---
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.
