NOTE: This article is written for our Classic Cloud Control Panel. A version of this article is also available for our New Cloud Control Panel.

Hello, and welcome to the second guide for using the Rackspace Cloud where we show you how to build up your Cloud inventory.  Now that you know your way around the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel, you are probably eager to start using the services.  We're going to start by showing you how to build a new Cloud Server through the Control Panel interface.  You can also accomplish the same task by using the API or our Mobile apps, but this is the simplest method.

• First, login to the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel
• Navigate to Hosting->Cloud Servers
• Click on the Add Server button

 

• Please read the note at the top of the page (highlighted in this picture), and make sure that you understand that as long as your servers are provisioned and are in the 'Active' status, they will be charged the hourly rate for uptime, regardless of whether or not there is any traffic to them.  This is because when you provision a Cloud Server, we allocate resources for your server that can not be used by anyone else.

• After you click the Add Server button, the next screen you see will present you with a list of available Linux distributions and their currently-available versions.  Click the Select button to the right of the distribution you wish to have installed as the base operating system for your new Cloud Server.

• At the top of this screen you will also notice tabs labeled Windows and My Server Images.  If you wish to create a Windows-based Cloud Server just click on the Windows tab to be taken to the appropriate screen to choose one of the available images.
• If you want to create a Linux server but are unsure which image to choose you can read through our article on choosing a Linux distribution for an overview of your choices.

• Once you have a saved image of one of your Cloud Servers, you will see it listed under the My Server Images tab.  From there, you can use that saved image to create a new server - in effect cloning an existing server.  Since all of our server images are installed with no additional software and using the default configurations, creating a server from a saved image can save you a lot of time on initial setup and configuration if you've already done the work once, and need an additional server of the same type.

 

• After selecting the base installation image and pressing the Select button, the next screen you see will allow you to choose the hostname and server size for your new Cloud Server.  Then press the Create Server button to start your server build.

• As your server is building, you will see the following screen.  There are some important elements that you should be aware of on this page.
  • In the green bar at the top of the screen, you will see the initial root password for your server (this will be the password for the Administrator account if you have created a Windows server).  This same password will be emailed to the Primary Contact on the account, but if you don't feel like waiting for the email then you can copy and paste the password directly from this screen.  This password will only be displayed until the server build is complete and the screen refreshed.
  • You can see the progress of the server build in the Status field, but generally speaking the server build process should only take a few minutes at most.
  • The IP address that you see displayed will be the public IP address of your server.  Use this address to SSH to your Linux server, or to RDP to your Windows server.  We cover more detailed information on remotely accessing your server in Guide 3 - Security & Remote Access.

 

 

• That's how easy it is to create a new server!  In the next article, we'll show you how to use the tools in the Control Panel to manage your server.