Getting started#

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The repository for your operating system’s package manager probably has an older approved version. If so, you must remove that installation and then compile the newer version yourself. Refer to the software vendor for instructions. {{}} {{}}

It depends on your service level. For Managed Infrastructure Cloud accounts, you are responsible for installing and maintaining all software on your server. If your account has a Managed Operations service level, Rackspace provides support for specific software and server configurations on Cloud Servers. For more information about supported systems and third-party packages, see Linux Spheres of Support for Dedicated and Managed Operations. {{}} {{}}

You can configure all of our Cloud Servers as development stacks, database servers, and web servers. Apache®, Lighttpd®, Mongrel®, and Visual Studio® are some options.

You can use the programming language of your choice to interact with Cloud Servers. {{}} {{}}

Yes. The Cloud Control Panel has a DNS menu for maintaining domain records for your Cloud Servers. For more information, see Create DNS records for Cloud Servers with the Control Panel. {{}} {{}}

ns.rackspace.com and ns2.rackspace.com {{}} {{}}

Because you are in control of everything on your server, there is no limit. {{}} {{}}

The answer depends largely on your experience as a Systems Administrator for Linux or Windows Server. Our Linux servers are full Linux distributions with root-level access. Our Windows servers give you Administrator access, and we built them with nothing but the default applications on installation. We designed our Cloud Servers offering for customers who want to start from scratch and tune a system for their own purposes.

If you are uncomfortable in the System Administrator role, we also offer a Managed Operations service level. {{}} {{}}

We have two service levels: Managed Infrastructure and Managed Operations.

At the Managed Infrastructure level, we support the server hardware, data center environment, and Internet connectivity, but we do not support the software installed on your server, including the operating system and its configuration. When you provision a cloud server, you get a server with unrestricted access. The Managed Infrastructure support team does not help to install software or troubleshoot any issues related to the installed software. We have some articles in the Rackspace How-To covering the basic installation of common applications.

The Managed Operations service level provides additional support on Cloud Servers, including monitoring, operating system and application infrastructure-layer support, and technical guidance. {{}} {{}}

The Rackspace Cloud Servers solution is a fully unrestricted Linux or Windows environment with root or Administrator level access. If you can run an application or service from a traditional, physical, dedicated-unmanaged operations server, you can run it from your Cloud Server. {{}} {{}}

Yes! Select the Rebuild option in the Cloud Control Panel to select a new distribution. However, be sure to back up your data first because this process destroys any data on the server. The rebuild process does allow you to save your IP address. {{}} {{}}

You can reboot your server. You can restore from a backup. You can boot into an emergency rescue mode and attempt to fix the problem. You have many options to recover from mistakes, but the easiest is to keep regular backups and make a fresh backup before attempting any major configuration changes or installing new software. {{}}

Account services#

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Rackspace cannot determine if a given customer is meeting their obligations under the laws applicable to them. It remains our customers’ obligation to understand the laws applicable to their use of the services and select appropriate services to meet those obligations. We understand the needs of many of our customers in the healthcare space to implement appropriate security measures to protect the sensitive information they work with.

To help customers in the healthcare industry meet their compliance requirements with regards to HIPAA, Rackspace offers a Business Associate Agreement in all of our dedicated hosting services segments, and we include it by default in our agreements with customers for those services. {{}} {{}}

For your security, the Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) on the hypervisor is deleted when you request a server deletion. After deletion, you cannot retrieve data and do not have logical or direct access to the physical drive. {{}} {{}}

Yes. Go to https://www.rackspace.com/information/legal/cloud/sla. {{}} {{}}

At Rackspace, our goal is to make the cloud easy for you to use. To meet that goal, we have created many different ways for you to get the support you need to get the most out of the cloud.

  • Your first stop should be Rackspace How-To, which is the best source for articles and tutorials to help you get the precise answers you need.

  • Do you have a quick question that you can’t find an answer for in the Rackspace How-To? As part of the Rackspace Fanatical Experience™, open Chat and talk with our Support staff anytime, 24x7x365.

