🕒 Reading Time: 4 minutesIn this post, we are going to walk you through setting up a single cloud server, and then we’ll turn it into a group (“cluster”) of cloud servers. Following this process, you now will be able to provide hundreds of servers in a matter of minutes with our new clustering functionality. First, let’s look at the steps required to build a single cloud server. Starting on the “Available Services” page in your iBizPanel, select “Cloud Server” and click “Buy”. This will take you to a screen like the one below.   Next, let’s go through the steps for provisioning a single cloud server, starting from the screen posted above.

Steps For Creating a Single Cloud Server

1. Select “Single Server”, if not already selected.
2. Fill out the “Order Name”. This provides a ‘friendly name’ for you to identify this cloud server (and eventually your cluster) easily. For example, if you are creating an initial cloud server to test out your new app, the order name could be something like “My Super App”.
3. Select your OS.
4. Create you hostname. This is an alphanumeric 11-character unique identifier for your cloud server, such as “webserver” or “testapp”.
5. Create a password. The password must have at least 8 characters, of which you will need at least 1 capital letter and 1 number.
6. Select whether you would like a Standard or High Performance cloud server. This determines the performance of your cloud server’s cores. You may change this at any time.
7. Enter in the number of cores you want.
8. Enter in the amount of RAM you want.
9. Enter in the primary storage size you would like, as well as any additional drives. Please note you may increase your storage allocation at any time, however, you will be unable to reduce the storage selected in any given drive.
10. Choose the number of IP addresses you would like, from 1 to 8 IPv4 addresses.
11. Click “Continue to Check Out”.

After following these steps, your first cloud server will be provisioned in a matter of minutes. Now that we have a single cloud server created, let’s make it into a cluster of cloud servers!

Creating a Cluster

Let’s start by editing the cloud server you just created.  Once there, click “Cluster” to see the screen displayed below. Next, let’s go through the steps to convert your newly-provisioned cloud server into a cluster, starting from the screen posted above.

Steps For Creating a Cloud Server Cluster

1. If you were starting from scratch, you would begin by giving your cluster a name in the “Cluster Name” field. In this example, I used the name “Web Cluster”.  However, if you had selected “My Super App” as your order name earlier, this would carry over to your new cluster.
2. Under “VM Quantity”, select the number of cloud servers that will be in your cluster. By default, your initial template will be the cloud server you created previously. For this example, I will be adding three cloud servers to the cluster. The cloud server names will auto-increment up by 1 each time you add to the quantity of a specific template. You can click the plus or minus buttons, or enter you can just enter in a number.
3. To create another template with the same specs, you can select “Clone”. This is an awesome feature that can save you a lot of time.
4. To add a cloud server with different specs to your cluster, click “Create New Template”. Follow the same steps you took to create a single cloud server in the fields that open below your template list. Simply fill out this new set of information in that lower portion of the screen. Once finished, push the “Close” button in the upper right-hand corner of the new template field.

After all of your templates have been created, your screen should look something like what I have added below: Once you click “Continue to Checkout” or “Save”, process any necessary payments and your cluster will begin provisioning automatically after checkout!  You can check the provisioning status of the cluster once the first VM has completed. Once this completes, you will be able to view the IP address(es) of each server by editing the cloud server again (what we’ll reference as the “purchase order”). If you’d like to take this one step further, we also have private clustering available upon request. If interested, please contact us for more information.

Use Cases for CARIcloud Cloud Server Rapid Deployment:

Small Business

CARIcloud’s rapid provisioning allows businesses to deploy resources quickly to business units. For example, let’s say you are opening a new real estate office branch. It can take months before a server is set up in this new office! With CARIcloud, you can set up your new space in minutes.

SaaS Companies

When your app gains traction, rapid provisioning is mandatory. With CARIcloud, you can create a template on the fly to your required specification, allowing you to scale immediately when the need arises. CARIcloud provides you the availability, scalability, and performance you’ll need to grow your business when you make the Top 10 lists!

Entrepreneurs: 

As an entrepreneur, you know time is your most precious resource. Get hours (or even days) back in your life, removing the hassle of building and maintaining physical servers. Our easy-to-use customer portal will guide you through the configuration of your cluster of servers.