DreamCompute Getting Started

These instructions will guide you in getting started with DreamCompute. It will explain how to setup your account, create your first instance, and connect to it.

Quick Start
The first time you log in to DreamCompute, you will see that we've preconfigured a few important items for you, including:
 * A private IPv4 network block of 10.10.10.0/24
 * An IPv6 network.
 * A default security group permitting SSH, HTTP, HTTPS and ping traffic.
 * A floating IPv4 address so you can connect to your instance.

SSH Keys
Password authentication is not enabled when you launch a new DreamCompute instance. Instead, you must connect to your instance using SSH keys. The SSH key is written to the instance on first launch, so you can't skip this step if you want to log in to it!


 * If you don't already have an SSH key, follow these instructions to create one.
 * In the DreamCompute Dashboard, go to Access & Security and then the Keypairs tab.
 * Click the Import Keypair button towards the top-right of the page.
 * Give the keypair a name and copy the contents of your public key (the one that ends in ".pub") into the field.



Launch an Instance
Now you're ready to launch your first instance! Navigate to the Instances section and click the Launch Instance button in the upper-right of the screen. There are 3 sections you need to configure, Details, Access & Security, and Networking.

Details
From hardware specs, ephemeral or persistent storage, to networking, you have many options when launching a DreamCompute instance. To learn more about the different options, visit the wiki page on Instance details.


 * Want to launch an instance from the command line? No problem, follow these instructions.


 * Availability Zone
 * The availability zone in which your instance will be launched.


 * Instance Name
 * Give your instance a name.


 * Flavor
 * The virtual hardware spec of your instance.


 * Instance Count
 * The number of instances to launch - we'll start with one.


 * Instance Boot Source
 * How your instance will boot. We'll use Boot from an image (creates a new persistent volume).


 * Image Name
 * The OS for your instance, choose your favorite.


 * Device size (GB)
 * The size of the volume. This defaults to 10GB but feel free to make it larger.


 * Device Name
 * Defaults to vda and we'll use that default.


 * Delete on Terminate
 * Check to have the volume deleted when terminating the instance, leave unchecked to keep it around.


 * [[File:DreamCompute-volume-boot.png]]

Access & Security
Make sure to select the name of the keypair that you created earlier. Also ensure that the default security group is checked. Don't worry about the Admin Pass fields, those don't do anything.


 * [[File:DreamCompute-instance-access.png]]

Networking
Either drag the private-network into the selected networks section or click the plus button in the bottom-right to select it.


 * [[File:DreamCompute-instance-network.png]]

Now click Launch in the bottom-left to launch your instance.

Associate a Floating IP
Once your instance is finished booting, you'll see it in the Active state of the Instances section. It has a private IPv4 address and a publicly routable IPv6 address. If you don't have IPv6 (find out at test-ipv6), then you'll need to associate a public IP address to your instance. This public IP address is called a Floating IP in DreamCompute.

From the More drop-down menu, select Associate Floating IP. In the modal window that appears, ensure the public IPv4 address is selected in the IP Address drop-down and the private IPv4 address (e.g. 10.10.10.2) is selected in the Port to be associated drop-down. Click the Associate button.


 * [[File:DreamComputeInstancesDropDown.png]]

Log In To Your Instance
Now that your instance has an IP address, you can SSH to it. The default user created on DreamCompute instances is named: dhc-user

ssh dhc-user@your-floating-ip-address

That's it, your instance is ready to go!