All You Need to Know to Get Started with Public Cloud

OVHcloud Public Cloud is an environment that gathers a large number of cloud products, compatible with one another, whose use can be considered for a short time (an hour, a few days) or longer (several months, years).

The delivery is almost instantaneous, and the billing is directly adapted to your usage, bringing simplicity and flexibility to your practices.

This guide will help you find out what you need to know to make sure your products are used properly.
We will first introduce you to an ecosystem approach to the Public Cloud and some general concepts, then a practical approach with the benefits provided by the Public Cloud, as well as the first steps for getting started.
Finally, we offer resources for going further.

If you are already familiar with these concepts, you can continue discovering the OVHcloud Public Cloud by browsing the following guides:

• Getting Started with an OVHcloud Account
• Creating Your First Public Cloud Project
• Overview of the Public Cloud Interface
• Creating and Connecting a Public Cloud Instance
• Increasing Public Cloud Quotas

Ecosystem approach

An ecosystem of on-demand resources

All of the products available in the Public Cloud (such as servers, Kubernetes clusters, disk volumes, etc.) form an ecosystem.
Each item corresponds to a function and meets a need, it can be used alone or in addition to other items in the catalog.
For example, an instance (an on-demand server) can be used as an addition to storage elements such as object storage. If your application requires a database, there is also an element to meet this need.

All of these components are integrated into an environment to facilitate the deployment and utilization of these resources.
As a result, it is very easy to start resources like an instance or a Kubernetes cluster. Deployment takes a few seconds.
You can also delete these resources a few hours later and only pay for this usage time. This is called on-demand resources.

Resources available everywhere

The Public Cloud catalog offers low-level resources, such as private instances or networks, and managed resources in higher layers, such as a database.
These resources are provided as a service, in the sense that the user does not need to buy the elements; they use them for a time (like a rental) and simply pay for the amount of time the elements were in use.
Most of the time, you are not required to use these resources for a set period of time (unless you are billed monthly to reduce costs).

When the proposed resource is “managed”, we often talk about a resource in the high layers, already close to the application, like a database cluster, a Kubernetes cluster, etc.
“Managed” refers to the fact that the platform is deployed, monitored, and maintained (upgraded) by OVHcloud. You do not have to worry about all this management and you benefit directly from the service.

These resources are available in our Vint Hill (VA) and Hillsboro (OR) datacenters. You can start a resource in each of these locations by simply selecting the desired location.

A cloud service provider in a mature market

OVHcloud Public Cloud is positioned alongside well-known cloud providers such as AWS (Amazon Web Services), GCP (Google Cloud Platform), Azure (from Microsoft), and Alibaba Cloud. Our offer is distinguished by the particularly advantageous rates and the use of standard APIs that leave our users free to change, without adhering to any proprietary technology.

Practical approach

Use cases: some concrete examples and their advantages

• More flexibility: You have an application that currently runs on a standard hosting like a dedicated server (or several) and you want more flexibility in its use. Using Public Cloud instances is very similar to using a dedicated server, but it does give you the ability to resize your server easily, keep up with hardware changes, add hot storage, configure your network architecture as you wish, schedule backups, or clone your server in a few simple actions.

• More scalability: You are developing a cloud-native application, and you want an infrastructure that can handle high load variations. Kubernetes clusters can react and adapt dynamically depending on load. They can add nodes to the cluster automatically as the pressure on the infrastructure increases.

• More cost control: You have an application in production that is subject to seasonalities, and you want to deport the compute load at peak times, without maintaining significant infrastructure costs throughout the year. Hourly billed instances can complete tasks in a short time and can be deleted once the need is met.

• More serenity: You need a database but you do not want to manage the engine and maintain it. Managed databases are available in a few seconds and are fully managed by OVHcloud. You can directly use the database service without having to worry about installation, maintenance, updates, etc.

Usage: a simple interface and standard APIs

There are several ways to manage Public Cloud resources. Whether you are an advanced user or a new user, using OVHcloud Public Cloud products remains simple.

• To discover the products, the OVHcloud Control Panel helps you create resources by leading you to choose the performance of the product, its location, the customization you want, or other parameters such as its billing method.

• To automate deployments and industrialize your architectures, you can also use market tools by logging directly into standard APIs like the Amazon S3®* API, OpenStack APIs, or even Kubernetes.

Starting: handling

The project

To get started, you will first need an OVHcloud customer account.

You will then need to create a Public Cloud project. A project is an environment that you will dedicate to a context.

For example, you can choose to separate your test and production environments into two projects.
Or you can use different projects for your different applications (public website, online store, business application, document management, etc.).

To start a project, you will need to save a payment method when you create the project.

Billing

Since your payment method has been saved, it will be used to debit the amount calculated for your billing at the end of the month. This calculation is based on the usage time of each resource, depending on the price of the resources.

Example: During the month, you used one d2-8 instance for the whole month, and three b2-60 instances, which together account for 32 hours.
Your bill will be 720 (number of hours in the month) x $0.04275 ex. VAT (price per hour of a d2-8) + 32 x $0.606 ex. VAT (price per hour of a b2-60). This amounts to $50.17 ex. VAT.

Quota management

You may have to deal with the quota issue.
The Public Cloud quota defines the maximum number of resources you can start. It depends on certain settings (i.e., age of account, previous invoices).
These quotas are allocated by region (in the OpenStack sense). As a result, you may reach the maximum possible resources for your project and need to increase these quotas.

User management

You may need to manage several users who will be involved in your project.
You then have two options:

• If you would like to use the OpenStack or Amazon S3® APIs or the Horizon interface, you will need to create users to do this. Users may have limited permissions to secure the action perimeters.

Go further

Here are some general resources that will help you get started with the Public Cloud:

Here are some guides to help you with the first steps:

One of the big advantages of using standard and open technologies, like OpenStack or Kubernetes, is that you can use all the documentation already available.

If you need training or technical assistance to implement our solutions, contact your sales representative or click on this link to get a quote and ask our Professional Services experts for a custom analysis of your project.

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Public Cloud support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

[1]: Receive $200.00 (USD) in Public Cloud credits ("Public Cloud Credits") when you create your first Public Cloud infrastructure project. Offer applies only to Public Cloud services purchased from OVHcloud datacenters in the United States. Offer available only to customers who, at the time when the Public Cloud Credits are applied, are not purchasing Public Cloud services from OVHcloud and who purchase at least $0.99 (USD) Public Cloud services from OVHcloud. No code is required. The Public Cloud Credits will be added to eligible accounts within 30 days of OVHcloud’s receipt of the $0.99 for your purchase of Public Cloud credits. The Public Cloud Credits are valid for 90 days fro the day the credit has been applied. The time of order placement shall be determined by OVHcloud’s time of registering the corresponding order. Offer is subject to availability. The Public Cloud Credits will automatically be applied to your next bill(s) up to a maximum amount of $200.00. Any unused portion of the Public Cloud Credits will expire. The Public Cloud Credits have no monetary value, and cannot be exchanged, transferred, or refunded. Once the Public Cloud Credits are exhausted or expired, your account will be debited in accordance with OVHcloud’s billing guide. Void where prohibited.

*S3 is a trademark filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc. OVHcloud's service is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated with Amazon Technologies, Inc.