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Cloud Servers
- 1 to 50 servers in minutes
- Choose a server size and pay for what you use
- Fanatical Support always included
Cloud Servers
How Cloud Servers work
Cloud Server sizes are measured by the amount of physical memory reserved for your instance and range from 256 MB up to 30.0 GB.
Choose from a variety of popular 64-bit Linux® Distributions—Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, CentOS, Fedora, Arch and Red Hat Enterprise Linux—or Windows® Images—Windows Server 2008. View the full list of operating systems we have available.
Using our online control panel and API, each Cloud Server can be upgraded or removed as your needs change. You can even manage your Cloud Servers on-the-go via your iPhone®, iPad®, iPod® touch and Android.
Cloud customers
Domino's Pizza
Rackspace serves and delivers hybrid hosting to Domino's. Rackspace hosted applications will include the public-facing ecommerce site www.dominos.co.uk, as well as the online payment gateway, corporate email and backoffice systems, and the company intranet linked through RackConnect.
Mazda Cars USA
When the time came to choose a hosting provider for its North America website, Mazda chose Rackspace Hosting, a company that delivers 100% network uptime and provides Fanatical Support 24-hours a day.
Linux or Windows Servers in minutes
With Cloud Servers™, you get what you want when you need it. Make a new server for staging and four new servers for production. Delete one, create three more. You only pay for what you use.
• Accessible via online control panel and open API
• Fully customisable with root access
• No minimum commitments or contracts
• Cloud Servers with Managed Service Level now available
Mix 'n match to suit your hosting needs
Accommodate traffic spikes, test & development needs, and other variable load applications with a mix of Dedicated Servers and Cloud Servers operating seamlessly together.
Rackspace Cloud DNS
The Rackspace Cloud DNS automates and simplifies Domain Name System management. Create or Import Domains, leverage the API to list, add, modify, and remove domains and records as needed. Learn more about Cloud DNS.
Finally real SLAs for Cloud Computing
The SLA adopted for Cloud Servers is just as aggressive as the one Rackspace provides for traditional hosted servers. It provides remedies for any downtime event caused by the network, data centre infrastructure, the physical host server, or the migration of your instance from one physical host to another (should that be required). Be sure to see our SLA in detail and take a look at how we fanatically support Cloud Servers.
Need help with Email deliverability?
Rackspace & SendGrid have teamed up to offer you 40,000 emails per month free, just for being a Rackspace customer. SendGrid is the easy way to manage your transactional and bulk email needs. Learn more about SendGrid.
Microsoft® SQL Server - 2008 R2 Available
Select one of our SQL 2008 R2 images to add a SQL 2008 R2 Standard or Web Edition database to your Windows Cloud Server. With pay as you go pricing, you can spin up a SQL Server instance in just minutes. Find out which SQL edition is right for you.
With Cloud Servers™, you get what you want when you need it. Make a new server for staging and four new servers for production. Delete one, create three more. You only pay for what you use.
• Accessible via online control panel and open API
• Fully customisable with root access
• No minimum commitments or contracts
• Cloud Servers with Managed Service Level now available
Mix 'n match to suit your hosting needs
Accommodate traffic spikes, test & development needs, and other variable load applications with a mix of Dedicated Servers and Cloud Servers operating seamlessly together.
Rackspace Cloud DNS
The Rackspace Cloud DNS automates and simplifies Domain Name System management. Create or Import Domains, leverage the API to list, add, modify, and remove domains and records as needed. Learn more about Cloud DNS.
Finally real SLAs for Cloud Computing
The SLA adopted for Cloud Servers is just as aggressive as the one Rackspace provides for traditional hosted servers. It provides remedies for any downtime event caused by the network, data centre infrastructure, the physical host server, or the migration of your instance from one physical host to another (should that be required). Be sure to see our SLA in detail and take a look at how we fanatically support Cloud Servers.
Need help with Email deliverability?