  • Do you have a specialized Service Request, or are you experiencing a problem with our service? Open a ticket. In the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel, select Tickets > Create Ticket to open a ticket directly with our support teams to report a problem or make a service request.

  • Call us 24x7x365 at 800 961 4454 (toll-free) or +1 512-361-4935 (international). {{}}

Server management#

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The information you enter in the Server Name field helps you identify this server in the API and Cloud Control Panel. The name you enter when you create a server is used as the server’s hostname. If you rename the server later, the name displays in the API, and Cloud Control Panel is updated. However, the hostname on the computer is not updated. {{}} {{}} Can I connect to a server by using the server name?

To connect to the server from outside of the server’s local network, you need to configure an A record in Cloud DNS. To access Cloud DNS, go to the top navigation bar of the Cloud Control Panel and select Networking > Cloud DNS.

For example, if you name your server MyWebServer1.MyExampleDomain.com, you must add an A record for MyWebServer1.MyExampleDomain.com to your DNS zone (MyExampleDomain.com) that points to the public IP address of the server. The information you enter in the Server Name field helps you identify this server in the API and Cloud Control Panel. {{}} {{}}

You can set up reverse DNS from the Cloud Control Panel. For instructions, see Create a reverse DNS record. {{}} {{}}

PVHVM refers to the virtualization mode used by the hypervisor to run the virtual machine (VM). PVHVM images are VM images that use the PVHVM virtualization mode. In general, PVHVM offers better performance than PV, especially for disk and network I/O, but it is not well supported in Linux operating systems with a kernel version earlier than 2.6.36. The availability of PV and PVHVM images in the Rackspace Cloud is determined by the effectiveness of each virtualization mode for that particular operating system.

Note: Work-optimized servers (Compute, I/O, and Memory) require PVHVM images. If you try to create a work-optimized server by using a non-PVHVM image, the following error message is displayed: Image cannot be built with provided flavor.

For more information about PVHVM, see Choosing a virtualization mode (PV versus PVHVM). {{}} {{}}

The amount of network throughput varies based on the flavor of the server. For more information, see the Pricing page in the main Rackspace website. {{}} {{}}

Yes. Each server comes with an internal IP address that is used to communicate between servers. The traffic that flows over this interface (eth1) on your server is unmetered and is not billed. This network, also known as ServiceNet, is an internal-only, multitenant network connection within each Rackspace data center. ServiceNet IP addresses are not accessible from the public Internet and are local per data center. You can also deploy with Cloud Networks, which are single-tenant. {{}} {{}}

Yes. For more information, see Requesting Additional IPv4 Addresses for Cloud Servers. {{}} {{}}

As a Cloud Servers customer, you can create both on-demand images and scheduled images of your Cloud Server. Because we store all server images in your Cloud Files account, you can keep these images even after you delete the server you used to create them. It also gives you the flexibility to create an unlimited number of on-demand images of your server. YOu can use all Cloud Server images to create new Cloud Servers or to restore an existing Cloud Server. For details, see Create an image of a server and restore a server from a saved image. {{}} {{}}

You can create an image of any General Purpose Cloud Server, and you can use this image to restore a server or clone a new one. You can create an unlimited number of images on-demand, or you can schedule an automatic daily or weekly image.

Images are compressed and stored on Rackspace Cloud Files at the current storage rates. Please also read this list of snapshot limitations.

If you are using a virtual Cloud Server, see Create an image of a server and restore a server from a saved image for more information about the image options associated with virtual cloud servers. {{}} {{}}

Yes. For instructions on how to install VNC and X-Windows, see Install VNC on a Cloud Server. Note that using a GUI requires a large amount of bandwidth on your server. {{}} {{}}

Yes, the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel is a web-based management interface for restarting your Cloud Server, starting support discussions, viewing stats, and scheduling snapshots. To learn more about the Cloud Control Panel, see Introducing the Rackspace Cloud Control Panel. However, we do not offer a control panel like Plesk or cPanel. You’re free to install them on your Cloud Server. If you are installing cPanel, be sure to install it on a clean (empty) server. The use of Plesk or cPanel is not supported and strongly discouraged for customers under the Managed Operations SLA because it interferes with our server administration.

