Data Center Basics

Your IONOS Cloud infrastructure is set up in Virtual Data Centers (VDCs). You will find all the building blocks and resources required to configure and manage your products and services here.

Prerequisites: Make sure you have the appropriate permissions. Only contract administrators, owners, and users with the Create Data Center permission can create a VDC.

Create a new VDC

1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Data Center Designer. A drop-down window will open up.

You can create a VDC from the menu

2. Provide the following information:

• Name: Enter an appropriate name for your VDC.

• Description: (Optional) Describe your new VDC.

• Region: Choose the physical location of your data center that will host your infrastructure.

3. Select Create Data Center to confirm.

Alternatively, go to the My Virtual Data Centers list and select Create new. You can also use the Start Center option to create new data centers. For more information, see Manage Start Center.

You can create a VDC right on the Dashboard

Result: The data center is now created and can be opened in the workspace. The newly created VDC is added to the My Data Centers list in your Dashboard.

Data Center Designer Elements

You can set up your data center infrastructure by using a drag-and-drop visual interface. The DCD contains the following elements:

Name	Description
1. Menu bar	Provides access to the DCD functions via drop-down menus.
2. Palette	Movable element icons that can be combined in the workspace.
3. Element	The icon represents a component of the virtual data center.
4. Workspace	You can arrange element icons in this space via drag-and-drop.
5. Inspector pane	View and configure properties of the selected element.
6. Context menu	Right-click an element to display additional options.

The VDC consists of several key sections: the Palette, the Workspace and the Inspector

The square elements serve as building blocks for your VDC. Each element represents an IONOS Cloud product or service. Some elements are compatible, while others are not. For example, a Server icon can be combined with the Storage (HDD or SSD) icon. In practice, this would represent the physical act of connecting a hard drive to a server machine. For more information, see Set Up Storage.

Individual element icons

Once joined, the elements create a new combined element in the Workspace

Palette and workspace

The palette is a dynamic sidebar that contains VDC elements. You can click and drag each element from the palette into your workspace and position it as per your requirements.

All cloud products and services are compatible with each other. You may create a Server and add Storage to it. A LAN Network will interconnect your Servers.

Some elements may connect automatically via drag-and-drop. The DCD will then join the two if able. Otherwise, it will open configuration space for approval.

Right-click an element and select Delete from the drop-down menu. You can also select the element directly and hit Delete/Backspace from your keyboard.

Context menu

The context menu offers different options depending on the element. To see the context menu, right-click on any element. For example, right-click a Cube or a Server to update it.

Context menu

Inspector pane

When an element is selected, the Inspector pane will appear on the right side of your screen. You can configure the element properties. For example, for a Server element, you can define its Name and Availability Zone, Preset, vCPUs and RAM.

This pane allows you to finalize the creation of your data center. Once your VDC is set up, select PROVISION CHANGES. This makes your infrastructure available for use.

Inspector pane

Manage Start Center

The Start Center is an alternative option for VDC creation and management. You can access the manage the VDCs or create a new one from the Start Center window.

1. In the DCD, go to Menu > Data Center Designer > Open Start Center.

   

   Using the Start Center in the DCD

The following are the available options in the Start Center window:

• The Start Center lists all your data centers in alphabetical order.

• The Create Data Center on the right can also be used to create new VDCs.

• The Region | Version are displayed for each VDC. Version numbers begin from 0 and are incremented by one each time the data center is provisioned.

• The Details, to the right of each VDC, displays all associated servers, VMs, resources, and their statuses. The status of the resources could be on, off, or de-allocated. Here, you can either:

  • Select the Remote Console using
  • Open the data center using

2. You can select a VDC from the Data Center list to open it.

Result: You can manage your VDC using the Start Center.