthly invoices. See Billing information.

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Where can I find invoices and payment history?

Invoices and transaction history are available via Stripe. You can access your billing records from the Billing tab in the console.

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Instances and lifecycle

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Are Compute instances containers or virtual machines?

You can choose. Compute instances are not limited to a single runtime type. Depending on your setup, an instance can run as a container or as a virtual machine. Containers cover most workflows like running scripts, apps, and models. Virtual machines are available for use cases that require full OS-level control, kernel access, or custom images.

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Can I stop and start an instance later?

Yes. You can stop an instance and start it again without losing your environment. Your files, packages, and configuration remain intact. Stopping releases the underlying capacity back to the pool. When you start again, availability depends on demand, and you may be placed on different hardware.
Important: Stopped instances are not kept indefinitely.
If an instance remains stopped for more than 10 days, it is automatically terminated. A terminated instance cannot be restarted. Disk recovery through Support may be possible from an available backup, but is not guaranteed.
Stop/Start currently has no extra fee. This may change; always check the latest pricing.

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Do I keep the same GPU when I stop and start?

No. Stop/Start preserves your environment, but it doesn’t reserve the underlying GPU. When you start again, Compute allocates whatever matching capacity is available in that region. If nothing matches, you’ll be asked to try again later.

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What happens to errored instances?

Compute retries failed starts a limited number of times. If the instance reaches an error state, use the retry action when the console offers it. If it keeps failing, contact Support with the instance ID, error, and approximate time. Do not use an errored instance as a backup; download important files when access is available. If you’re not sure why the instance failed, check the instance logs in the app. They usually give enough context to understand what went wrong or what to try next.

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Is there a time limit on how long an instance can run?

There’s no fixed time limit. An instance can run as long as it stays healthy and your balance covers the runtime. In rare cases, we may need to schedule maintenance that requires a restart.

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Do my files persist when stopped?

Yes. Your environment is preserved when you stop an instance. Termination (manual or due to low balance) ends the session; use a template or image to recreate your setup quickly.

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What operating systems and images are available?

For container-based instances, choose from the templates currently shown in the console, or use a custom template. The former self-managed vLLM product flow has been retired. For managed model serving, use Hivenet Inference Service. For virtual machine instances, you can choose a full operating system image such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, or AlmaLinux 10. AlmaLinux 10 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS are available for CPU and GPU VMs. Updated Fedora GPU VM images retain the NVIDIA driver during a normal dnf upgrade. Updated Ubuntu GPU images hold NVIDIA driver packages during apt upgrade.

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What are custom templates?

A custom template saves your configured environment (OS, packages, dependencies, and settings) so you can relaunch the same stack quickly. It’s ideal for repeatable experiments or team workflows.

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Inference and APIs

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Can I read instance usage metrics?

Use GET /instances/{id}/metrics with a Compute API key. The console metrics view is not available in this release.

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Do you support an OpenAI‑compatible API?

Yes. Hivenet Inference Service provides managed, OpenAI-compatible endpoints. Use the endpoint URL, model name, and API key for Inference Service from your deployment’s connection details.

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Can I tune inference settings?

Choose a model and serving variant for your workload, then set its fixed replica count. Available settings depend on the model and variant. See Models and variants and Call your endpoint.

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Networking and access

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How do I expose my service?

Enable the required HTTPS, TCP, or UDP connection option when creating your instance, then use the address in its connection details. Managed Inference Service deployments have their own endpoint URLs.

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Can I use SSH?

Yes. Wait for Running, which means the instance has responded over SSH, then use the username and SSH command shown in its connection details. An application inside the instance may still be starting. See SSH configuration and host verification.

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Providers, regions, and reliability

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What provider options are available?

Hive‑Certified providers are available now, offering dedicated hardware and a 99.9% uptime SLA. A broader Spot Providers tier for cost‑sensitive use cases is planned.

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How does Compute with Hivenet operate?

Hivenet runs on a distributed cloud backed by real devices and certified providers, rather than traditional centralized data centers. This design aims for efficiency and resilience.

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Security and data

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What are Hivenet‑Certified providers?

Hivenet‑Certified providers are audited hosts that run dedicated machines in controlled locations and agree to our security, privacy, and uptime standards (including a 99.9% uptime SLA).

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How are my workloads isolated from others?

Each instance runs in its own isolated environment with dedicated GPU and storage on the selected host. Certified providers operate single‑tenant machines per customer session to reduce cross‑tenant risk.

