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Instances FAQ

First steps

How can I create an image?

You must create at least one snapshot before creating an image.

See the documentation on creating an image from scratch.

What is ImageHub?

Scaleway’s ImageHub is a catalog of system images that allow you to deploy, manage, and scale your favorite applications in seconds using image templates.

What is a Marketplace image?

A Marketplace is an online store that offers applications and services either built on or integrated with Scaleway’s offerings.

A Marketplace image is a labeled reference to a resource that can be selected for use as the system volume of a newly created Instance. Depending on several criteria of the Instance, like its zone and its type, such an image will point to a different local-image, which holds the actual data that will be cloned onto the volume of the Instance.

When you want to create an Instance using an image in the Instance API, you can specify either the label of the image or the UUID of the local-image.

Use the Marketplace API to find the UUID of the local-image you want to use. Alternatively, you can use this CLI command:

scw marketplace local-image list image-label=image_name

Replace image_name with the name of your image or distribution, e.g.: ubuntu_focal or debian_stretch.

Billing

How am I billed for my compute Instances?

Instances are billed on a pay-as-you-go basis, and their prices are made up of three parts:

  • Instance price,
  • Storage price (local or block),
  • Flexible IP price.

You can change the storage type and flexible IP after the Instance creation, which may affect the monthly billing.

How are Instances billed?

Instances are billed based on their runtime while powered on:

  • CPU Instances: Billed per hour of uptime (including startup and standby time).
  • GPU Instances: Billed per minute of uptime (including startup and standby time), except for RENDER-S GPU Instances, which are billed per hour.
Note

For Kapsule and Kubernetes users: the underlying Instance in a GPU node pool is billed as soon as it is created, even during the setup phase, before the NVIDIA GPU Operator is fully initialized.

Keep in mind that while compute resources follow this usage-based billing model, other resources—such as public IP addresses and storage volumes—are billed for their entire allocation period, regardless of whether the Instance is powered off.

For more details, visit the Instances pricing page.

What are the prices for Instances?

Refer to the pricing page to learn about the cost of each Instance type.

What are the storage prices for Instances?

Refer to the pricing page to learn about the storage fees for Instances.

How much does a flexible IP cost?

Each Instance’s flexible IPv4 costs €0.004/hour, excl. VAT.

Requirements and configurations

What is the minimum volume size my Instance can have?

Your system volume must be at least 10 GB (125 GB for a GPU OS).

What are the benefits of Dedicated Resources?

Dedicated Resources give you a more stable experience for compute-demanding workloads, offering benefits such as:

  • No “noisy neighbors”,
  • No “burst effects”,
  • Optimization for demanding and specific needs.

Which options are available to power off my Instance?

You can choose between four options when powering off your Instance:

  • Hard reboot: Your Instance performs an electrical reboot and its data is kept on the Local Storage. We recommend always rebooting your Instance from the OS to avoid data corruption.
  • Power off: All local volume data is transferred to a volume store, and your physical node is released back to the pool of available machines. The process duration depends on the amount of data archived.
  • Terminate: Your Instance and its volumes are permanently deleted, but the attached flexible IP is preserved.
  • Standby: Your Instance is stopped, but its data remains in the Local Storage. The Instance is still allocated to your account and can be restarted anytime.
Important

The standby mode is charged as a running Instance. To avoid being billed for an unused Instance, power it off and ensure no IPs or allocated storage are left in use.

Why do I have to specify the CPU architecture when creating an image from a volume?

ARM and x86-based Instances use a different instruction set, which requires specifying the architecture of the platform when creating an image from a volume.

An ARM CPU uses a Reduced Instruction Set Computing RISC architecture, while an x86 CPU uses a Complex Instruction Set Computing CISC architecture.

Can I reach my Instance using a DNS hostname instead of its IP address?

Yes, each Instance can be reached through a DNS name of the form <instance-uuid>.pub.instances.scw.cloud, which points to the main IP address of the Instance, be it IPv4 or IPv6. You can either use this name directly or configure a CNAME record linking to it.

The target of this name is automatically updated whenever you change the list of Flexible IPs attached to the Instance.

Can I resize my Instance?

Yes, you can resize (also called vertical scaling) your Instance to adjust CPU, RAM, and storage capacity without having to recreate it.

Can I migrate from a first-generation DEV1 Instance to a PLAY2 Instance?

Yes. Refer to the changing the commercial type of an Instance documentation.

Can I migrate from my first-generation GP1 Instance to a PRO2 Instance?

Yes. Refer to the changing the commercial type of an Instance documentation.

Can I boot my Instance from a Block Storage volume?

Yes. When creating an Instance, you can select Block Storage as a system volume type. This allows you to reboot Instances from the block volume on which your OS is stored.

You can also add a Block volume after creating an Instance and choosing it as the boot volume.

Offers and availability

Which Linux distributions are available?

We provide a wide range of Linux distributions and InstantApps for Instances.

You are free to bootstrap your own distribution.

Which Linux distributions are available for Enterprise Instances?

We provide a wide range of different Linux distributions and InstantApps for Instances. Refer to Scaleway Instance OS images and InstantApps for a complete list of all available OSes and InstantApps.

Where are my Instances located?

Scaleway offers different Instance ranges in all regions: Paris (France), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Warsaw (Poland).

Check the Instances availability guide to discover where each Instance type is available.

What makes FR-PAR-2 a sustainable region?

FR-PAR-2 is our sustainable and environmentally efficient Availability Zone (AZ) in Paris.

This region is entirely powered by renewable (hydraulic) energy. It also has an energetic footprint 30-40% lower than traditional data centers, thanks to the fact that it does not require air conditioning. Learn more about our environmental commitment.

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