---
id: cloud-instances
title: Cloud instances
sidebar_label: Cloud instances
---

A cloud instance is a Vantage control plane we run for you, reachable at
`<your-slug>.vantage.hostxtra.co.uk`.

## Creating one

1. **Overview → New instance**.
2. Choose a name and a slug.
3. Create.

The instance is provisioned with you as its owner, and a Free licence is issued
immediately. The owner user inside it gets your HQ password hash **copied**, not
shared — see [People and roles](./people-and-roles.md).

### Slugs

The slug becomes your hostname label, so it is lowercase, and some names are
reserved. Pick something you can say on a phone call.

:::warning One Free instance per account, per deployment
Creating a second Free cloud instance is refused. If you want another, it needs
a paid plan — or free up the first.
:::

## Using it

Sign in at your instance's hostname with the email and password you use for HQ.
It is a normal Vantage install from that point: see
[Getting started](../getting-started/first-login.md) and the
[Vantage](../vantage/servers.md) section.

The instance does not depend on HQ at runtime. HQ being unreachable does not
affect anyone signing in or any agent syncing.

## The instance record

Each instance on Overview is one record. Closed, it is a row. Open, it shows:

- **Licence contents** — tier, server allowance, features, expiry.
- **Members** — who has access and with what instance role.
- **Actions** — grant access, change configuration, renew.

## Members

Granting access writes a real user into the instance. Covered fully in
[People and roles](./people-and-roles.md).

## Changing what it can do

Server allowance and per-instance features (browser console, single sign-on) are
part of the instance's **entitlement**. Changing it goes through billing — see
[Licensing and entitlements](./licensing-and-entitlements.md) and
[Billing](./billing.md).

## Renaming

The display name is free to change. The slug is the hostname and is not
casually changed — ask support if you need it.

## What happens if the licence lapses

A cloud instance whose Free licence expires enters degraded mode, then, after a
grace period, the instance and all its data are deleted. Warning emails go out
first. See [Free tier](./free-tier.md).

Paid instances do not get reaped by that mechanism. A cancelled subscription
runs to its grace-padded expiry and then lapses.

## Deleting

Ask support. Deletion is performed by the control plane, not by HQ — the control
plane is the only service that knows which collections carry the instance ID,
and duplicating that list into HQ would be a list that drifts.