Rackspace & SendGrid have teamed up to offer you 40,000 emails per month free, just for being a Rackspace customer. SendGrid is the easy way to manage your transactional and bulk email needs. Learn more about SendGrid.
Microsoft® SQL Server - 2008 R2 Available
Select one of our SQL 2008 R2 images to add a SQL 2008 R2 Standard or Web Edition database to your Windows Cloud Server. With pay as you go pricing, you can spin up a SQL Server instance in just minutes. Find out which SQL edition is right for you.
How we price Cloud Servers
| Server Sizes: |
Linux®*** Hourly (Estimated Monthly) |
Windows® Hourly (Estimated Monthly) |
|---|---|---|
|
256MB RAM 10GB Disk |
1p (£7.30) |
— |
|
512MB RAM 20>GB Disk |
2p (£14.60) |
— |
|
1,024MB RAM 40GB Disk |
4p (£29.20) |
5.2p (£37.96) |
|
2,048MB RAM 80GB Disk |
8p (£58.40) |
10.4p (£75.92) |
|
4,096MB RAM 160GB Disk |
16p (£116.80) |
20.8p (£151.84) |
|
8,192MB RAM 320GB Disk |
32p (£233.60) |
41.6p (£303.68) |
|
15,872MB RAM 620GB Disk |
64p (£467.20) |
83.2p (£607.36 |
|
30,720MB RAM 1200GB Disk |
£1.20 (£876.00) |
£1.58 (£1,156.30) |
| Add Managed Service Level | Learn More About Managed Service Level | |
Pricing for Cloud Servers imaging
With Cloud Servers, you can create an image of any Cloud Server containing less than 80GB of data — and you can use this image to restore a server or clone a new one. You can create an unlimited number of images on-demand, or you can schedule an automatic daily or weekly image.
Images will be compressed and stored on Rackspace Cloud Files at 11p /GB per month. If you delete a Cloud Server, the associated image stored in Cloud Files will persist in your account unless the image is explicitly removed.
Additional IPs Pricing
Additional public IP addresses can be purchased for £2 per month. We only offer additional IPv4 addresses for SSL purposes.
Bandwidth Pricing
Additional Licenses
RedHat Enterprise Linux images are available for an additional £12.50 a month.
*Microsoft SQL Server images available on 2GB and higher Cloud Servers. Add £0.45/hour for SQL Standard Edition or add £0.04/hour for SQL Web Edition for Cloud Servers between 2GB and 16GB. For 30GB Cloud Servers, add £0.68/hour for SQL Standard Edition or £0.06 /hour for SQL Web Edition.
With Cloud Servers, you can create an image of any Cloud Server containing less than 80GB of data — and you can use this image to restore a server or clone a new one. You can create an unlimited number of images on-demand, or you can schedule an automatic daily or weekly image.
Images will be compressed and stored on Rackspace Cloud Files at 11p /GB per month. If you delete a Cloud Server, the associated image stored in Cloud Files will persist in your account unless the image is explicitly removed.
Additional IPs Pricing
Additional public IP addresses can be purchased for £2 per month. We only offer additional IPv4 addresses for SSL purposes.
Bandwidth Pricing
| Bandwidth | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Bandwidth in | No charge |
| Bandwidth out | 12p / GB |
Additional Licenses
RedHat Enterprise Linux images are available for an additional £12.50 a month.
*Microsoft SQL Server images available on 2GB and higher Cloud Servers. Add £0.45/hour for SQL Standard Edition or add £0.04/hour for SQL Web Edition for Cloud Servers between 2GB and 16GB. For 30GB Cloud Servers, add £0.68/hour for SQL Standard Edition or £0.06 /hour for SQL Web Edition.
