Creating a server

This page walks you through the process of creating a Gandi Cloud server.

If this is your first server and you do not yet have a Gandi Credit balance, you may be prompted to buy a credit pack to finish creating the server.

The physical configuration of your server is very flexible. Choose how much processor power (CPU) you want, how much memory (RAM), whether you want more than one IPv4 network interface (maximum of 4), and finally how much storage space you need.

You can create up to 8 discs. The total capacity of your server and upper limit on each disc is a maximum of 1TB (1,000Gb). Of course, you can create more discs later and attach them to your server, but you must respect these limits.

Each resource costs a certain number of credits per hour. By changing your configuration, you will find that you change the total cost of operation, which is at the bottom of page ( 219/ hour in our example above). There is also a monthly rate, displayed in the selected currency (€, $, or £). The actual cost may vary depending on two factors: your discount level and how you buy the credits. For more information about this, see the section Gandi hourly payment system” on this wiki.

You will notice that there are volume-based limits to cost of resources. For example, processors will cost 78 /h if you have just one. But if you take two, they will cost you no more than 75 /h each. This also applies to memory and disk space.

Once satisfied with your hardware configuration, you can click validate to move to the next step.

If this is your first server, unless you are using “on-demand” payments to buy credit from your pre-paid account, you will be placed at the credit pack payment step. Otherwise you will go directly to configuration.

The software configuration screen allows you to define what type of system you want, what to call your disks, name your server, and to define the admin access you will use.

First, you have to choose between a “classic ” mode server and Gandi AI. With classic mode, you have root access, while with Gandi AI you are an administrator with limited access to install pre-packed applications as prepared by Gandi. For more information on Gandi AI, please visit this page.

Next, you will choose the type of image to use to create your system. The Gandi image type is the default, and the most common.

You will next select the operating system you prefer from a list of about 40 OS (Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc.).

You must then choose a name for your server, and the data disk (or disks), if any. By default, we will propose a generic name for each, but you cannot validate the configuration with a disk name that you already use, so be sure it is unique.

As a security measure, you can not connect to your server via SSH directly using the root login. This avoids the common “brute-force” password guessing type of attack. This restriction means that you must choose a username for the administrative account which can connect via SSH. To log in as root, you must first connect via the administrative account and then do a “sudo” using the same account password.

In addition to a password, we give you the opportunity to identify your administrative user with an SSH key. This type of key has a very good level of security and allows you to log in quickly, once you set it up. However, to use it you will need to maintain the key, always using the same computer to log in, for example, or use portable media containing your private key to move between stations.

Once you have validated your confirmation, you will need to wait about 10 minutes. When this is over, you may access your server.

For more information concerning the management of your server, please have a look at our server management guide.