Quick Guide

Registration

• Access to bwCloud-OS requires an active account from a bwIDM-participating institution.
• Your account must include a valid entitlement, assigned by your home institution. This is usually automatic. If missing (see here), contact your institution’s IT support. The bwCloud-OS team cannot assign entitlements.
• Log in once to the Dashboard to activate your profile. Setup is automated via bwIDM.
• After login, select your region as described here to begin using bwCloud-OS.

Instances (VMs)

• Instances can be created via the Dashboard wizard, select: name →source → flavor → network → SSH key → launch.
• The source defines the base disk for the instance, usually a pre-configured image containing the operating system (Rocky, Ubuntu, etc.) and initial software optimized for cloud environments.
• The available resources of a virtual machine (vCPU, memory, etc.) are pre-defined by flavors. Choose a flavor that fits your workload and available quota when launching your instance
• To access your bwCloud-OS virtual machines, you must register an SSH key pair and assign it when creating instances. If you lose your private SSH key, you will lose access to your instance!

Networks

• Each bwCloud-OS instance launched using the standard method is automatically assigned a public IP address.
• Floating IPs, which persist independent of instances, are also available.
• Load Balancers are available and allow traffic to be distributed across multiple backend instances via a single public address.
• Instances are assigned a persistent FQDN based on their name, project and region.
• Domain hosting is not provided, but you can point your own domain to the FQDN of the instance using a CNAME record.

Security

• By default, bwCloud-OS VMs are only accessible via SSH (port 22) and ICMP (e.g., ping) ; all other incoming traffic is blocked for security.
• To allow access on additional ports (e.g. HTTPS/443), you can add rules via the Security Groups in the Dashboard — changes take effect immediately.
• Some ports are centrally filtered in certain bwCloud-OS regions and cannot be opened individually; refer to the Port Overview for region-specific details.
• If you suspect a security incident, stop the affected VMs and submit a support ticket immediately.

Storage

• If you need more storage in a VM, create and attach additional volumes — root disks cannot be enlarged. Using special flavors with larger root disks as a reserve for extra storage is generally discouraged, as they offer less flexibility.
• All data is stored redundantly (e.g., 3× replication in Ceph), but no automatic backups are performed — you are responsible for backing up your own data.
• Back up your data regularly using snapshots or by downloading (volume-)images using the OpenStack client as explained here.
• ⚠️To avoid data loss: Never store critical or irreplaceable data only in bwCloud-OS — always back up externally.

Projects & Quota

• Each bwCloud-OS project has predefined quotas for vCPU, RAM, storage, and networks. Quota increases can be requested via the bwSupportPortal.
• Group projects allow shared access to resources. Members can manage instances collaboratively. Quotas can be assigned in multiple regions. A designated project owner is required to manage membership and act as the main contact.
• Instances cannot be moved between projects directly. Use snapshots and volume transfer instead, as described here.

Automation

• Application Credentials enable secure, token-based access to bwCloud-OS — ideal for CLI usage and automation.
• You can use these credentials with the OpenStack CLI to manage cloud resources from the command line.
• You can also use the credentials with the OpenStack Python SDK to manage cloud resources programmatically from within Python scripts or applications.
• Automation tools like Ansible or Terraform can be used for efficient deployment and configuration of instances.