Cloud Servers vs. Amazon EC2
1. Persistence
CLOUD SERVERS
One of the most significant differences between Cloud Servers and Amazon EC2 is the persistence of each virtual server. Cloud Servers has access to local, RAID10 disk storage, much like you'd expect in a physical server. This is important because it means your Server has inherent protection against drive failures. If for some reason the host does fail or become degraded, we will restart and/or migrate your Cloud Server for you. A failure doesn't mean that your Cloud Server goes away.AMAZON EC2
Amazon EC2 instances are transient or ephemeral—if there is a host failure that causes your instance to terminate, all local data on that instance will be lost. Data persistence (not server persistence) can be added with Amazon EBS; however, EBS adds additional cost and complexity.2. Server Sizes
CLOUD SERVERS
We provide a wide variety of Cloud Server sizes, starting at 256 MB and going up to 30 GB. Cloud Servers can be resized to scale without any reinstallation.AMAZON EC2
Amazon EC2 standard instances start at 1.7 GB so if your workload requires fewer resources, you are stuck paying for much more than you need. Amazon recently introduced Micro instances (starting at 613 MB) for customers needing CPU burst capabilities.3. Hybrid Hosting
CLOUD SERVERS
Depending on your needs, you can get the best of both worlds with a combination of cloud and dedicated servers with our RackConnect solution. The best configuration for your business may span more than one platform. By mixing and matching compute platforms, Rackspace can help create the optimal compute solution for your business. Why settle when you can have both under one roof from Rackspace?AMAZON EC2
Amazon only offers part of the answer, with only cloud solutions. Amazon VPC is a beta service offering to connect a company's infrastructure to Amazon's cloud; however, Amazon does not offer hosting on dedicated/managed servers.4. CPU Scheduling
CLOUD SERVERS
Cloud Servers has guaranteed minimum CPU power (relative to the size of the Cloud Server), with free bursting when extra capacity is available on the host.AMAZON EC2
Amazon EC2 instances have a capped CPU. If additional CPU capacity is required, you need to launch another instance. Amazon recently introduced Micro instances which can be added (at an additional cost) for extra CPU resources.5. Compute Power
CLOUD SERVERS
A recent study conducted by an independent third party demonstrated that US-Based Cloud Servers is, on average, more than two times more powerful than comparable Amazon EC2 Servers.AMAZON EC2
While the pricing of EC2 instances appears to be lower, if it takes more than twice the time to complete a task, the total price to complete a task increases proportionally.6. DISK I/O
CLOUD SERVERS
A recent study conducted by an independent third party demonstrated that on average US-Based Cloud Servers have a higher disk throughput than comparable Amazon EC2 servers.AMAZON EC2
Amazon has a block storage solution that can show better performance than their built-in ephemeral storage under the right conditions; however, this solution results in additional costs, as both the amount of data stored and transferred are billed for.7. IP Addresses
CLOUD SERVERS
Each Cloud Server comes with the simplicity of a dedicated and persistent public IP address (no NAT) with a second, private IP address for free. There is also low latency bandwidth between your Cloud Servers. Additional public IPs are available upon request and shared IPs can be provided for high availability.AMAZON EC2
With EC2, the IP configuration is more complex. Each instance gets a non-persistent private IP address NATed to a public IP address. When instances terminate and new ones are launched, a new private IP address is assigned which means you need to plan for changing private IPs (although Elastic IPs can be remapped). In addition, only one NATed IP address is available which, for example, does not lend itself to hosting multiple sites via SSL.8. Support
CLOUD SERVERS
Cloud Servers is backed by the legendary Fanatical Support you can only get from Rackspace. With our core service level (free with Cloud Servers), customers get:- 1) 24x7x365 Chat/Phone/Ticket Support
- 2) access to the Rackspace cloud control panel
- 3) 100% network uptime guarantee
- 4) 100% HVAC/Power uptime guarantee
- 5) access to our forums and online resources, and much more.
