oracle-cloud-free-tier-guide

oracle-cloud-free-tier-guide.md

how to leverage oracle's temping offers

free tier limits

The limits of the free tier say that you can create up to 4 instances.

• x2 x86 instances (2core/1g)
• x2 ampere instances (with 4core/24g spread between them)
• 200GB total boot volume space across all intances (minimum of 50G per instance)

create your account

The first step is to create your oracle cloud account here: https://signup.cloud.oracle.com/

You will need a valid credit card for signup, "We do not accept virtual cards or prepaid cards. We accept credit cards and debit cards only."

login

Log into your new account you created above.

create a vm instance

On the home screen, there should be a hamberger button in the top left. Click it, and the resource pane opens. Select "Compute" and then "Instances".

Click on the "Create instance" button on the next page.

name & region

Enter a name for your instance. Then give the form a second to autofill, and a region should be selected with the "Always Free-eligible" badge to the right.

shape

Click "edit" next to "Image and Shape", and then "Change shape".

x86

To create an instance with an x86 based processor, just leave everything default and click "Select shape".

arm

To create an instance with an arm processor, select "Ampere" and then check the box next to "VM.Standard.A1.Flex".

Then you are given a CPU and Memory slider. You have 4 cores and 24G to use between your (max of) 2 instances. You can give one instance all 4 cores and 24G or make two instances with a variable size.

image

Click on "Change image" next.

This choice is personal preference. Choose the Image Name, OS, and Build based on what you need.

Then click "Select image" at the bottom.

networking

I usually don't change any defaults here, but you can at your discretion.

ssh keys

Next, under the ssh section, select "paste public keys" and paste in your public key (normally found in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub in most *nix like systems). You can also upload that file, or generate a key-pair from within the options.

boot volume

Most of the time this section can be left as default.

You have 200G of disk space in the free tier, and if you use up 4 VMs then the minimum disk size of 50G (the default) is fine. If you plan to make fewer instances than 4, you can adjust the size as needed.

deploy

You will be dropped to a loading screen, and after a few it will turn green and display a public ip that you can now ssh with the username ubuntu and the private key of the public one you specified above.

ssh ubuntu@150.136.139.99

Disgusting Oracle Cloud Free Tier service, block randomly and without the reason. Not recommended! https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/3de25eae68

Disgusting Oracle Cloud Free Tier service, block randomly and without the reason. Not recommended! https://cloudcustomerconnect.oracle.com/posts/3de25eae68

I can't see the thread without creating an oracle service account (which I don't want to do), and this isn't meant to be an oracle support thread.

This guide isn't saying oracle is the best cloud offering, far from it, just showing how to utilize their free tier. You can choose to use it or not.

Thanks for this guide @rssnyder.
I just want to add that so far I am really impressed with OCI's free tier.
I have had no problem with their services and it is a really generous offering if you consider what Azure, GCP and AWS offer. - Just my 2c after reading @LennyLip's comment

Hi, @DevinNorgarb I suspect that there was a miner in my docker setup (docker from the official hub, I didn't realize that it was there), so they just blocked the whole account without any warnings. Forever and ever, without access to any data on the VPC and no the reason information. So, just remember that.

@LennyLip My apologies, I spoke too soon! I am now in the same boat as you as my account has now also been blocked without even an email to explain why.
I must admit I did have quite a heavy resource usage, but that is surely what the free credits are for?
This is probably not the best place to have a rant but here I am one week later with the same issue as you. I am so glad that all the data that was just discarded along with my account was back up.
Disgusting service Oracle Cloud.

It's not clear to me how the ARM VMs work? as far as I understand I have a daily/montly limit of CPU/memory usage but what happens if I surpass the limit? will I be charged or they will just shut it down? I'm a bit worried about it because it doesn't have the label "always free" on instance page like the x86 instances.

How does the bandwidth work? is 50Mb/s for every instance or shared among the instances?

@Axeltherabbit you have "credit" for 24GB ram and 4 cores. however you split them up is up to you, as long as you stay within that boundary you should be fine.

As for speeds, I am not certain. I know they list those speeds, but I am about to get the same rated speed on both my ARM vms at the same time:
Download: 1083.96 Mbit/s
Upload: 1416.27 Mbit/s

@rssnyder yes but I'm not sure I understand this part: https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/FreeTier/freetier_topic-Always_Free_Resources.htm

Ampere A1 Compute instances (Arm processor): All tenancies get the first 3,000 OCPU hours and 18,000 GB hours per month for free for VM instances using the VM.Standard.A1.Flex shape, which has an Arm processor. For Always Free tenancies, this is equivalent to 4 OCPUs and 24 GB of memory.

@Axeltherabbit the important part is here: For Always Free tenancies (which we are using) this is equivalent to 4 OCPUs and 24 GB of memory which really means you can use 4 OCPUs and 24GB of memory and still fall under the free teir, Dont focus too much on the hours listed. You can see here I am using 2OCPU and 12GB across two instances, and my account has spent $0 over several months.

Is the free offer unlimited time or it is just a trial?

Is the free offer unlimited time or it is just a trial?

unlimited

How many much did they charge for verification process? I don't have that much money in my debit card rn

How many much did they charge for verification process? I don't have that much money in my debit card rn

i have never gotten a charge from oracle. $0

How many much did they charge for verification process? I don't have that much money in my debit card rn

1 $ chargeback

@Axeltherabbit you have "credit" for 24GB ram and 4 cores. however you split them up is up to you, as long as you stay within that boundary you should be fine.

As for speeds, I am not certain. I know they list those speeds, but I am about to get the same rated speed on both my ARM vms at the same time: Download: 1083.96 Mbit/s Upload: 1416.27 Mbit/s

can u run a vpn instance with port forwarding under free tier?

@Axeltherabbit you have "credit" for 24GB ram and 4 cores. however you split them up is up to you, as long as you stay within that boundary you should be fine.
As for speeds, I am not certain. I know they list those speeds, but I am about to get the same rated speed on both my ARM vms at the same time: Download: 1083.96 Mbit/s Upload: 1416.27 Mbit/s

can u run a vpn instance with port forwarding under free tier?

yeah, i ran pterodactyl panel on oracle and it ran great, had open 8 server each with separate designated ports.