Also, consider installing the free monitoring agent on your server and using the Rackspace Intelligence dashboard, which offers many of the same functions as a control panel. {{}} {{}}

Yes, via an HTML5 web terminal that you can access through the Cloud Control Panel. On the details section for your server, click Actions > Emergency Console.

Note: Console access is via a secure HTTP connection, which is a different connection from the traditional way to connect via SSH for Linux or RDP for Windows. Console can be a useful troubleshooting tool if your server is unresponsive or you have locked yourself out. {{}} {{}}

Yes. On the server details page for the server in the Cloud Control Panel, select Actions > Reboot. Use this method if the server is unresponsive. {{}} {{}}

Yes. You are billed for the resources used on the host while your server is in the Active status. When you create your server, you get a dedicated amount of RAM and hard drive space. As long as your server exists, no one else can use those resources that have been allocated to you, which is why you are billed per hour even while powered off. If you want to stop incurring charges for a given server, you must delete that server in the control panel.

If you want to stop paying for a server but still need to retain the configurations, your best option is to create an image of the server. The image, saved in Cloud Files and accessible in the Control Panel, preserves the system configurations on your system disk. The fee associated with Cloud Files storage is much less than the cost of an active server. You must also save the data from your data disk to Cloud Block Storage or Rackspace Cloud Backup to have available on your next server. Then you are free to delete the original server, knowing that you can provision a new server by using the saved image of the old server and your saved data.

After you restore your server from the saved image, the primary difference will be that your new server has a different IP address from the old one. Putting the new server into production might require you to update any associated DNS records to reflect the new IP address. {{}} {{}}

Instructions are located in Reboot a server {{}} {{}}

To see the Linux distributions and Windows operating systems that we have available, go to the Cloud Control Panel, click Select a Product > Rackspace Cloud, Servers > CloudServers, and then Create Server. {{}} {{}} If you have a General Purpose server, you can change the size of your data storage space in one of the following ways:

The number of customers on a Cloud Server host machine depends on the size of the customers’ servers and the type of operating system. {{}} {{}}

The native storage allocation for a Cloud Server is based on the Cloud Server flavor that you select, but you can add extra storage at any time with our Cloud Block Storage service. {{}} {{}}

Rackspace strongly recommends that you install Rackspace Private Cloud on physical hardware nodes. Only perform installation on virtual platforms for evaluation purposes. {{}} {{}}

Live migration consists of moving a virtual server from one host hypervisor to another by using virtual memory streaming. A duplicate of the original virtual server is created on another host, in real-time, from the disk contents, right down to the last byte of RAM in use. When the process is ready, the original virtual server is switched to the new one.

By using live migration means that, where possible, you can move your workloads off of a host that needs to be patched and rebooted to a host that is already updated. During live migration, most customers experience no downtime. A small percentage might notice a brief pause in their workloads, but the result is generally of low impact compared to a full reboot of a host and virtual server. {{}}

Performance#

{{}} What is the difference between Standard, General Purpose, and work-optimized servers?

There are several noteworthy differences between Standard, General Purpose, and work-optimized Cloud Servers:

  • General Purpose servers use faster solid-state drives (SSD) than the standard spinning disk allocation for Standard servers.

  • Only work-optimized servers (I/O, Compute, or Memory flavors) can boot from Cloud Block Storage.

  • For both General Purpose and Standard servers, you can choose the size of your system disk (50 GB-1 TB), but the system disk is fixed for work-optimized servers.

  • Up to 240 GB of RAM is available on work-optimized servers (Memory flavor), whereas Standard servers provide up to 30 GB of RAM.

  • You can have up to 32 vCPUs running on work-optimized servers, compared to the maximum of 8 on the Standard Cloud Servers.

  • Maximum network throughput on Standard servers is 600 Mbps public and 1200 Mbps private network. Maximum network bandwidth on work-optimized servers is 5Gbps public and 10Gbps private network.