AMAZON EC2
To receive 24x7x365 support for Amazon EC2, you pay the greater of $400 per month or 20% (scaling down) of your EC2 costs. That means your support cost goes up with your EC2 usage and isn’t directly related to the amount of support you use. Except for urgent problems (which can be reclassified by Amazon) response times apply to normal business hours only.9. Open Philosophy
CLOUD SERVERS
The Rackspace Cloud approach is one that is standards-based and open. As an active member of organisations such as the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), The Rackspace Cloud collaborates to develop standards and promote interoperability. To help ensure that the community shaped the Cloud Servers API, The Rackspace Cloud solicited feedback and conducted intensive testing with its partners and cloud developers. In 2010, Rackspace became a founding member of OpenStack, an open-source cloud platform designed to foster the emergence of technology standards and cloud interoperability.AMAZON EC2
Amazon has not embraced an open-source approach for cloud interoperability.The technology behind Cloud Servers
From the command line, you'll find that Cloud Servers look and act much like the traditional servers you may be using now. However, key technologies make Cloud Servers much more flexible than hardware devices.
The virtualisation layer
Each Cloud Server is a virtual machine abstracted from the hardware. We use a software hypervisor with proven performance, reliability, scalability, and security. Launching a new Cloud Server happens in minutes since we only need to start up a virtual machine on already running hardware. Virtualisation also allows Cloud Servers to be moved easily or even resized for more CPU and memory.
CPU Bursting
All Cloud Servers come with a certain amount of guaranteed CPU power based on the size of the servers you create. However, at times when there's extra CPU power available from the host hardware, we take advantage of it, providing your workloads extra processing power without any additional cost to you.
In-Place Resizing
Scaling up your Cloud Server is simple–you don't need to reinstall anything. With the click of a mouse or simple API call, your Cloud Server is momentarily taken offline, the RAM, disk space and CPU allotment are adjusted, and the server is restarted. The entire process is automated and takes just a few minutes.
Cloud Servers features
- Manage your Cloud Servers on-the-go via your Android smartphone, iPhone®, iPad® and iPod® touch
- Storage is RAID-10 protected for superior performance and redundancy.
- For Linux distributions, each Cloud Server is assigned four virtual cores (for servers up to 15GB) or eight virtual cores for the 30GB server size.
- For Windows images, each Cloud Server is assigned a number of virtual cores based on the size of the Cloud Server. 30GB Cloud Servers receive 8 virtual cores.
- No oversubscription. Reserved RAM and storage.
- You can spin up and scale a Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard or Web Edition instance in just minutes. With utility-based pricing, you only pay for what you use. Find out which SQL edition is right for you.
- Separate public and private network interfaces. Private bandwidth is free and provides inter-Cloud Server communication as well as access to Cloud Files. If you use a public IP, there is a cost for outgoing bandwidth only
- Snapshot based server images—scheduled or on-demand. Useful for creating "gold" images for cloning Cloud Servers, or backups.
- Support for multiple public IP addresses
- IPv6 - Provision a Cloud Server that is IPv6 ready. Read more information on Rackspace IPv6 readiness.
- Shared IPs for high-availability configurations using standard failover tools.
- Linux distribution or Windows image of your choice.
- Web-based console access. Access your server if there is a boot or network problem.
- Bootable rescue mode. File system access to repair a troubled Cloud Server.
- Combine Dedicated Servers and Cloud Servers to match your compute needs with the hybrid hosting option.
| Linux® Distributions | Windows® Images |
|---|---|
| Arch 2011.10 | - |
CentOS 6.0 
|
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise 64-bit |
|
CentOS 5.6
|
Windows Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise 64-bit |
| Debian 6.0 (Squeeze) | Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise 32-bit |
| Debian 5.0 (Lenny) | Windows Server 2008 64-bit with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition* |
| Fedora 16 (Verne) | - |
| Fedora 15 (Lovelock) | Windows Server 2008 32-Bit with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition* |
| Fedora 14 (Laughlin) |
Windows Server 2008 R2 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition*
|
| Gentoo 11.0 |
Windows Server 2008 R2 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Web Edition*
|
| openSUSE 12.1 | - |
|
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 6.1
|
- |
|
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 5.5
|
- |
|
Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot)
|
- |
|
Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narhwal)
|
- |
|
Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx)
|
- |
*Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 images available on 2GB and higher Cloud Servers. For 2GB - 15GB server sizes, add 45p/hour for SQL Standard Edition or add 4p/hour for SQL Web Edition. For 30GB server size, add 68p/hour for SQL Standard Edition and 6p/hour for SQL Web Edition.
