Cloud instances

Cloud Instances

Cloud instances are managed virtual machines running on your choice of cloud providers. Sencai simplifies provisioning, scaling, and monitoring of compute infrastructure.

Need to hand instances off to your own Terraform workflow? See Exporting to Terraform to generate reviewable .tf files for the instances you select.

Supported Cloud Providers

Sencai currently supports provisioning on these providers:

Provider	Instance Types	Regions	Status
AWS	EC2 (general, compute, memory optimized)	20+ regions worldwide	Fully supported
Google Cloud (GCP)	Compute Engine (general, memory, compute)	40+ regions	Fully supported
Hetzner	Cloud servers (standard, optimized)	EU & US	Fully supported
Scaleway	Cloud servers, bare metal	EU	Fully supported
OVHcloud	Public Cloud instances	EU & Canada	Fully supported
UpCloud	Cloud servers	Multiple regions	Fully supported
Azure	Virtual Machines	Multiple regions	Fully supported

Planned providers

The following providers are not yet implemented — no provisioning support exists today, regardless of what may be mentioned elsewhere:

Provider	Instance Types	Status
DigitalOcean	Droplets	Planned / not yet implemented
Vultr	Cloud instances	Planned / not yet implemented
Linode	Compute instances	Planned / not yet implemented

Provisioning a Cloud Instance

Step 1: Navigate to Instances

Log in to Sencai
Select your organization from the header
Click Cloud Instances in the sidebar

Step 2: Start Provisioning

Click the + New Instance button.

Step 3: Configure Your Instance

Fill in the following details:

Instance Name — A descriptive name (e.g., “api-server-prod-1”)
Cloud Provider — Choose from available providers
Region — Select the geographic location closest to your users
Instance Type — Select size based on your workload:
- Small (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM) — Development, testing
- Medium (4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM) — Small production workloads
- Large (8 vCPU, 16 GB RAM) — Production applications
- Extra Large (16+ vCPU, 32+ GB RAM) — High-traffic services
Operating System — Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (default), Debian 12, or others (provider-dependent)
SSH Key — Your public SSH key for secure access (auto-generated if not provided)
Public IP Address — Whether the instance needs internet-facing IP (recommended)
Tags (optional) — Labels for organization (e.g., “production”, “gpu-required”)

Step 4: Review Cost and Provision

The estimated monthly cost appears based on your selections
Click Provision Instance

Provisioning typically takes 3–5 minutes. A progress indicator shows the status.

Instance States

Instances can be in one of these states:

State	Meaning	Actions Available
Provisioning	Being created	— (wait)
Ready	Fully operational	Stop, Restart, Resize, Terminate, Access
Starting	Being powered on	— (wait)
Stopping	Being powered off	— (wait)
Stopped	Powered off, not billed	Start, Terminate, Delete
Error	Provisioning or operation failed	Retry, Delete, Contact support
Terminating	Being permanently destroyed	— (wait)

Managing Instances

Common Operations

Once ready, you can perform these actions on your instance:

Start — Power on a stopped instance (ready to use again in ~1 minute)

Stop — Power off the instance (stops compute billing, but storage still incurs charges)

Restart — Reboot the operating system without stopping (keeps public IP)

Resize — Change the instance type (CPU/RAM scaling). Requires stopping the instance; typically takes 2–5 minutes.

Terminate — Permanently delete the instance and all data. This cannot be undone.

Accessing Your Instance

Open the instance in Sencai
Go to the Access section
You’ll see:
- Public IP Address — Used to connect remotely
- SSH Connection String — Ready-to-use SSH command
- Default User — Usually ubuntu or root
Connect via SSH in your terminal:
Terminal window
```
ssh ubuntu@<PUBLIC_IP>
```
The first time you connect, you may see a warning about an unknown host key. Type yes to proceed.

Browser terminal

You don’t need a local SSH client to reach your instance. Click Terminal on the instance detail page to open a full in-browser SSH session, backed by ssh-proxy-service over a WebSocket connection. Your existing Keycloak session authenticates you, and the proxy verifies your organization membership and ownership of the instance before opening the SSH channel — no extra credentials to manage. RDP is not supported.

Monitoring Performance

Each instance displays real-time metrics:

CPU Usage — Percentage of processor utilization
Memory Usage — RAM consumption
Disk Space — Storage used / total available
Network I/O — Bytes in/out per second
Network Traffic — Cumulative data transferred

Graphs show usage over the last 24 hours. Alert thresholds can be configured (contact support).

Costs and Billing

Cloud costs are transparent and calculated per instance:

Monthly Cost = (Hourly Rate × Hours Running) + Storage + Data Transfer

Cost Factors

Compute — Per vCPU and GB RAM per hour (varies by provider and region)
Storage — Per GB stored per month (typically $0.10–$0.30/GB/month)
Data Transfer — Outbound traffic to internet (usually $0.10–$0.20/GB, free within region)

Viewing Costs

Click your instance to view details
The Estimated Monthly Cost updates based on current runtime
Go to Organization → Billing to see historical invoices and detailed breakdowns

Cost Optimization Tips

Stop instances when idle — Avoid unnecessary charges for unused instances
Right-size your workload — Start small; resize up if needed
Use regional data transfer — Keep instances and data in the same region to avoid egress charges
Terminate unused instances — Remove test/development instances after use
Set budget alerts — Ask your organization Owner to configure spending limits

Troubleshooting

Q: Provisioning is taking longer than expected

A: First provisioning can take up to 10 minutes. Check the progress indicator in Sencai. If stuck for 15+ minutes, refresh the page or contact support.

Q: Can’t connect via SSH

A: Check the following:

Verify you’re using the correct public IP address (not the private IP)
Ensure you’re using the correct username (usually ubuntu for Ubuntu, admin for Debian)
Confirm SSH port 22 is open in your security group (check cloud provider settings)
Try restarting the instance

Q: Instance shows “Error” status

A: This may be a temporary cloud provider issue. Click Retry. If it persists, contact support with the instance ID.

Q: How do I add more disk space?

A: Instance resize can increase storage, but it requires stopping the instance. Alternatively, attach external volumes via the cloud provider’s console directly.

Q: Can I access the instance via RDP or web terminal?

A: Yes — click Terminal on the instance detail page to open a full in-browser SSH session (xterm.js over WebSocket via ssh-proxy-service). Your Keycloak session authenticates you; the proxy verifies org-membership/ownership of the instance before connecting. RDP is not supported.