📘

This topic focuses on distributed compute regions. If you need help creating and deploying a Compute Instance to a core compute region, see Create a Compute Instance.

Creating a Compute Instance in a distributed compute region follows a process similar to creating a Compute Instance in a core compute region, with key differences in the available plan types and services.

You can deploy a Dedicated CPU Compute Instance in a distributed compute region using Cloud Manager, the Linode API, or the Linode CLI. You can also use our official Terraform Provider to provision Akamai cloud computing Environments.

This guide walks you through creating a Compute Instance in a distributed compute region using Cloud Manager.

Steps to create aCompute Instance

1. Open the Create form in Cloud Manager
2. Select a region
3. Select a distribution or image
4. Select a plan
5. Set the label and add tags
6. Create a password and add SSH keys
7. Assign a Cloud Firewall (recommended)
8. Assign to a VLAN (optional)
9. Add user data
10. Deploy your Compute Instance
11. Verify your Compute Instance

Open the Create form in Cloud Manager

Log in to Cloud Manager, click Create in the top navigation bar, and select Linode. This opens the Create form.

Select a region

Regions correspond to individual data centers located in a different geographical areas. To minimize latency and optimize connection speed and quality, select the distributed compute region closest to your users. All distributed regions support the same features and services.

Select the Distributed tab. Select a continent from the Geographic Area dropdown list to narrow the regions available. and then select a distributed region from the Regions dropdown list.

Select a distribution or image

When deploying a Compute Instance, you can either deploy a Linux distribution for a barebones install, or a custom image stored on your account.

• Distributions: Akamai supports many Linux distributions, including the latest LTS releases of Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS Stream, and RHEL-derivatives such AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. If you select a distribution from the list, you'll start with a stable Linux operating system and build your own software stack from scratch. Each distribution comes with a set of preinstalled software and commands. See Choose a Linux distribution for the list of distributions.

• Images: Custom Images are created based on existing Compute Instances or image files. You can select any Custom Image stored in your account. Recovery Images are not supported.

This guide assumes you are creating a Compute Instance from a Distribution. If you are creating a Compute Instance from a custom image, see Deploy an image to a new Compute Instance.

Select a plan

Choose the Dedicated CPU plan that meets the resource requirements of your application or workload. Dedicated CPU plans reserve physical CPU cores for your <<CLOUD_VM>, letting you use 100% of the resources continuously. For more details, seeDistributed compute region plans.

You can resize your plan at any time. See Resize a Compute Instance for instructions

Set the label and add tags

Set the label and add tags for your Compute Instance:

• Label: The label identifies the Compute Instance. Use a descriptive name that indicates its purpose, for example, acme-web-prod to ndicate that the Compute Instance is the production website for Acme. Labels must only use letters, numbers, underscores, dashes, and periods. If you have already implemented naming conventions for your cloud infrastructure, follow those conventions.

• Tags: Tags help you to categorize your services. For example, a web development agency might add a tag for each client. You can also add tags to categorize services by environment: development, staging, or production.

Create a password and add SSH keys

• Root Password: This password is used to log in to the system as the root user, who has full system access. Use a strong password to prevent attackers from gaining access to your system.

• SSH Keys: Add SSH Keys to the root user account to enable authentication without a password. SSH keys are created as a pair: a private key stored on your local computer and a public key that you can upload to remote systems and services. Because you only share your public key while your private key is kept secure, this method is more secure than password-based authentication. See Manage SSH keys for guidance.

Assign a Cloud Firewall (recommended)

Assign a cloud firewall to protect your new <<CLOUD_VM> from unwanted traffic.

Select an existing firewall from the Assign Firewall dropdown menu. If you don't have one, click Create Firewall to create a new one. Follow the instructions in the Create a Cloud Firewall guide.

If you prefer to assign a firewall at a later time, you can do so by following the instructions in Apply firewall rules to a service.

Assign to a VLAN (optional)

Assign yourCompute Instance to an isolated private L2 network. VLANs are available at no extra cost. See VLANs to learn more.

Add user data

If you provide user data to the Metadata service, it will be consumed by cloud-init the first time your Compute Instance boots. To learn more about the Metadata service, user data formats, and our cloud-init integration, see Metadata service.

Deploy your Compute Instance

Review the details in the Linode Summary section. If you're satisfied, click Create Linode to start the deployment, which can take anywhere from 3 to 30 minutes. After deployment begins, you're redirected to the details page where you can track progress and view additional information about your new Compute Instance, such as IP addresses.

Verify your Compute Instance

InCloud Manager , click Linodes in the side menu and locate your newly created <<CLOUD_VM>. Check the status column to verify that your Compute Instance is running.

Click the label for your Compute Instance to open a details page with performance analytics and additional configuration options.

Next steps

After your Compute Instance has been created and is initialized, configure and secure it. See Set up and secure a Compute Instance for guidance.

🚧

Email restrictions on our Platform

In an effort to fight spam originating from our platform, outbound connections on ports 25, 465, and 587 are blocked by default on Compute Instances for some new accounts. These restrictions prevent applications from sending email. If you intend to send email from a Compute Instance, see Send email on the Linode platform to learn more about our email policies and to request the removal of these restrictions.