Operating System also available with Managed Cloud Servers. Service level also provides support for Apache, MySQL (Linux) and .Net/IIS (Windows).
Operating System also available with Managed Cloud Servers. Service level also provides support for Apache, MySQL (Linux) and .Net/IIS (Windows).Cloud Servers application Programming Interface (API)
Flexibility to manage Cloud Servers in a way that suits you.
API Features:
• Launch and control Cloud Servers programmatically using a RESTful API.
• Assign server instances custom metadata using your own key/value pairs.
• Reboot servers with soft or hard (power cycle) restart options.
• Rebuild servers from any image you specify.
• Create custom images and schedule backups of your Cloud Servers.
• Scale servers—choosing from a variety of configurations.
• Share IPs. Create a collection of servers that can share public IPs with other members of the group.
API Developer Guide
Download Now!
API Binding Guide
Download Now!
Bindings
Python - Coming SoonOther Bindings - Coming Soon
Built with the Cloud Servers API
The Cloud Servers™ Application Programming Interface (API) allows developers to build their own unique solutions on top of Rackspace's infrastructure. Below are three examples of the numerous applications that have been built using the Cloud Servers™ API. Cloud Servers iPhone & Android App
The Cloud Servers application for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch allows you to easily and quickly administer your Cloud Servers on the go, wherever you are. The app uses the API to allow users to remotely perform a variety of tasks, including: adding, deleting, and rebooting servers. Inside the Cloud Files datacentre, intelligent software makes multiple copies of your data on at least three different devices in two distinct zones of the datacentre. (Each datacentre zone uses separate power and network connections).
Cloud Servers Fanatical Support
Cloud Servers
With Cloud Servers, you get more control and customisation of your infrastructure to build your own hosting solutions. We manage the network, the hardware, and the virtualisation layer. You get full control of your virtual instance – that means you call the shots when it comes to the OS, server applications and code.
Managed Cloud Servers
With Managed Cloud Servers you’ll still have complete control of your virtual instance and we support it and manage the patches and updates. We take first-responder action to all monitoring alerts; 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In addition you’ll have access to our cloud experts, who can help you plan for future expansion and exploit your current cloud environment.
| What is supported/included? | ||
| Cloud Servers | Managed Cloud Servers | |
|---|---|---|
| 24x7x365 Chat/Phone/Ticket Support |  |
|
| Control Panel | |
|
| Virtualisation Layer | |
|
| Server Provisioning On-demand | |
|
| 100% Network Uptime Guarantee | |
|
| Data Centre (100% HVAC/Power Uptime Guarantee) | |
|
| Migrations (3-Hour Migrations for Server Host Degradation) | |
|
| Standard Image Backups (Freq/Retention: 1 daily/2 days or weekly/1 week) | |
- |
| Expanded Backups (Freq/Retention: 1 daily/14 days or weekly/14 weeks) | - | |
| Server OS and Apps Infrastructure Support (Includes Updates/Patches) | - | |
| 24x7x365 Monitoring Response and Resolution (URL Content, Port, Ping) | - | |
| Technical Guidance | - | |
| Account Team | - | |
What Makes Fanatical Support?
- We don't know what "closed" means. However you'd like to work with us—on the phone or in instant live chat—we'll be here to help 24x7
- We're total cloud geeks. We love the cloud and we know it well. Tell us about your app, and we'll recommend how to make it sing
- We talk AND we listen. We're big fans of transparency and feedback. Technology works so much better combined with a bit of humanity
Cloud Servers FAQs
What are Cloud Servers?
