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This guide takes you from sign-in to a running Compute instance. You’ll confirm the organization you’re using, choose the resources and connection options, review the estimated cost, and connect when the instance is ready.

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What you’ll need

  • A Compute account
  • Access to a Compute organization
  • Enough credits in the organization balance
  • An SSH public key if you plan to connect over SSH
Only the organization Owner can add credits. Admins and Members should ask the Owner if the balance is too low to create an instance.
1

Sign in and confirm your organization

  1. Open the Compute console.
  2. Sign in to your Compute account.
  3. Check the organization shown in the upper-left corner.
Instances you create use that organization’s balance and permissions. If you belong to a shared organization, your role also determines which instances and billing information you can see.
Read How organizations work in Compute if you’re unsure what the Owner, Admin, and Member roles can do.
2

Choose what to create

  1. Select Create from the left sidebar.
  2. Choose a Container or Virtual machine.
Containers are suited to prepared images and application workloads. Virtual machines provide a full operating system when you need more control.See Choosing between a virtual machine and a container for a fuller comparison.
3

Choose a location and setup

  1. Select an available location.
  2. Choose GPU or vCPU only.
  3. Select the resource profile and size that fit your workload.
The console shows the hardware, memory, disk, bandwidth, and active price for each available option. Sold-out configurations cannot be selected.
4

Choose your software environment

For a container, select an available template or create a custom one. For a virtual machine, select the operating-system image you want to use.Templates can include an operating system, drivers, libraries, and application tooling. Review the software details before continuing.
5

Set up your connection

Choose how you’ll reach the instance:
  • SSH: Use the public key saved to your Compute account, or edit it before creation.
  • HTTPS: Enable secure browser or API access when your workload needs a public HTTPS endpoint.
  • TCP or UDP: Enable the protocol when your application requires it.
  • Jupyter Notebook: Enable it when the option is available and you want browser-based notebook access.
Review connection options carefully. Some settings cannot be changed after the instance is created.
6

Name and review the instance

  1. Enter a name using the characters allowed by the console.
  2. Review the location, hardware, template or OS, connection settings, and estimated cost.
  3. Confirm that the organization balance can cover the instance.
If the console reports that more credits are needed, the Owner must add them before creation can continue.
7

Create and wait for Running

Select the creation button shown for your resource type. The new instance appears under Instances while Compute prepares it.Charging begins when the instance reaches Running. The preparation stage can take a few minutes.
8

Connect to the instance

Open the running instance and find its connection details.For SSH, copy the command shown by the console and run it in your terminal. A typical command looks like this:
Use the private key that matches the public key supplied during creation. If you enabled Jupyter Notebook or a public endpoint, use the link shown in the instance’s connectivity details.
9

Stop or terminate when you’re done

  • Stop the instance when you want to pause compute usage and continue later.
  • Terminate it when you no longer need the instance or its local data.
Termination permanently deletes the instance and its local data. Download anything important first.

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Troubleshooting

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The creation button is unavailable

Check the warning in the review section. The organization may need more credits, or a required configuration may be incomplete. Only the Owner can add credits.

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SSH returns Permission denied (publickey)

Make sure that:
  • The instance was created with the correct public key.
  • Your SSH command uses the matching private key.
  • The private-key file has restricted permissions where required.
  • You are using the username shown for the selected template or OS.
See the SSH-key guides for Linux, macOS, or Windows.

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You cannot reach an application or notebook

Confirm that the relevant HTTPS, TCP, UDP, or Jupyter option was enabled during creation. Then check the instance’s connectivity details and any firewall rules used by your application.

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Next steps