For more information about General Purpose servers, see New features in General Purpose and work-optimized Cloud Servers. {{}}

Billing and account#

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Yes. We offer different types of discounts based on usage. For details, see the Cloud Servers discounts page. {{}}

Security#

{{}} For information about PCI-DSS, see Cloud Security Solutions. For information about PCI-DSS for Rackspace Dedicated Hosting services, see Rackspace Compliance Assistance. {{}} {{}}

Yes, and we encourage it! Each Linux server is capable of running the Linux-standard firewall called iptables; some even have it pre-configured. Other firewall systems have been tested on Cloud Servers as well. {{}} {{}}

Security groups are a named collection of network access rules that enable Rackspace Public Cloud users the ability to specify the types of traffic that may pass through, to, and from ports (PublicNet and ServiceNet) on a Cloud Server instance. A security group is a container for security group rules. After you launch an instance, you can assign one or more security groups to ports on that instance. Security groups act as a stateful firewall for your Cloud Server instances. {{}} {{}}

Traffic matching the security group rule is allowed to go through. {{}} {{}}

No. Security groups can only be applied only after the instance is active. {{}} {{}}

No default security group is applied. You just create a Security Group and apply it to the ports on an instance. {{}} {{}}

No. Security Groups are currently supported only for virtual cloud servers. {{}} {{}}

NO. Customers can use either the neutron client or the API to manage security groups. {{}} {{}}

Yes. Users can provision security groups by using the neutron client. {{}} {{}}

Yes. For additional information, see Cloud Networks API Getting Started. {{}} {{}}

Yes. For additional information, see Cloud Networks API Getting Started. {{}} {{}}

Security groups are supported only for Managed Infrastructure, non-RackConnect customers. {{}} {{}}

Security groups have Global Availability in all data centers. {{}} {{}}

Before this feature was available, customers had to manage traffic to and from their instances individually via, for example, iptables rules on every instance (or perhaps use third-party tools), incurring significant management overhead. Security groups make it possible to use a self-service API to define a common set of rules and apply them to the neutron ports (Public/ServiceNet) on cloud servers without needing to configure iptables rules on each server, thereby simplifying administration of security policies. {{}} {{}}

During Limited Availability, there is an aggregate limit of 100 security group rules per user. Contact Rackspace Support if you need this limit raised. {{}} {{}}

There is a limit of 20 security group rules per security group. Contact Rackspace Support if you need this limit raised. {{}} {{}}

Up to 5 security groups are allowed per port. Contact Rackspace Support if you need this limit raised. {{}} {{}}

We apply security groups to neutron ports (PublicNet and ServiceNet) on Cloud Server instances. {{}} {{}}

Yes. Such a security group denies or blocks all traffic. {{}} {{}}

Security groups match TCP, UDP, and ICMP traffic in addition to traffic from a source IPv4 or IPv6 IP address or CIDR. {{}} {{}}

DNS responses from Rackspace Provider DNS servers (UDP source port 53 ) are allowed by default even if they are not explicitly allowed by a security group.

TCP flags ACK and RST are also permitted by default. {{}} {{}}

The maximum limits are as follows:

Limit Name

Description

Value

maxImageMeta

The maximum number of metadata key-value pairs associated with a particular image.

40

maxPersonality

The maximum number of file path/content pairs you can supply when building or rebuilding a server.

5

maxPersonalitySize

The maximum size, in bytes, for each personality file.

1000

maxServerMeta

The maximum number of metadata key-value pairs associated with a particular server.

40

maxTotalCores

This limit is disabled, so no limits exist on the total number of cores.

-1

maxTotalInstances

The maximum number of Cloud Servers that can exist in your account at any one time.

100

maxTotalPrivateNetworks

The maximum number of isolated networks that you can create. Set to 0 when Cloud Networks is disabled, 10 when Cloud Networks enabled.

10

maxTotalRAMSize

The maximum total amount of RAM (MB) of all Cloud Servers in your account at any one time.

131072

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Cloud Servers use VHD storage. When you delete a server, the systems ecurely and immediately deletes the VHD file. You cannot recover a deleted server. {{}}

API#

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You can find the documentation for the API for Cloud Servers and our other products on the Rackspace Developer Docs site.

Before you can start using our APIs, you need your API Key. You can obtain your API key by following the instructions in View and reset your API key. {{}}