Quickstart

Create a GPU instance

In this step, you will create an instance with the following configuration and operating system template:

Let’s create your first instance! Copy this cURL command:

$
curl -X POST https://platform.fluidstack.io/instances \
>
    -H "api-key: <api-key>" \
>
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
>
    -d '{
>
  "gpu_type": "RTX_A6000_48GB",
>
  "name": "my-test-instance",
>
  "ssh_key": "my_ssh_key"
>
}'

Paste the command to a location where you can edit its text in plaintext format, such as a code editor. Replace the text <api_key> with your API key, and my_ssh_key with the name of an SSH key on your account.

If your request succeeds, the endpoint will respond with the created instance’s id, name, gpu_type, and operating_system_label:

1
{
2
  "id": "i-1234567890",
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  "name": "my_test_instance",
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  "gpu_type": "RTX_A6000_48GB",
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  "operating_system_label": "ubuntu_20_04_lts"
6
}

Take note of the id of your instance for the next step.

Check the status of your instance

Request the instance’s status using the List user instances endpoint:

Initially, the instance’s status will be pending. Once the instance is created and available, its status will update to running and FluidStack will assign it an IP address.

Example:

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[
2
  {
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    "id": "i-1234567890",
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    "status": "running",
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    "username": "ubuntu",
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    "ssh_port": "22",
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    "ssh_keys": [
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      "my_ssh_key"
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    ],
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    "ip_address": "192.0.2.0",
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    "name": "my_test_instance",
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    "current_rate": 1,
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    "configuration": {
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      "id": "c-1234567890",
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      "gpu_count": 1,
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      "cpu_count": 16,
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      "nvme_storage_size_gb": 425,
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      "memory_size_gb": 59,
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      "gpu_model": {
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        "name": "RTX_A6000_48GB",
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        "memory_size_gb": 48
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      },
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      "cpu_model": "generic",
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      "estimated_provisioning_time_minutes": 5
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    },
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    "created_at": "2024-01-15T09:30:00Z"
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  }
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]

This endpoint returns a JSON array of all the instances on your account, with each instance represented as an object in the array.

Locate the instance object with the id of your newly created instance. Take note of that instance’s values for username and ip_address for the next step.

Access your instance

Once the instance’s status is running, you can connect to it using SSH. Use the private key that corresponds to the public key you used when creating the SSH key for this instance, and the username and ip_address you noted in the previous step.

$
ssh -i <path_to_your_private_key> <username>@<ip_address>

Examples:

$
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa ubuntu@192.0.2.0

When you have successfully logged in, notice that your command prompt has changed. All commands that you enter into this command prompt are executed on your instance.

When you’re ready to close your connection and log out from the instance, type exit into your SSH session’s command prompt and press Enter. You should be returned to your local machine’s command prompt.

Terminate your instance

To terminate your instance, first close your SSH connection, then call the API using the cURL command below. Replace the text instance_id in the endpoint’s path with the id you received when you created the endpoint, and <api_key> with your API key.

Example:

$
  curl -X DELETE https://platform.fluidstack.io/instances/i-1234567890 \
>
  -H "api-key: api_key_j123MyFakeAPIKey"

To confirm that your instance was deleted, call the List user instances endpoint again as in Step 2.