Data Center Basics

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

Prerequisites: Make sure you have the appropriate permissions. Only Administrators or Users with the Create Data Center permission can create a VDC.

Creating a new VDC

1. On the Menu bar, click Data Center Designer. A drop-down panel will open.

You can create a VDC from the menu.

Or alternatively,

Name: Enter an appropriate name for your VDC.
Description: Describe your new VDC (optional).
Region: Choose the physical IONOS data center location that will host your infrastructure.

3. Confirm your actions by clicking Create Data Center.

4. The data center is created and opened in the Workspace. You will find the VDC has been added to the My Data Centers list in the Dashboard.

Inside the Data Center Designer

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

Element icons

Square Element icons serve as building blocks for your VDC. Each Element represents an IONOS Cloud product or service. Keep in mind that some Elements are compatible, while others aren't. 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 Setup Storage.

The Palette and the 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 there, as required.

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.

Selecting an element and pressing Delete or Backspace removes it from the Workspace.

Right-clicking an element inside of the Workspace reveals additional functions. For example, you may right-click a Cube or a Server to Power it up or down. You may also use Pause or Delete, to remove it from your data center infrastructure.

The Context Menu always offers different options, depending on the Element.

The Inspector pane

When an Element is selected, the Inspector pane will appear on the right. You can configure Element properties, such as Name and Availability Zone.

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

Using the Start Center

The Start Center is an alternative option in VDC creation and management. You may access existing VDCs or create a new one from the Start Center view.

1. Inside the Dashboard Menu bar, select Data Center Designer > Open Start Center.

2 . The Start Center left section lists all your data centers in alphabetical order. The Create Data Center section, on the right, can also be used to create new VDCs.

3. The location region and version number are shown for each VDC. Version numbers begin at 0 and are incremented by 1 each time the data center is provisioned.

4. The Details button, to the right of each VDC, displays all associated VMs, resources, and status. The different status indications are on, off, or de-allocated.

5. You can click on each VDC name on the list to open it.