Imagine being able to provision a server in minutes or upgrade a server automatically. This is the idea behind Cloud Servers. Totally customisable, each Cloud Server gives you full root access to your Linux distribution or many Windows image of choice. Your price depends on how large a server you buy and how much bandwidth you use.
Based on Xen Virtualisation technology, Cloud Servers brings the power of the cloud to the traditional server-based hosting model. Just like a dedicated server, your Cloud Servers provides total flexibility for you to run anything you want from a Java website to a Ruby on Rails application to a .NET application.
Why do you bill hourly?
Our utility-based billing model caters to customers requiring long term servers and also developers who may only need a server for a couple of days. All customers pay only for the time the server is deployed, based on the number of hours. With Cloud Servers you only pay for what you use.
If I am not using my Server or do not have traffic to it, do I still have to pay for it?
Yes. You would have to delete it altogether to cease billing. There is no "suspension" mode where you are not charged while not receiving traffic to the server.
If you want to stop paying for the server, another option is to take a snapshot of the Cloud Server, store the snapshot in Cloud Files, and then delete the Cloud Server. If you want to use the server again, simply restore the Cloud Server by creating a new Cloud Server instance from the stored Cloud Files snapshot.
How do Cloud Servers differ from Dedicated Servers?
While dedicated servers can take several days to deploy, Cloud Servers can be deployed and online within a few short minutes using the control panel, API or third party tools. They can also be resized, deleted and recreated from backups quickly, easily and often more cost effectively than dedicated servers. However, Cloud Servers are built on a shared infrastructure so may not be suitable for applications that require regulatory compliance, such as PCI DSS.
Is bandwidth free between Cloud Servers?
Yes, you will get a private IP for each Cloud Server that offers free bandwidth between them. If you use a public IP, there is a cost for outgoing bandwidth only.
Imagine being able to provision a server in minutes or upgrade a server automatically. This is the idea behind Cloud Servers. Totally customisable, each Cloud Server gives you full root access to your Linux distribution or many Windows image of choice. Your price depends on how large a server you buy and how much bandwidth you use.
Based on Xen Virtualisation technology, Cloud Servers brings the power of the cloud to the traditional server-based hosting model. Just like a dedicated server, your Cloud Servers provides total flexibility for you to run anything you want from a Java website to a Ruby on Rails application to a .NET application.
Why do you bill hourly?
Our utility-based billing model caters to customers requiring long term servers and also developers who may only need a server for a couple of days. All customers pay only for the time the server is deployed, based on the number of hours. With Cloud Servers you only pay for what you use.
If I am not using my Server or do not have traffic to it, do I still have to pay for it?
Yes. You would have to delete it altogether to cease billing. There is no "suspension" mode where you are not charged while not receiving traffic to the server.
If you want to stop paying for the server, another option is to take a snapshot of the Cloud Server, store the snapshot in Cloud Files, and then delete the Cloud Server. If you want to use the server again, simply restore the Cloud Server by creating a new Cloud Server instance from the stored Cloud Files snapshot.
How do Cloud Servers differ from Dedicated Servers?
While dedicated servers can take several days to deploy, Cloud Servers can be deployed and online within a few short minutes using the control panel, API or third party tools. They can also be resized, deleted and recreated from backups quickly, easily and often more cost effectively than dedicated servers. However, Cloud Servers are built on a shared infrastructure so may not be suitable for applications that require regulatory compliance, such as PCI DSS.
Is bandwidth free between Cloud Servers?
Yes, you will get a private IP for each Cloud Server that offers free bandwidth between them. If you use a public IP, there is a cost for outgoing bandwidth only.
How do I scale with Cloud Servers?
