You can now have your Seeds set up automatically with cloud-init. Provide a shell script or a cloud-config when creating a Seed, and cloud-init takes care of the initial setup you would otherwise do by hand over SSH: installing packages, starting services and writing configuration files. By the time you first log in, your Seed is already set up.
What is cloud-init?
Cloud-init is the de facto standard for first-boot configuration of cloud servers. Your instructions reach the Seed as user data. On first boot, cloud-init reads them and sets up the system accordingly. This happens exactly once. Your user data does not run again on later reboots, so it is not the place for recurring tasks.
Using cloud-init when creating a Seed
When creating a Seed, you will find the optional Cloud-init section below Seed extensions. Click Add cloud-init and paste your user data, either a cloud-config, a shell script or a plain list of commands. If you leave the field empty, the Seed starts with the image's default configuration.
You can also provide user data when reinstalling a Seed, either the same as before or something new. It then runs on the first boot of the freshly installed system.
The credentials you chose when creating the Seed (SSH key or password) are set up automatically, so they do not belong in your user data.
Our new guide Set up seeds automatically with cloud-init shows you step by step how to structure your user data, what else cloud-init can do and how to check that everything ran as expected, including a complete web server example.
Control via the Public API
Our Public API supports cloud-init as well. When creating or reinstalling a Seed, pass your user data in the user_data field.
Good to know
- After setup, we delete your user data from our platform. Keep your own copy.
- Maximum size: 32 KiB. A cloud-config must contain valid YAML after
#cloud-config, or it is rejected. - The content is readable in plain text from inside the Seed. Do not put passwords, tokens or other secrets in it.
We look forward to your feedback and are available for any questions as usual.
