Quick Guide

Registration

• Access to bwCloud-OS requires an active account from a bwIDM-participating institution.
• Your account must include a valid bwCloud entitlement, assigned by your home institution. This is usually automatic. If missing, 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 home region as described here to begin using bwCloud-OS.

Instances (VMs)

• Instances can be created via the Dashboard wizard, select: name → image → flavor → network → SSH key → launch.
• Existing instances can be resized to larger flavors. Always back up important data beforehand, as the VM will reboot during the process.
• To access your bwCloud-OS virtual machines, you must register an SSH key pair and assign it when creating instances.

Network

• Each bwCloud-OS instance automatically receives a public IP address, valid for its entire lifetime (until deletion).
• Instances are also assigned a persistent FQDN based on their UUID and region.
• Domain hosting is not provided, but you can point your own domain to the instance’s FQDN using a CNAME record.

Security

• By default, VMs in bwCloud-OS are only accessible via SSH (port 22); all other ports are initially closed for security reasons.
• Additional ports (e.g. HTTPS/443) can be opened via Security Groups in the Dashboard — changes take effect immediately without a reboot.
• Some ports are centrally filtered in certain regions and cannot be opened manually; details are listed in the port overview.
• SSL certificates are not provided by bwCloud-OS, but can be obtained via services like Let’s Encrypt.
• If you suspect a security incident, stop the affected VMs and open a support ticket immediately.

Storage

• If you need more storage, create and attach additional volumes — root disks cannot be enlarged. Using a larger root disk via special flavors is also not recommended in general.
• All data is stored redundantly (e.g., 3× replication in Ceph), but no automatic backups are performed — you are responsible for your own data protection.
• Back up your data regularly using snapshots or by downloading volumes/images via the OpenStack client as explained here.

(Group-)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. Every group project requires a named owner as the primary contact.
• Instances cannot be moved between projects directly. Use snapshots and volume transfer as described here.

Automation & Tools

• Experienced users can create Application Credentials (tokens) to enable CLI or programmatic access.
• Automation tools like Ansible or Terraform can be used to streamline instance deployment and configuration.