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Compute / Overview

Instances

Updated · 2 min read

An instance is a virtual machine on Origin Cloud. Find its lifecycle, types, health checks, failure behavior and the tasks to launch and manage one.

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An instance is a virtual machine. It boots from an image, runs with the vCPU and memory of its instance type, and keeps its identity, addresses and volumes for its whole life, across stops and starts. You decide when it runs. The platform reports both what you asked for (status) and what it can observe (healthChecks).

The following diagram shows the main path through an instance’s life.

Instance lifecycle Launch creates an instance in INITIALIZING. When its resources are ready it moves to PENDING, and when the host confirms the start, to RUNNING. A stop moves RUNNING to STOPPING, and the host confirming the stop moves it to STOPPED. A guest power-off or a machine failure moves RUNNING straight to STOPPED. Start moves STOPPED or FAILED back to PENDING. INITIALIZING becomes FAILED when a resource is not created; PENDING when a start is refused or unconfirmed; STOPPING and SHUTTING_DOWN when a stop is refused or unconfirmed. Terminate moves RUNNING, STOPPED or FAILED to SHUTTING_DOWN, which ends in TERMINATED. billed INITIALIZING PENDING RUNNING STOPPING FAILED STOPPED SHUTTING_DOWN TERMINATED launch resources ready host confirms start stop host confirms stop guest power-off or machine failure start terminate terminate stop refused or unconfirmed stop refused or unconfirmed start refused or unconfirmed start resource not created terminate
Instance lifecycle: launch moves an instance through INITIALIZING and PENDING to RUNNING; stop moves it through STOPPING to STOPPED; start brings it back to RUNNING; terminate moves it through SHUTTING_DOWN to TERMINATED.

The full set of eight statuses, including FAILED, is on Instance lifecycle.

Key concepts

ConceptMeaning
LifecycleThe eight statuses an instance moves through, which ones resolve on their own, and which ones you’re billed for. See Instance lifecycle.
Instance typeThe size of an instance: its vCPU count and memory, from a catalog of types. See Instance types.
Health checksWhat the platform observes about a running instance, separate from its status, and whether a problem is the platform’s or yours. See Instance health checks.
Machine failureWhat happens to an instance when the physical machine under it fails or is taken out of service. See When the machine under an instance fails.
Guest environmentWhat the platform sets up inside the guest: the login user, time synchronization and machine identity. See Guest environment.

What you can do

Limits and quotas

Launching an instance counts against your instance-count and vCPU quotas, at both the organization and the project level. See Limits.