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Can a host or provider inspect my data?

No. Certified providers are contractually prohibited from inspecting user data or workload content. Operational telemetry (like health metrics) may be collected for reliability, but hosts can’t read your files, prompts, or model outputs.

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Do you encrypt data in transit and at rest?

  • In transit: Public endpoints (e.g., inference over HTTPS) enforce TLS. Use HTTPS clients by default.
  • At rest: Storage lives on NVMe disks attached to the host. If you need strong, documented guarantees, use application‑level encryption or self‑encrypting volumes and contact support for current provider‑level controls and attestations.
Never store long‑lived secrets unencrypted on disk. Prefer environment variables, short‑lived tokens, or a secrets manager you control.

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How should I handle secrets (API keys, tokens) on instances?

Use environment variables or mounted files with restricted permissions, rotate keys regularly, and avoid committing secrets to images or templates. For team workflows, script secret injection at start‑up rather than baking credentials into templates.

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Do you log or store prompts/model inputs by default?

Compute records VM serial-console output, which Support can review for boot and crash troubleshooting. Data your software writes to that console can therefore appear in support diagnostics. Avoid writing secrets or sensitive payloads there, and contact Support if you need details about log access or retention.

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Can my data stay in a specific country or region (e.g., EU)?

Yes. Pick a region when launching. Runs and attached storage remain in that region. For compliance reviews, document your chosen region(s) in your internal data maps.

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What security documentation can you share (e.g., GDPR posture, audits)?

We can provide current security and privacy docs on request. If you require formal certifications or DPAs, contact support, and we’ll share what’s available under the appropriate terms.

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What happens to my data after termination—any data remanence guarantees?

Terminating an instance deletes it and its local data, but a disk backup may remain available for Support-assisted file recovery. Termination is not a guarantee of immediate backup erasure. Contact Support for current backup retention and deletion details. For sensitive projects, use encryption you control and revoke credentials when they are no longer needed.

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How do I report a security issue or incident?

Click on Chat with us in your dashboard or email support@hivenet.com with “Security” in the subject. Include affected instance IDs, region, timestamps (UTC), and a short description. For urgent outages, also post in the community channel for faster visibility.
  • Choose a Hivenet‑Certified provider and select the correct region (e.g., EU) before launch.
  • Expose only what you need: prefer HTTPS; close unused TCP/UDP ports.
  • Use SSH keys (no passwords), rotate keys regularly, and restrict user access.
  • Treat disks as untrusted: use application‑level encryption for sensitive data.
  • Inject secrets at start‑up (env vars or mounted files with tight permissions); don’t bake them into templates.
  • Keep logs minimal and ship them to your own system (SIEM, object storage) with retention controls.
  • Enable auto top‑up to prevent balance‑related termination during critical runs.
  • On teardown, revoke tokens/keys and remove any temporary credentials.

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GPUs and performance

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Which GPUs can I rent?

Compute currently offers NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU instances. Each RTX 5090 provides 32 GB of GDDR7 VRAM. Multi-GPU configurations are available when capacity allows. The RTX 4090 fleet has been retired and is no longer available for new Compute workloads. Availability and preset specifications can vary by location, so check the creation screen for the GPU count, vCPU, RAM, disk, bandwidth, and price you can launch now. See GPU types and sizes for more guidance.

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Where can I find GPU performance comparisons?

Our older benchmark articles include results from hardware that was available when the tests were run, including RTX 4090 systems. Keep the publication date and tested configuration in mind when using those results to compare performance. For current workload planning, use the hardware and pricing shown in the Compute console.

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Support

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Where can I get help?

Join our Discord community or contact support from the console. For pricing or account issues, use the Billing tab.

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Troubleshooting

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My instance was terminated unexpectedly

Check the organization balance and whether the instance had been stopped for more than 10 days. If neither explains the termination, contact Support with the instance ID and approximate time. Cleanup protections do not replace backups or change the documented retention limits.

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I can’t connect to my inference server

Make sure networking is enabled and the correct protocol (HTTPS/TCP/UDP) is open. Confirm the endpoint URL, your API key or headers, and that your balance is sufficient.

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SSH fails to connect

Confirm the instance is Running, copy its current SSH hostname and username from the console, use the matching private key, and check that your network allows outbound port 22. Verify host-identity warnings before accepting a changed identity.

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See also

Feedback
Did we miss something? Use the Suggest edits button in the docs or ping us on Discord. We review FAQ suggestions regularly.