You have several options:
1. Scale In or Out: Scale out by taking an image of your Cloud Server and then adding new Cloud Servers based on that image. Scale In by deleting Cloud Servers to remove computing capacity. Scaling in or out is frequently used for web servers.
2. Scale Up or Down - You can increase the size of your server image (e.g. CPU, disk, memory) or you can resize down. Scaling up or down is frequently used for database servers. Note: Windows Cloud Servers cannot be resized down.
How much CPU do I get?
For Windows images, each Cloud Server is assigned a number of virtual cores based on the size of the Cloud Server. A 1 GB Cloud Server receives 1 virtual core, 2 GB and 4 GB Cloud Servers receive 2 virtual cores, 8 GB and 15.5 GB Cloud Servers receive 4 virtual cores, and 30GB Cloud Servers receive 8 virtual cores . Each of these cores is given equal weight when allocating CPU cycles.
For Linux distributions, each Cloud Server is assigned four virtual cores (for servers up to 15GB) or eight virtual cores for the 30GB server size. The amount of CPU cycles allocated to these cores is weighted based on the size of the Cloud Server.
All Cloud Servers receive a guaranteed minimum amount of CPU cycles with the ability to burst when excess cycles are available.
Can I upgrade my storage without upgrading the entire plan?
Currently, Cloud Servers are tied to specific CPU, memory and storage. At this time, you would have to upgrade these together.
Currently, you would have to upgrade the RAM in order to get more storage and vice versa.
Can Cloud Files be mounted as storage?
Cloud Files is not block level storage, so it cannot be mounted. Customers do use Cloud Files to offload static files, such as media files for example. Typically media files do not change and will not need to be written to as a database would.
Can I import my own image or export an image on a Server?
At this time, you would have to pick from our Linux distributions or Windows images. You can save an image and use it within cloud; however, you would not be able to export it.
You have several options:
1. Scale In or Out: Scale out by taking an image of your Cloud Server and then adding new Cloud Servers based on that image. Scale In by deleting Cloud Servers to remove computing capacity. Scaling in or out is frequently used for web servers.
2. Scale Up or Down - You can increase the size of your server image (e.g. CPU, disk, memory) or you can resize down. Scaling up or down is frequently used for database servers. Note: Windows Cloud Servers cannot be resized down.
How much CPU do I get?
For Windows images, each Cloud Server is assigned a number of virtual cores based on the size of the Cloud Server. A 1 GB Cloud Server receives 1 virtual core, 2 GB and 4 GB Cloud Servers receive 2 virtual cores, 8 GB and 15.5 GB Cloud Servers receive 4 virtual cores, and 30GB Cloud Servers receive 8 virtual cores . Each of these cores is given equal weight when allocating CPU cycles.
For Linux distributions, each Cloud Server is assigned four virtual cores (for servers up to 15GB) or eight virtual cores for the 30GB server size. The amount of CPU cycles allocated to these cores is weighted based on the size of the Cloud Server.
All Cloud Servers receive a guaranteed minimum amount of CPU cycles with the ability to burst when excess cycles are available.
Can I upgrade my storage without upgrading the entire plan?
Currently, Cloud Servers are tied to specific CPU, memory and storage. At this time, you would have to upgrade these together.
Currently, you would have to upgrade the RAM in order to get more storage and vice versa.
Can Cloud Files be mounted as storage?
Cloud Files is not block level storage, so it cannot be mounted. Customers do use Cloud Files to offload static files, such as media files for example. Typically media files do not change and will not need to be written to as a database would.
Can I import my own image or export an image on a Server?
At this time, you would have to pick from our Linux distributions or Windows images. You can save an image and use it within cloud; however, you would not be able to export it.
What Hypervisor does Rackspace Cloud Servers use?
We use Xen and XenServer hypervisors for Linux Cloud Servers and XenServer for Windows Cloud Servers.
What is RackConnect™?
