Create a server

Provision a new cloud server through one of your connected providers, without ever leaving InfraNest.

Overview

• Spins up a real server at your cloud provider directly from InfraNest.
• Pulls live options — server types, locations, images — from your provider, so you only ever see what you can actually order.
• Lets you switch on protections like backups and a firewall before the server even boots.
• Keeps checking on the build automatically, so you don't need to refresh the page.

Create a server

1. Go to Servers and select Add server.

2. Choose the provider account to create it on.

3. Set the basics: a Server name, server type (size), location, and Operating system (image). InfraNest fetches the available options live from your provider, so you only see what you can actually pick.

   Locations are grouped by continent and sorted by country, so a provider with datacenters on four continents reads more like a map than a list — each one names its country under the city. Plans are grouped into the families your provider sells, cheapest family first, so the form opens on the least expensive option rather than the most. The table shows the cheapest few in the family you've picked, with a Show all {count} plans link to see the rest.

   A plan your chosen location can't build is greyed out and says so, so you find out before you order rather than after. Prices show in the currency your provider quotes — euros for Hetzner and TransIP, US dollars for DigitalOcean.

   The Server name field is the one thing with a rule to it, and the rule comes from your provider — the line under the field explains it for whichever account you picked. Generally it wants a hostname: letters, numbers, dots and dashes, with a letter or number at each end of every part. web, web-01 and web.infranest.io all work. You don't have to remember the rule yourself: a capital letter is turned lowercase as you type, and anything else that won't work — a space or an underscore, for example — gets a Use "my-server" button under the field that fixes it in one click. If the name is already taken on that provider account, the same button offers you the next free one.

4. Add options if you need them: SSH keys, a username, Cloud-init (optional) (a startup script), and Tags.

   The Apps tab next to Operating systems holds your provider's ready-made application images — WordPress, Docker, GitLab and so on — already installed and configured on a base operating system. Where a provider offers hundreds (DigitalOcean's marketplace does), the grid gets a Search images box above it and scrolls in place rather than running down the page. Each tile is one app, however many builds of it your provider publishes: pick the app, then use the Version box underneath to choose which build and which base operating system.

5. Under the protection options, you can switch on Automatic backups and Attach firewall using a firewall you've already set up. The firewall list only offers firewalls on the account you're creating in — if it's empty, create one on the Firewalls page first and it'll appear here.

   When your provider accepts a firewall as part of the create request, InfraNest sends it along, so the machine is protected from its very first boot. Hetzner works this way. Providers whose API has no such option — DigitalOcean is one — get the firewall attached immediately after the server exists instead, which leaves a short window at boot. If that window matters to you, keep the machine off the public internet another way until the firewall shows as attached.

6. Select Create server. The server appears in your list straight away, marked Being created while the provider builds it.

NoteBeing created means the order has gone through and is paid for, but there's no machine to reach yet. That's different from an unknown status, which just means InfraNest couldn't get an answer from the provider.

While it's being made

1. Some providers hand you a finished machine in seconds; others accept the order first and build it afterwards. Either way, the server shows in your list from the moment you create it.
2. InfraNest keeps checking with the provider until it's ready — every few seconds at first, less often as time goes on. You don't need to refresh the page or wait for anything to sync: the status and the IP address fill themselves in.
3. If it's still being created after half an hour, InfraNest stops watching so closely and picks the server up on its regular check instead. Nothing is lost — it keeps updating, just less often.

TipA server stuck at Being created for much longer than usual is worth checking in your provider's own control panel.

Tips

• The Create server button never goes quiet on you. Press it before the form is finished and it lists what's still missing — each line is clickable and takes you straight to the field it's about.
• Provisioning depends on your plan (the cloud feature and a server limit). If you're at your limit, you'll see a note on the button.

Troubleshooting

• Server creation stops with an error about the firewall: this means the firewall you picked can't be used any more — for example, someone deleted it at the provider. Refresh the firewall list and try again rather than proceeding without one.