Skip to Content
Getting started

Getting started

Recommended secure path from a new project to SSH access on a VM with a locked-down public interface.

Before you begin

  • Public Cloud overview — platform and limits.
  • A hostd account with access to Public Cloud.
  • An SSH key pair on your computer (public key ready to paste).
  • An SSH client (or use VM → Console only if you must).
  • For prepaid accounts: sufficient balance.

Steps

1. Create a project

  1. Open Console → Public Cloud.
  2. Click Create project, choose a zone, enter a Project name, and confirm.

2. Create a security group for SSH

Prepare reusable IN SSH rules before the VM exists. You will attach this group on the VM firewall in step 4.

  1. Open Datacenter → Security groups.
  2. Create a new security group (short Latin name, up to 15 characters).
  3. Add an IN rule: TCP, port 22 (SSH), Source — your office or home IP (x.x.x.x/32).

More detail: Security groups.

3. Create a VM with an SSH key

  1. In the project overview, click Create VM.
  2. Choose a Linux image, hostname, and username.
  3. Add your SSH public key in the form (required for the recommended path).
  4. Set CPU mode, vCPU, RAM, and OS disk from the form tiers.
  5. Attach a public WAN interface so you can reach the VM from the internet.
  6. Click Create and wait for the VM to provision.

4. Lock down WAN and allow SSH

After the VM is running, open VM → Firewall (rules apply to the public interface only).

  1. Set Global Status to On.
  2. Set Policy In to DROP — block incoming traffic except explicit allow rules.
  3. Click Apply.
  4. Click Insert Security Group and choose the group from step 2.
  5. Wait about a minute for cloud-init, then connect by SSH using the VM public IP and the username from the create form.

More detail: Firewall and security groups.

Watch out

  • Until step 4 is done, a VM with a public IP is reachable on all ports allowed by the platform — complete the firewall setup before you rely on it.
  • Cloud-init can still configure the guest after the VM status is running.
  • A stopped VM stops CPU and RAM billing, but disk, reserved public IPs, backups, and Cloud Gateway still bill.

Next steps

IntroductionProjects