You dont have to choose between dedicated hardware and cloud-based servers at Rackspace. RackConnect lets you run both on the same network. So, if you need Dedicated Servers for performance or compliance requirements and the flexibility to quickly scale with Cloud Servers, Rackspace makes it all work together seamlessly with our RackConnect Product.
Will Rackspace continue to support existing Cloud Servers using Windows Server 2003?
Rackspace will continue to support existing cloud servers that use Windows 2003 as their operating system until 2015.
Why do you no longer offer Windows 2003 Base Image?
Microsoft has discontinued sales and mainstream support for Windows 2003. In addition, Windows 2003 has limited implementation of IPv6, which does not offer the level of functionality Rackspace requires for IPv6.
My Application will not run on later versions of windows, how can I keep using my Application while I make the changes necessary to move it to a later version of windows?
You will have the ability to add new Windows Server 2003 images by copying or cloning your current image and performing restores from backups. To read more about copying or cloning an existing image, please visit our Knowledge Center. To learn how to perform a restore from a backup, please read our article on restoring a server.
Is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 available on Cloud Servers?
Yes, we currently have several images that include SQL Server 2008 R2, Standard and Web Editions —see link. If you are interested in our Cloud Servers with a managed service level, be sure to check out the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard and Web edition images. If you add SQL 2008 R2 to our Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 plug-in, the Rackspace Cloud is ready for application development based on the .NET platform. Find out which SQL edition is right for you.
Can I purchase a Cloud Server in which I am the sole Customer on the Host Server?
Our 30GB Cloud Server is our largest cloud server (e.g. CPU, memory and disk space). At present, a 30GB Cloud Server consumes an entire host machine and will be the only instance on the host. Please note that this is subject to change in the future as host hardware is upgraded.
What Cloud Server would you recommend for database nodes or CPU, disk and memory intensive applications?
We would recommend our 30GB Cloud Server for maximum CPU, disk, and memory.
We use Xen and XenServer hypervisors for Linux Cloud Servers and XenServer for Windows Cloud Servers.
What is RackConnect™?
You dont have to choose between dedicated hardware and cloud-based servers at Rackspace. RackConnect lets you run both on the same network. So, if you need Dedicated Servers for performance or compliance requirements and the flexibility to quickly scale with Cloud Servers, Rackspace makes it all work together seamlessly with our RackConnect Product.
Will Rackspace continue to support existing Cloud Servers using Windows Server 2003?
Rackspace will continue to support existing cloud servers that use Windows 2003 as their operating system until 2015.
Why do you no longer offer Windows 2003 Base Image?
Microsoft has discontinued sales and mainstream support for Windows 2003. In addition, Windows 2003 has limited implementation of IPv6, which does not offer the level of functionality Rackspace requires for IPv6.
My Application will not run on later versions of windows, how can I keep using my Application while I make the changes necessary to move it to a later version of windows?
You will have the ability to add new Windows Server 2003 images by copying or cloning your current image and performing restores from backups. To read more about copying or cloning an existing image, please visit our Knowledge Center. To learn how to perform a restore from a backup, please read our article on restoring a server.
Is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 available on Cloud Servers?
Yes, we currently have several images that include SQL Server 2008 R2, Standard and Web Editions —see link. If you are interested in our Cloud Servers with a managed service level, be sure to check out the Windows Server 2008 R2 with SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard and Web edition images. If you add SQL 2008 R2 to our Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 plug-in, the Rackspace Cloud is ready for application development based on the .NET platform. Find out which SQL edition is right for you.
Can I purchase a Cloud Server in which I am the sole Customer on the Host Server?
Our 30GB Cloud Server is our largest cloud server (e.g. CPU, memory and disk space). At present, a 30GB Cloud Server consumes an entire host machine and will be the only instance on the host. Please note that this is subject to change in the future as host hardware is upgraded.
What Cloud Server would you recommend for database nodes or CPU, disk and memory intensive applications?
We would recommend our 30GB Cloud Server for maximum CPU, disk, and memory.